If you haven't yet heard of Wordle, you've definitely at least seen Wordle. It's the game that ends in people sharing what looks like a pre-schooler's attempt at visually describing Tetris, and is in fact a daily word challenge that has taken the world by storm.

So much so that the New York Times decided to buy it. For seven figures.

The New York Times itself discussed the purchase, reiterating to terrified Wordle addicts that, at least for the time being, the game would remain free for all.

The purchase, announced by The Times on Monday, reflects the growing importance of games, like crosswords and Spelling Bee, in the company’s quest to increase digital subscriptions to 10 million by 2025.

Wordle was acquired from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.

The operative word there is "initially", which is more than five letters and so doesn't fit in with the Wordle makeup. At least not in this Wordle addicts opinion. So it will remain to be seen how long before the game is locked behind a paywall, which is a real shame as it has been something of a nice distraction while the world burns.

It's also been interesting to watch how many people still found ways to complain about an entirely free game that was utterly inoffensive. Serious popcorn-slash-head-scratching stuff at times.

For fans of the game who may have missed the Aussie spin on it, click here.