{"id":883676,"date":"2025-12-21T19:32:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T19:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz"},"modified":"2025-12-21T19:32:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T19:32:14","slug":"wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/","title":{"rendered":"Wordle creator almost named his game Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz.jpg\" \/> <\/p>\n<p>\nIt&#8217;s funny to think about names. If circumstances were just a tiny bit different, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BkUVRGCidjE\">Chuck Spadina<\/a> could have been up on stage winning over E3 by telling it how breathtaking it is; we might have all have been round the arcade <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/donkey-kong-could-have-been-called-kong-dong-nintendo-court-documents-state\">giggling at a Kong Dong cabinet<\/a>; or perhaps sitting down over breakfast for a quick game of Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThat&#8217;s the unlikely title developer Josh Wardle once considered for his daily word game phenomenon Wordle before settling on the one that&#8217;s since become a household name. &#8220;Had I called the game Mr. Bugs,&#8221; Wardle admitted to an audience at the recent <a href=\"https:\/\/config.figma.com\/agenda\/session?session_id=d418949a2beb&amp;lang=en\">Figma Config conference<\/a>, &#8220;I like to think it would not have been successful.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWardle was speaking during a presentation detailing Wordle&#8217;s long development (thanks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/24186786\/wordle-original-name-mr-bugs-wordy-nugz-wardle\">The Verge<\/a>), revealing some of decisions he&#8217;d made along the way. That journey began in 2013 when, while trying to make something that might appeal to his partner, he mashed together words and Mastermind to make an Android game. Perhaps surprisingly, the core of Wordle was there right from the start, giving players six turns to guess a five-letter word.\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s funny to think about names. If circumstances were just a tiny bit different, Chuck Spadina could have been up on stage winning over E3 by telling it how breathtaking it is; we might have all have been round the arcade giggling at a Kong Dong cabinet; or perhaps sitting down over breakfast for a quick game of Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz. That&#8217;s the unlikely title developer Josh Wardle once considered for his daily word game phenomenon Wordle before settling on the one that&#8217;s since become a household name. &#8220;Had I called the game Mr. Bugs,&#8221; Wardle admitted to an audience at the recent Figma Config conference, &#8220;I like to think it would not have been successful.&#8221; Wardle was speaking during a presentation detailing Wordle&#8217;s&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":883677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[157,75,159,59,1928,137,54,8871,6849],"class_list":["post-883676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer","tag-android","tag-indie","tag-ios","tag-pc","tag-puzzle","tag-simulation","tag-single-player","tag-text","tag-wordle"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Wordle creator almost named his game Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It&#039;s funny to think about names. If circumstances were just a tiny bit different, Chuck Spadina could have been up on stage winning over E3 by telling it\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wordle creator almost named his game Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It&#039;s funny to think about names. If circumstances were just a tiny bit different, Chuck Spadina could have been up on stage winning over E3 by telling it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-21T19:32:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Wordle creator almost named his game Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-21T19:32:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":205,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Android\",\"indie\",\"iOS\",\"PC\",\"Puzzle\",\"Simulation\",\"single-player\",\"Text\",\"Wordle\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Eurogamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\\\/\",\"name\":\"Wordle creator almost named his game Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-21T19:32:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"It's funny to think about names. If circumstances were just a tiny bit different, Chuck Spadina could have been up on stage winning over E3 by telling it\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":270,\"caption\":\"Wordle creator almost named his game Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Wordle creator almost named his game Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wordle creator almost named his game Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz | Arcader News","description":"It's funny to think about names. If circumstances were just a tiny bit different, Chuck Spadina could have been up on stage winning over E3 by telling it","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wordle creator almost named his game Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz | Arcader News","og_description":"It's funny to think about names. If circumstances were just a tiny bit different, Chuck Spadina could have been up on stage winning over E3 by telling it","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2025-12-21T19:32:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":270,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"Wordle creator almost named his game Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz","datePublished":"2025-12-21T19:32:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/"},"wordCount":205,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz.jpg","keywords":["Android","indie","iOS","PC","Puzzle","Simulation","single-player","Text","Wordle"],"articleSection":["Eurogamer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/","name":"Wordle creator almost named his game Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-21T19:32:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"It's funny to think about names. If circumstances were just a tiny bit different, Chuck Spadina could have been up on stage winning over E3 by telling it","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz.jpg","width":480,"height":270,"caption":"Wordle creator almost named his game Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wordle-creator-almost-named-his-game-mr-bugs-wordys-nugz\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Wordle creator almost named his game Mr Bugs Wordys Nugz"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1434675,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883676\/revisions\/1434675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}