At nerdle, we've always been about fair play, numbers, and a bit of good-natured challenge. But today, we're facing our toughest equation yet — one that could change the way we all play.
A new proposal is making its way through the digital corridors of power, suggesting that tariffs should apply to online games and puzzles — even if they're free! Yes, you read that correctly. Free games like nerdle could be hit with a tax just for existing.
That's why we're throwing our full support behind FIRST: Fairness in Internet Recreation and Software Trade. This campaign is fighting back against these unfair tariffs, ensuring that online puzzles remain accessible to all. But until we know the outcome, we have to prepare for the worst…
What Does This Mean for Nerdle?
If these tariffs go ahead, we've been advised that we'll need to "reduce the taxable value" of nerdle by 20%. That seems to mean we'll have to remove 20% of the tiles from all our games.
Micro nerdle has a 5x6 grid i.e. 30 tiles, so we would remove 6 whole tiles. Unfortunately that's one line plus one tile, meaning that the new micro grid would look like this and we're still working on a plan for row 5.
The situation for classic would be even worse. A 20% tariff would mean removing 9.6 tiles from the grid:
This cloud does at least have one silver lining. Maxi nerdle has 10 tiles per row and we can apply the tariff vertically, which would mean the game effectively becomes what you currently know as classic. But our daily maxi nerdlers will lose out on what is today one of our most challenging games.
How Can You Help?
We urge all nerdlers to join us in supporting FIRST. Together, we can stop these unnecessary tariffs before they force us to rethink the way we play.
Sign up today to become a FIRST Outspoken Online Liberator and support the campaign. Please spread the word — the campaign needs momentum before the end of this month. We need as many April FOOLS as possible!
Team nerdle
