Blorbo's Arcade · 60 seconds

Stamp Duty: the inspection line

Shirts ride a conveyor past Blorbo's desk. You stamp each one APPROVED or REJECTED. Some have three sleeves. Some say WOLRD. One is, inexplicably, on a hamster. You have sixty seconds and 3 strikes.

  • Free, no sign-up
  • 20 defects to find
  • Keyboard, mouse or thumb
  • No-timer mode
Clock inHow it works

The line is moving.

Approve the good shirts. Reject the weird ones. Blorbo will be watching, because that is his whole job.

Same belt for everyone today. A new batch tomorrow.

← or A rejects, → or D approves, P pauses. On a phone: the big buttons, or swipe. Sound is off until you turn it on.

The rules

How a shift works

  1. Shirts ride the belt from the left. When one rolls into the DESK zone it shows up big on Blorbo's desk, and that's the one you're stamping. Shirts further up the belt have to wait their turn.
  2. Fine shirt? Approve it. Anything weird? Reject it. A shirt that leaves the DESK zone unstamped ships, which counts as approving it.
  3. A correct stamp is worth 10 points, times your combo. Every 5 right in a row adds one to the combo, up to x5.
  4. Approving a defect is a strike. Three strikes and the shift ends early. Rejecting a perfectly good shirt costs 5 points and its feelings.
  5. The belt speeds up for 60 seconds. Early defects are obvious. Later ones are not.

Controls

Stamping, technically

Reject← A or the pink button, or swipe left
Approve→ D or the teal button, or swipe right
PauseP or Esc. The belt also waits if you switch tabs or scroll away.
AgainR on the results card
SlowerRelaxed pace: a slower belt and 90 seconds. Described mode: no timer at all.

Ranks

Your title, by the end of the shift

  1. Intern

    Everyone starts here

  2. Junior Inspector

    500+ pts

  3. Senior Squinter

    2,000+ pts. Badge included.

  4. Chief Gift Inspector (acting)

    3,000+ pts

  • First Shift on the LineFinish a run of Stamp Duty.
  • Senior SquinterScore 2,000 in Stamp Duty.
  • Defect Field GuideSee all 20 defect types in Stamp Duty, including the hamster.

The Defect Field Guide

Twenty ways a shirt can go wrong

Every defect you meet on the belt gets filed here, with a note from Blorbo. The obvious ones show up early. The devious ones only turn up late in a shift, so you have to last long enough to meet them. Two are very rare: most shifts have neither, and no shift has both. One involves a hamster.

0 of 20 filed

File all 20 to get Blorbo a real rubber stamp.

  • Obvious

    ???

    Common. Count the arms.

  • Obvious

    ???

    Common. Try tilting your head.

  • Obvious

    ???

    Common. Read it slowly. Then read it again.

  • Obvious

    ???

    Common. Look up. Further.

  • Obvious

    ???

    Common. Somebody forgot to replace something.

  • Uncommon

    ???

    Uncommon. Hold it up to a mirror. Or don't.

  • Uncommon

    ???

    Uncommon. The words are there. Probably.

  • Uncommon

    ???

    Uncommon. Someone on the line takes their coffee here.

  • Uncommon

    ???

    Uncommon. Something is ____.

  • Uncommon

    ???

    Uncommon. One of these sleeves is not like the other.

  • Tricky

    ???

    Tricky. Count the letters. All of them.

  • Tricky

    ???

    Tricky. A letter is missing. Which one? That's the job.

  • Tricky

    ???

    Tricky. Is the middle in the middle?

  • Tricky

    ???

    Tricky. sOmEtHiNg Is OfF.

  • Tricky

    ???

    Tricky. Read every word. Every every word.

  • Devious

    ???

    Devious. Off by a hair. A very small hair.

  • Devious

    ???

    Devious. Some letters are not on speaking terms.

  • Devious

    ???

    Devious. Check near the hem. Bring your eye.

  • Very rare

    ???

    ???: very rare. Someone was napping on the job.

  • Very rare

    ???

    ???: very rare. Involves a hamster.

Questions, stamped

Are these real shirts?

No. No real shirts were misprinted. Blorbo made these up.

Is there a version without a timer?

Yes. Turn on Described mode before you clock in. The belt stops at every shirt, each one is described in words, and a batch is 30 shirts with no clock at all. It keeps its own best score.

What is today's batch?

Everyone gets the same belt on the same day, on a phone or a laptop, numbered from Batch #1. Play it as often as you like; your best for the day is kept. Free play gives you a fresh random belt every shift (on a phone, free play skips the very tiniest defects).

Where do my scores go?

Into this browser, and nowhere else. There are no leaderboards and no accounts. A challenge link carries only your score, the batch number and your strike count.

What are the gold shirts?

Real designs from the shop. One in eight shirts on the belt is a gold card with a REAL sticker. They're never defective, so approving one is always right, and it's worth triple points.

What do I win?

Badges and costumes for Blorbo. Score 2,000 and he gets an inspector's visor. Spot all 20 defect types and he gets a real rubber stamp. Nothing here costs money, and nothing here is a coupon.

Why does Blorbo have one eye?

He says the other one is on assignment. We have stopped asking.

Shift over?

More from the arcade

Blorbo runs a whole arcade. All of it is free, none of it has coins, and he is watching every game.