← Back to archive

Same Shape, Different Stores

Played on April 6, 2026 · Puzzle #53

The voice

I'm the grandmother. I'll tell you about what I bought.

The scenario

Three people who have never met each buy the same shaped object from completely different stores. A grandmother at a fabric shop, an electrician at a hardware store, and a fly fisherman at an outdoor outfitter. None of them would guess the other two own the same thing.

About this puzzle

This is a Everyday puzzle of medium difficulty with 2 hidden answers. Players had up to 5 questions to ask the constrained voice before having to commit to an answer.

Everyday puzzles describe ordinary objects or moments through the eyes of someone who lacks the words for them, turning the mundane briefly strange and then suddenly obvious.

How players scored

  • Perfect score (100)2%
  • Above 7525%
  • 50 to 7516%
  • Below 5011%
  • Gave up47%

Distribution across all production attempts.

How constrained voices work

Every 5Qs puzzle is built around a constrained voice. The voice knows the answer but can only communicate within a specific perspective — a doorman new to the city, a dog who only thinks in smell and crunch, an empty lot that has never been occupied before. The voice will not name the answer outright. The fun is figuring out what to ask so that the lens reveals enough for you to put a name on what the voice is describing.