A fair daily format

The daily answer is derived deterministically from the date rather than chosen for each visitor. Refreshing the page, changing browsers, or clearing progress does not change which Pokémon belongs to that day.

Progress is stored locally, so ShadowDex does not need an account to remember today’s guesses. The same device can reopen the page and continue from the remaining attempts.

Use guesses as information

Before entering a name, describe the outline in plain terms: approximate body plan, posture, major appendages, and whether the design looks symmetrical. Then compare that description with the Pokémon you are considering.

A wrong guess does not provide type or generation hints, so broad observation matters more than guessing common species early. Save attempts until a name has a visible feature that supports it.

When the answer is revealed

Compare the colour artwork with the silhouette and notice which feature you overlooked. That short explanation to yourself is the useful part of a missed daily puzzle.

For more practice, the free-play silhouette mode uses the same visual treatment across complete, type-specific, and generation-specific pools.