Playing with Proverbs: Izaga Meet Wordle

In recent years, Wordle has taken the world by storm, engaging millions of people each day as they guess a five-letter English word. I am one of the word nerds who plays Wordle on a daily basis, sharing scores (and the occasional emoji if someone guesses the answer in less than three 👌) on a WhatsApp group with friends and family. 

Wordle is simple, engaging and keeps you coming back for more by drip feeding you a new word to guess every 24 hours. While this is all good and well for English and, for example, French speakers (my mother-in-law plays the French version, Le Mot), it got me thinking about a game for African language speakers. Zulu is my go-to African language but developing a Wordle-style game for an African language like Zulu is trickier than it sounds.

The challenge of creating Wordle in Zulu

Unlike English or French, Zulu is an agglutinative language, meaning that words and sentences are created by joining multiple elements – such as prefixes, roots and suffixes – into a single, meaningful unit. As a fitting example, let’s take the Zulu root –dlala, meaning “play”. By attaching different prefixes and suffixes, -dlala can form a number of different words and sentences:

• Uku-dlala (“to play”)
• Uku-dlal-ana (“to play with each other”)
• Um-dlal-o (“a game”)
• Um-dlal-i (“player”)
• Aba-dlal-i (“players”)
• Baya-dlala (“they are playing”)
• Si-dlalil-e (“we have played”)

Structural complexities, common in Zulu and other agglutinative African languages, like Xhosa, Swahili, and Yoruba, complicate a comfortable fit into Wordle’s concise, fixed-length format. This prompted me to think – how could we develop a Wordle-style game that was engaging enough to entice everyday users but flexible enough to accommodate the linguistic variations of these kinds of languages?

Proverbs as the Perfect Fit

Zulu proverbs (“izaga” in the Zulu language) are short, memorable sayings that offer guidance and valuable lessons. Deeply rooted in everyday life, they combine concise phrasing with rich cultural meaning. This made them perfect for a daily puzzle challenge. Examples of Zulu proverbs include:

• “Izandla ziyagezana.” (“The hands wash each other.”)
  Meaning: Cooperation and mutual support are essential to achieve shared goals.
• “Inja iyawaqeda amanzi ngolimi.” (“A dog finishes water by licking.”)
  Meaning: Perseverance and patience will ultimately lead to success. This speaks to the power of small steps in achieving a big goal.

From Concept to Gameplay 

With the focus on izaga, the next step was to define and refine the gameplay:

1. Each day players receive a puzzle with hidden words representing parts of a well-known Zulu proverb.
2. They attempt to reveal the proverb by guessing letters.
3. If players guess a letter correctly it is shown in green and the letter is added wherever it appears in the proverb.
4. If they guess a letter incorrectly, it is shown in red. 
5. After successfully solving the puzzle (or incorrectly guessing five times), the full proverb is revealed along with an explanation of its meaning.
6. Like Wordle, players can get help (by clicking the lightbulb in the menu), see their stats (by clicking the stats bar) and share the results of the puzzle once they have completed it.

Click here to try the game for yourself.

Early Feedback and Impact

Initial testing and feedback have shown promising signs. We launched the game in mid-January 2025, promoting it solely through our iAfrika website.  From the launch of the game until the end of March we have welcomed 1,770 players.  Feedback from just over 10% (179) of them revealed that:

• The game is challenging: 81% of players said they didn’t get the correct answer.
• On a scale of 1 (easy) to 7 (difficult), it received an average difficulty rating of 4.9.
• Despite the challenge, the game is engaging. 72% of players said they would play again, which is very encouraging.

The Development Journey

Creating the Zulu proverbs game was an exciting challenge with contributions from multiple practitioners, including Zulu-speaking language and cultural specialists, Siboniso Langa and Thabile Zulu and technical support from developer, Dagmar Timler. 

We needed to ensure cultural authenticity and accuracy. Working closely with the language and cultural specialists, we compiled an extensive list of proverbs and verified their meanings with Zulu-speaking communities.

The next step was technological development. We developed a basic prototype and tested it with a small Zulu-speaking audience. This gave us valuable feedback on things like game design, user experience, gameplay and missing features. In developing the game we used a combination of basic technologies such as: 

• Google Sheets and .csv files to allow non-technical people to add and edit proverbs
• HTML as it runs in any browser and across devices (phone, tablet, computer)

Gamification for Learning and Sharing Cultural Knowledge

Gamification taps into basic human desires for play, achievement, and competition. By combining these elements with aspects of culture and language, we were able to create a motivator for learning and engagement. More specifically gamification:

• Promotes learning: Offering daily puzzles encourages players to return regularly, reinforcing learning through repetition.
• Boosts cultural understanding: By providing the meaning of each proverb, the game promotes understanding and further exploration of the richness of symbolic language.
• Encourages social sharing: Players share interesting proverbs and results with friends and family.

Expansion to other African Languages and Regions

The potential of this model goes far beyond a single language or culture. The same concept and technology can easily be adapted to include proverbs and sayings from other African languages and cultures. The game has been designed to scale seamlessly across languages and regions. All that’s required is populating a spreadsheet with proverbs and their explanations, following which it’s ready to launch.

With over 2,000 languages spoken across Africa, there’s great potential to create culturally relevant, gamified experiences that promote learning and celebrate the diversity of African cultures and languages.