Plain #5 recap for Thursday, October 22, 2026

We checked the official archive for Plain #5 on 2026-10-25, after New York midnight had closed that puzzle. Four direct estimates, including a year. Only the exact year is Dialed on a year prompt. The day used 3 “name the closest thing” rounds and 4 “estimate the number” rounds. That mix is not fixed. Do not assume every day is five names and two numbers.

Original night-flight illustration of a plane climbing past a city, used as a section break — Original illustration. Not a screenshot of playplain.app.

What the day asked

This is a category overview, not a copy of the official answer list. Open the official Plain #5 answers for all seven prompts, targets and solutions. Below we discuss only three selected examples in our own words.

Plain #5, checked 2026-10-25
Category	Round type
Guess the Year	Estimate a number
Landmarks by Numbers	Estimate a number
Distance from Tokyo	Name the closest thing
Everyday Numbers	Estimate a number
Country Population	Name the closest thing
What It Sold For	Estimate a number
America's Top 100	Name the closest thing

Why those results sit where they do

Guess the Year. Year rounds use a year gap, not the ratio formula. Exact year is Dialed; within 3 years is Close. Source credited by the official archive: apple.com.
Landmarks by Numbers. Main residence, not the whole complex. Source credited by the official archive: whitehouse.gov.
Distance from Tokyo. A one-kilometre miss on 7,500 km is far inside 1%. Source credited by the official archive: wikidata.org.

The ratio rule is points = round(100 × e^(−2 × |ln(answer ÷ target)|)), with a +25 Dialed bonus and doubled Golden Round. Years are the exception: the official rules say up to 3 years off is Close, and only the exact year is Dialed. We do not infer unpublished year point values or a player's final altitude from the archive.

Keep going

Five colored scoring chips from chartreuse to pink on a dark panel — Dialed, Close, Warm, Cold, and Miss use the same colors as the scoring guide.

Questions this page answers

Is Plain #5 still playable for a score?

No. The official FAQ says past puzzles cannot be replayed for a score. This page is a recap of the published archive, not a second chance at the leaderboard.

Where did these figures come from?

The selected examples were checked against https://playplain.app/archive/5 on 2026-10-25. Open that official page for the full answer list.