Austin dad's creation of 'Wordle Junior' garners 80,000 users

AUSTIN, Texas - It has been five months since Austinite Praneeth Mudiganti created Wordle Jr., a kid-friendly game based on Wordle, a viral game where users have the chance to guess a five-letter word in six tries daily.

"The game just took off," said Mudiganti. "I was really surprised. I didn't think it would get here," he said.

He originally created the game for his 9-year-old daughter Ria, who found Wordle just a little too tough. Taking matters into his own hands, Mudiganti created Wordle Jr. with the help of his daughter.

Wordle Jr. is a version of the popular game for kids that allows players to solve a four-letter word with seven chances. Players even have the chance to use hints to solve the word.

"I wanted to show her that, you know, we can actually build games ourselves. The reason I wanted to do it was like I wanted to get her interested in technology and like coding and stuff like that," said Mudiganti.

What was supposed to be a game for just close friends and family exploded in users. Since its creation in February, Wordle Jr. has garnered 80,000 unique users from more than 150 countries.

"My favorite part about this game, I think, is just knowing that there are thousands of people playing this game every day all around the world," he said.

Mudiganti says he’s received such positive feedback from players on how much they love the game. A game he still plays every single day.

He hopes the game continues to bring people joy just like it does for him and his daughter.

"I'm looking forward to reaching 100,000 users," he said.