Description: A practical guide to the free daily trading puzzle: how to win, plan the shortest route, handle one-use traders, and avoid losing the third star.
Quick answer: Get the day's prize into your bag using the fewest trades possible without pressing Undo. Work backward from the prize before you make your first swap. The official tutorial has a guaranteed two-trade solution: florist, then baker. Official rules
What counts as winning?
Play Paperclip or use its itch.io page. You start with one red paperclip. Every trader accepts certain goods and gives something else; each trader can be used only once. The moment the prize enters your bag, you win. A shortest route without Undo earns three stars; the same route with Undo earns two; a longer successful route earns one. There is no countdown timer. Rules
A reliable start-to-finish strategy
- Read Goal and note the displayed shortest-route length. Inspect all stalls before trading.
- Find the traders who supply the prize. Trace their requirements backward until you reach goods obtainable from the paperclip.
- Check the route in the other direction too. A trader requiring two items must receive both; a single item cannot be spent twice.
- If Market hours appears, schedule closing stalls before their deadline and wait until opening stalls become available. If Pick one appears, choose just one of that trader's two deals.
- Execute the counted route. If you explored with Undo, use Start over and replay the successful shortest sequence cleanly for three stars.
Walkthrough table — spoilers
| Situation | Exact action or decision | Outcome | Source/version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tutorial balloon | Paperclip → florist (ribbon) → baker (balloon) | Win in 2 trades | Developer example, checked Oct 23, 2026 |
| Tempting marble route | Paperclip → potter → gardener or cobbler → final prize trader | 3 trades; still a win, not optimal | Developer example |
| Three-star run | Match the shortest count; never use Undo | ★★★ | Scoring |
| Two-star run | Match shortest count after using Undo | ★★ | Scoring |
| Friday, Oct 23, puzzle #8 | Aim for 6 trades to reach the cottage; allow only one deal per Pick one trader | Six-trade target confirmed; exact daily stall order unverified | Devlog |
| Stall clock | Count trades until a stall opens or closes | Prevent a route from expiring | Market hours |
| Dead end | Use Undo to investigate or Start over to restart | Recover and plan a clean run | Official tips |
Why the tutorial's two trades work
The baker gives the hot-air balloon in return for a ribbon. The florist takes your starting paperclip and hands over a ribbon, so florist → baker is sufficient. The potter gives a marble, but the gardener must turn that into a ribbon, or the cobbler must turn it into a button for the sailor. Either way the potter path takes three trades. The puzzle rewards a short dependency chain, not an apparently valuable item. Full six-trader example
Friday's new trap: Pick one
In the October 22 developer announcement, Friday's eighth daily puzzle was confirmed to have a cottage as its prize and a six-trade shortest route. Some traders show two side-by-side deals but complete only one; a route that tries to use both is impossible. The new rule comes with a short warm-up. The developer also announced a Sunday windmill Grand Fair with a ten-trade route. Those are official targets, not a claimed firsthand solution to the live board. Developer announcement
| Daily market | Shortest route |
|---|---|
| Monday / Tuesday | 5 trades |
| Wednesday / Thursday / Friday | 6 trades |
| Saturday | 7 trades |
| Sunday Grand Fair | 10 trades |
The daily market resets at midnight in your local time zone. Free bonus markets appear three days a week and have an eight-trade target with both special rules. Official FAQ
Controls, mistakes, and availability
Tap or click a trader to swap. With a keyboard, use Tab to navigate and Enter or Space to activate; the game also supports screen readers. Can trade now filters available stalls but does not guarantee that any of them is on the optimal path. If the game warns the prize is unreachable, Undo or restart. The daily is free; the current official one-time unlock is US$1.99, including Expert markets and the archive. Accessibility · Official pricing
Bottom line: Map the route from the prize backward, account for clocks and exclusive offers, and then execute the shortest sequence once without Undo. The live Friday sequence and all possible generated markets have not been directly replay-tested here.
Sources, checked 23 Oct 2026: Game, Rules, Friday devlog, Accessibility, Pricing.
