New York Times takedown domino effect hits nearly 2000 Wordle clones

The New York Times has issued a takedown notice to Reactle, a Wordle clone, which has meant around 1900 other versions of the game have now been taken down.

Reactle was an open-source project created by an individual, the brilliantly-named Chase Wackerfuss, that contained instructions on how to create Wordle spin-offs, such as variations in different languages ​​or themed answers. The code repository is no longer available on Github, following the DMCA takedown notice from the NYT.

“I write to submit a revised DMCA Notice regarding an infringing repository (and hundreds of forked repositories) hosted by Github that instruct users how to infringe The New York Times Co.'s ('The Times') copyright in its immensely popular Wordle game and create knock-off copies of the same,” reads the notice, as reported by 404 Medium.

“Unfortunately, hundreds of individuals have followed these instructions and published infringing Wordle knock-off games that The Times has spent the past month removing,” the notice continues, arguing “gameplay is copied exactly in the repository, and the owner instructs others how to knock off the game and create an identical word game”.

The notice adds that Github must delete any projects which have forked Reactle, stating they also infringe on The NYT's copyright and were made in “clearly bad faith”. Looking at an archive of Reactle's Github page, the project was forked 1900 times, meaning all 1900 of these projects will have been served a DMCA takedown notice too. Some of these include Colordle, which asks you to guess the hexadecimal color code of the site's background, and Squirdle, which tests Pokémon knowledge.

The NYT has cracked down on Wordle clones since it bought the original game in 2022. Shortly after it bought the game, it shut down Wordle Archive, a site which hosted older puzzles for people to play. Last year, the company debuted a new game called Connections, which drew comparisons to the long-running BBC quiz show Only Connect by host Victoria Coren-Mitchell. The NYT responded, calling Connections “unique” and “handcrafted.”