puzzlerzone
What Gemdle is
Gemdle is a daily five-stone identification quiz that tests your eye for real mineral specimens. Each day, every player faces the same five stones: each appears as an authentic photo, and your job is to match it to the correct crystal, rock, or gemstone from four choices. After every answer, a short identification note explains the observable physical traits that point to the specimen, including colour, lustre, hardness, streak, and crystal habit. The focus stays on science and observation rather than metaphysical meanings. Beyond the daily puzzle, an endless quiz mode offers unlimited practice, while a guided identifier lets you filter stones by colour, lustre, hardness, and transparency. An A-Z guide covers 250+ stones with photos and properties, and colour browsing is available across 12 categories. The game is free, requires no account, and draws specimen photography from Wikimedia Commons.
How to play
Open the daily challenge to see five stone photos. For each stone, study the image and choose the name you think matches from four options. Once you answer, read the identification note to learn why that specimen has its particular colour, lustre, hardness, streak, or crystal habit. After completing the round, build your streak and share your score. To keep practising, switch to the endless quiz mode for more specimens. If you are unsure where to start, use the guided identifier to narrow the field by colour, lustre, hardness, and transparency, or browse the A-Z guide to compare the observable traits of different stones.
Tips
- When two stones look similar in colour, compare lustre and streak; those traits often separate lookalikes more reliably than hue alone.
- Use the guided identifier before guessing to see how hardness, transparency, and colour combine to reduce the possibilities.
- Remember Mohs hardness as a clue: diamond sits at 10 while sulfur is far lower, so a specimen that can be scratched easily is unlikely to be a top-rank gem.
Common questions
Is Gemdle free to play?
Yes. The game is completely free and does not require an account or sign-up. You can play the daily five-stone puzzle, the endless quiz, and all reference tools without any payment or login.
How does the daily puzzle work?
The daily puzzle resets every day, and all players receive the same five stones. Each stone is shown as a real specimen photo with four possible names, and after answering you get a short note about its physical identification traits.
Can the guided identifier identify any stone from a photo?
No. The guided identifier filters the stone database by observable traits like colour, lustre, hardness, and transparency, then returns a ranked shortlist of candidates. It does not use image recognition to identify a stone from a photo alone.
Where do the photos and stone data come from?
Specimen photos are openly licensed images from Wikimedia Commons, and stone property data is drawn from Wikipedia and Wikidata. The game focuses on observable physical properties rather than metaphysical meanings.