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It’s a 3
That’s great. I could see it was a 3 but I couldn’t explain how I knew until I scrolled.
The pattern that the 7 above was also clipped revealing the edge of the 3 also was missed made it click.
Neat!
I wouldn’t have caught the 6 over there was clipped though. That’s some analysis right there. Thorough.
The BBD year is 2026 and you’ve already opened the can. Man, if we were roommates and you’d called me downstairs for this…
…I’d hope you’d be just as curious as me as to the mystery digit!
Pass the joint and
lemmelemmy have a look at it.
It is a 5.
Nothing left to guess. All others can be ruled out with the dots that we actually see.
2 can be ruled out because there is one dot wrong in the upper left corner.
3 can be ruled out because there is one dot wrong in the lower left corner.
7 can be ruled out because there is one dot wrong in the lower left corner.
I reckon it’s a 3 and the other visible 3 has a column missing as well.
Bottom 3 dots do not match.
Naniiii
I think it’s a 3, and I think the top one has also been cut off.
Nope, look at the bottom dots in the visible three. They don’t match.
It looks like it could be an 8.
No, it cannot be an 8 because of the dot in the top left corner. Compare it to the other 8 there.
The top left and bottom right dots should line up entirely but it’s a misprint so I don’t think an eight can be discounted entirely:
(I used a rectangle to overlay to show the alignment against a known straight line)
but it’s a misprint so I don’t think
OK so we need to align assumptions :-)
I am going with the assumption that an unknown amount is missing, but these dots that we can see are all in their correct places.
If you want to assume that the dots that we can see may be wrong, then I won’t discuss your conclusions any further.
They’re within the margin of error to be aligned as an eight but I dunno, maybe take this post a little less seriously and go outside? Yeesh.
I’d say 3, except that the 3 on the line above has a flat bottom line.
If it’s also missing some dots from the middle, it could be part of the second and third columns of a 2.
I still vote for 3.
The 7 above is also missing some dots on the right, so there’s an entire vertical strip of erased ink. The numbers are up to 5 dots wide, but the existing 3 only has 4 dots on the bottom. It’s possible that a fifth is supposed to be there one spot higher, matching the missing number, but it just got clipped by the erased part.
I’m convinced. I’m team 3.
Actually now I am too. The digits all seem to be normally 5 dots wide.
That’s a possibility.
My other argument, though, is that in 2026 February 28 is the end of a month, while March 28 is a random Saturday.
BBD (best by date) is going to be 1 year, or some other legally specified number of days, from the date of manufacturing/canning. It can fall on the end of a month, but not intentionally. 28-Mar-2025 was a Friday.
Ah yes, I’d say 2 is the most likely candidate
Edit: I’m on team 3 now thanks to radix’s comment
I say 5. Look at the 3 at the top. It has a flat bottom, while the one you want to know does not.
But look at the 3 closer. It’s 4 dots wide. It’s missing the leftmost column of dots.
That’s a fucking J lmao
Ah yes, the 29th of OJ
Best before date is not a used by date. You can eat something well after a best before date, it just might not be exactly the same as something “fresh”, but still edible. Used by is when there’s a chance for harm.
My vote is “3” even though it doesn’t match the 3 above it.
My vote is to taste and smell the fucking thing. This is what every chef in every kitchen you eat at has always done. That will tell you if it’s edible. BBD is a suggestion, so a few months out of date means wildly different things if it’s been kept at an average of 20c or 30c.
I’ve tasted shit that was 5 years past BBD. Didn’t taste good, but didn’t cause any harm. Trust your taste and smell to tell you what’s bad. Evolution spent millions of years tuning your senses.
Looks are also important. Botulism doesn’t have a taste or smell, but the can will often be swollen or at least pressurised, so never eat a swollen can.
A lowercase 8
Those printers have small heads and print (in this case) left to right. Most likely it is not missing dots in the same column, which discards the chance of a 5. I would say it is a 3.
If you bought more than one can, check the other ones, as most likely they are from the same batch.
From another angle: who cares! You ate it already, and the BBD year is 2026
who cares!
Well, me
Well, then I take that back. We sometimes care about things just because it is fun. Sorry if it sounded aggressive :)
😘
2 or 5. If I had to guess, it would be 2
1: no 2: Possibly 3: no 4: no - no examples, but I don’t think any format would have the 2 dots at the bottom left corner 5: Possibly - no examples though 6: no 7: No 8: no 9: No - no examples, but same reason as 4
The 2 doesn’t have a flat top. I say 5.
If it were a 2, I think the left side of the 2 may have been cut off
Very crude markup:
- Green: The dots I think were included
- Red: The dots I’m assuming you’re referring to (in which case I would agree with you)
- Blue: Showing the (extremely rough) alignment. Based on the 7, there’s a max of 5 dots across for a given character. Indicating there is a potential row on the left that may either be the actual left side of the character (in which case it would be red and you would be right), or it’s also a misprint (which then it ccoouulldd be green)
5 or 9, neither of which show up otherwise, so we can’t be quite sure which one matches.
1, 4, and 7 can be thrown right out as the dots just wouldn’t line up that way. 0, 2, 3, 6, and 8 have other examples in the image that don’t match the dot pattern.
2 could match if the digit in question is missing dots within the visible columns, and 3 could match if the existing example is missing a leftmost column.
2 doesn’t match because the top leftmost dot shouldn’t be there. If it’s shifted by a column, then the bottom leftmost dot shouldn’t be there, and the spacing isn’t quite right, either.
3 doesn’t match because the other example of a 3 doesn’t have a dot in the bottom leftmost dot that’s printed.
Or the whole thing is a misprint, in which case I don’t think we can even figure it out.
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I would guess a number between 0 and 9
I can narrow that down to 1 and 9, because it’s definitely not the month of nontober
Lousy Smarch weather
3
My guess too, but it doesn’t match the 3 above
3 is the lower number that could fit there. Other numbers could fit depending on how much erase there was, but 3 is the lowest, thus the safest guess.
3 doesn’t fit because the lower left dot doesn’t match the position of the same dot in the 3 above it.
