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Two People With A Tape

Played on May 13, 2026 · Puzzle #85

The voice

I'm the hiker. Two strangers are doing something serious to one specific tree.

The scenario

Two strangers with a long tape and a clipboard showed up on my usual trail this morning. They walked right past all the other trees. I stopped to watch what they were doing.

About this puzzle

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

Nature-Science puzzles ask the player to identify something from the natural world or a scientific concept, often through the perceptions of a non-human voice or an observer who lacks the technical vocabulary.

How players scored

  • Perfect score (100)3%
  • Above 7517%
  • 50 to 7521%
  • Below 5016%
  • Gave up44%

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.