Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Shople?
A free daily guessing game. One mystery brand, ten guesses, eight clues: headquarters, founding year, industry and sub-industry, employee count, listing status, revenue, and where to shop for it.
- When does a new puzzle come out?
Midnight Eastern, every day. Same puzzle for every player worldwide, nobody gets an early look.
- Is Shople free to play?
Yep. No account, no paywall, no in-app purchases.
- Do I need to create an account?
No. Just show up and play. Your stats live in your browser, not tied to any login.
- Where are my stats stored?
Locally, in your browser. Games played, win rate, streak, guess distribution, none of it leaves your device.
- What happens if I clear my browser data?
Your stats reset. There’s no account to recover them from, so screenshot your streak if it matters to you.
- Why can't I just type any brand name?
Guesses come from our list of guessable brands, picked from the dropdown. Keeps every guess to a brand that actually has complete, sourced data behind it, so every tile means something real.
- Why do I see bands instead of exact revenue and employee numbers?
Glad you asked. A lot of brand financials are genuinely contested, restated, or not directly comparable across public and private brands. Bands keep the game fair and skip the daily argument over whose number is “right.” Exact figures show up on the answer card once you finish, and on that brand’s profile page.
- How accurate is the data?
Every answer is sourced from a primary document, an SEC filing, an annual report, or an official investor relations page, for revenue and headcount. Founding years are cross-checked against two sources. A handful of well-known private brands don’t file public financials, those are clearly labeled as estimates.
- I think a brand's data is wrong. How do I report it?
Hit the contact link in the footer. We review same-day and fix or clarify anything that’s actually off.
- What's the difference between "Private" and "Subsidiary" in the Listing tile?
Private means independently owned, not publicly traded. Subsidiary means owned by a parent company. Close enough that guessing one for the other turns the tile yellow instead of gray.
- What counts as an "adjacent" industry for a yellow tile?
Industries that sit next to each other on our map, Beverages and Restaurants & Fast Food, for example. Full logic’s on the how-to-play page.
- How do hints work?
Two, both optional. After guess 4, a pop-up offers three clues about the brand: its HQ city, its sub-industry, or a pair of relevant keywords. Pick one, or keep guessing and pick later. After guess 8, a second pop-up offers the two you passed on plus the brand’s signature product. Pick one more.
- Do hints affect my stats?
Not your win or loss, but using one marks your share grid with a 💡 so anyone you share with knows you got a boost.
- Can I play past puzzles?
Yep, the archive has every past puzzle, playable any time, no spoilers for today’s.
- How do I share my results without spoiling the answer?
Copy your result grid after finishing. Just colored squares and your guess count, no brand name, no clue values.
- Is Shople affiliated with any of the brands in the game?
No. Independent, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by anyone featured. Names are used only to identify them for gameplay.
- Do you show ads?
A few, kept deliberately minimal, so the site can stay free. We don’t run ads that influence which brand gets picked as an answer, that would defeat the whole point.
- Will there be more games like this?
Shople’s the first in a small lineup of daily guessing games we’re building on the same engine. More on the way.