Rules
How to Play Shiftoku
Shiftoku is a daily five digit lock puzzle. You choose the starting code, then shift connected lock wheels up or down until the board matches the hidden target.
1. Enter a five digit start code
Every puzzle begins with any five digits you choose. Repeated digits and zeroes are allowed, so codes like 22222, 10290, or 98765 are all valid. Your first entry is not expected to be correct; it creates the first history row and gives you the opening colour clues.
Think of this as setting the lock before you start turning it. Once the start code is entered, the puzzle becomes a sequence of shifts from that position.
2. Select lock wheels to shift
Tap one or more digits on the board, choose up or down, then confirm the shift. A selected digit turns around the number ring: 9 shifted up becomes 0, and 0 shifted down becomes 9.
You can select a single wheel for a small adjustment, or select neighbouring wheels when several positions need to move together.
3. Connected selections set the shift amount
The number of connected wheels you select controls how far they move. One selected wheel shifts by 1. Two connected wheels shift by 2. Three connected wheels shift by 3, and so on.
For example, if you select three adjacent wheels and choose up, each of those three digits increases by 3. The corner badges on the board show the shift amount before you confirm.
Three connected wheels are selected, so each selected wheel will shift by +3.
4. Use the colour clues
After each move, the history row shows how close each digit is to the target digit in that position. Green means exact. Other colours show increasing distance around the digit ring, so they tell you closeness rather than the exact answer.
Colour clues are position based. A clue on the third wheel only describes the third hidden digit; it does not mean that digit belongs somewhere else.
Green is exact. The other colours show increasing distance from the hidden digit in that same position.
5. Solve within the move limit
The daily puzzle gives you up to eight attempts. The starting code counts as the first attempt, then each confirmed shift adds another row to your history.
You win when all five digits match the hidden lock code. If you run out of attempts, the puzzle is recorded as failed for that day.
Daily locks, Practice Vault, and saving
There is one main daily puzzle. Your progress is saved in this browser, so you can leave and come back without losing the current board, history, streak, or result.
The Practice Vault lets you replay training locks. Practice locks are useful for warmups, but they are kept separate from the daily streak so your old solves do not rewrite today's result.
A new daily lock becomes available each day. If the date changes while you still have the site open, refresh or return to Today to load the current puzzle.