How to Play The Curator — Full Rules & Strategy Guide

The Curator is a free daily logic puzzle that uses historical scenes instead of words. Each scene comes from a specific era, and a few of the objects in the scene are anachronisms — they belong to a later or earlier time period. Your job is to identify them.

How the game works

1. The puzzle opens with a scene and a stated era ("Victorian study," "1920s newsroom," etc.).
2. Click any object you believe is anachronistic.
3. Right answers remove the object. Wrong answers cost a guess.
4. Three wrong picks ends the round. Otherwise, find every anachronism to win.

What kinds of anachronisms appear

The Curator picks plausible items — things that visually fit but historically do not. Common categories include:

• Plastics — anything obviously plastic in a pre-1900s scene is suspicious.
• Foods — many foods spread globally only after specific dates (chilis, tomatoes, potatoes).
• Technology — wristwatches, ballpoint pens, electric lamps each have first-availability years.
• Branding — modern fonts, glossy printing, and synthetic dyes give items away.

Strategy

• Read the era description carefully. "Late 1800s" and "early 1900s" rule out very different things.
• Scan the scene for clear modern materials first. Plastic and synthetic colors are usually obvious.
• If you suspect a food, check its global spread date. The Curator rewards food history knowledge.
• When stuck, click the lowest-risk suspect. Wrong picks cost a guess but not the round.

Play today's puzzle: /daily/the-curator.