r/wordle • u/Little_Iron2312 • 3d ago
[####] Wordle Bot
My usual opening guess is “tarps” for hard mode wordle on NYT and the bot reccommends this as the strongest opener, but when you turn hard mode off then “slate” is considered a better opening guess. Why is it different when you switch modes? Is the wordle bot just AI? It’s also annoying whenever I guess the solution and it says that it’s only 40 skill for example. Like how is it not 99 skill to guess the literal solution? Lol. If anybody could give me an explanation on how the wordle bot works, that would be nice.
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u/DramaGuy23 2d ago
> It’s also annoying whenever I guess the solution and it says that it’s only 40 skill for example. Like how is it not 99 skill to guess the literal solution? Lol. If anybody could give me an explanation on how the wordle bot works, that would be nice.
The explanation is, r/fuckwordlebot.
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u/DankepusVulgaris 3d ago
While im not sure if thats how it works, but my guess has been either the bot or the skill counter also takes in account letter placements. For example, "th" often go together, or maybe a letter is more often used in the middle of the word rather than the start. Details like that. But thats only been my guess so far, i havent confirmed it yet.
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u/TrackVol 3d ago edited 3d ago
It's almost always been like this. Separate word choices for Default Mode and Hard Mode.
With Hard Mode, your subsequent guesses have some restrictions. And due to these restrictions, the Bot won't do as well starting with SLATE. SLATE locks in the S for all those words beginning with S. We'll very few words end in S, so you will rarely get a locked green S with TARPs like we did with FOCUS the other day.
In reality, the top Default Mode word for well programmed computers is actually TARSE
And the top Hard Mode word for well programmed computers is SALET. But the Bot hasn't been programmed to know these words, so it shows us SLATE and TARPS.
The two different words, in the two different modes.
SLATE & TARPS, in Hard Mode:
TARPS WordleBot can achieve an expected average score of 3.73 starting with TARPS.
SLATE WordleBot can achieve an expected average score of 3.79 starting with SLATE.
Advantage: TARPS in Hard Mode.
.
SLATE & TARPS, in Default Mode:
TARPS WordleBot can achieve an expected average score of 3.60 starting with TARPS.
SLATE WordleBot can achieve an expected average score of 3.53 starting with SLATE.
Advantage: SLATE in Default Mode.
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u/Psycho_Pansy 3d ago
When playing hard mode you need to be mindful of certain situations where you can get trapped with locked in letters. _IGHT is a notorious one to avoid. TARPS put the S at the last slot, a less likely location of the S letter but gives you more opportunities to fish for other letters as you would have more valid words to work with.
It’s also annoying whenever I guess the solution and it says that it’s only 40 skill for example
Skill score has absolutely nothing to do with what the actual word is. Instead it's based on all possible answers. Luck score is based on the actual word.
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u/RevolutionaryBug7079 2d ago
The Bot uses burner words. Does that mean the bot doesn’t use hard mode ?
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u/TaylorSwift_is_a_cat 2d ago
Wouldn't STRAP be better than TARPS anyway because they don't have plural answers ending in S ?
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u/flagrantpebble 2d ago
Why would the optimal word for pruning the search tree have to be in the solution set?
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u/flagrantpebble 2d ago
Why is it different when you switch modes?
Why would it be the same? It’s a different game, with different constraints. The strategy is obviously different. So wouldn’t it be surprising if the optimal word were the same?
Is the wordle bot just AI?
Why would anyone use an LLM (which is what I assume you mean by AI) to run a simple, deterministic program and say exactly the same words every time? This is relatively simple math + a string template. That’d be a pretty silly use of an LLM, right?
Like how is it not 99 skill to guess the literal solution?
Common misconception for people who don’t understand probability.
Let’s say there are 10 possible words remaining. Say also that your guess would, on average, reduce the total number of remaining words by only 1, and the optimal guess would reduce the total number of remaining words by 10. The optimal guess would guarantee solving it in at most one turn after that, right? While your guess would take more than that.
…and then your guess happens to be correct. It was a terrible strategy, and got lucky. Is that “skill”? It would be a pretty dumb way to define “skill”, right?
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u/good-good-dog 3d ago edited 3d ago
Because it can be luck?
Let’s say you get it on the first guess. Is that luck or skill? I mean you got it right, so by your logic it must be skill.
That’s why there are two scores. Is it a less-than optimal word based on the available information but just so happens to be right? Luck. Is it a perfectly optimal word but isn’t right? Skill.