Grab your list, walk the aisles, pay at the door. Grocery Shopping Simulator turns that errand into a small game you play entirely inside the Shortcuts app, with an 11-section store to explore and a map so you don’t wander blind.
Inside the shortcut
Each game hands you a shopping list. Your job is to move through the store, find every item in the right section and then head back to the entrance to check out. With 11 sections to cover, the challenge is partly about remembering where things are and partly about not wasting moves walking back and forth.
There’s a built-in map of the store, which the author added so players aren’t left guessing at the layout. Check it before you set off and you’ll plan a much shorter route.
The game is what its author calls a dictionary-centered shortcut. In Shortcuts, a Dictionary action stores named values, and here it holds the store’s sections and their contents. That’s a neat technique if you build shortcuts yourself, because it keeps the whole game world in one place rather than spread across dozens of If blocks. An earlier Star Wars duel game by the same author was built this way too.
It’s a personal project, too. The game was inspired by and dedicated to the author’s sister, which explains the gentle, everyday theme rather than anything competitive.
How to install
Launch it from the Shortcuts app to start a game.
How to use it
Start the shortcut and read your shopping list first. Then open the map, pick a sensible order for the sections and move through the store using the menus. Once every item is in your basket, return to the entrance/exit to check out and finish the round.
Kids tend to like it as a reading and planning exercise, since they have to match list items to store sections. Adults will get through a round quickly, so treat it as a short break game rather than something to sink an evening into.
Common questions
Do I need to download a separate game app?
No extra app is listed. Everything runs inside Shortcuts, menus and all.
What changed in the latest version?
Version 6.1 was re-released only to fix the shortcut’s icon. The gameplay is the same as the previous build.
Can I change the items or the store layout?
Since the store lives in a dictionary, you can open the shortcut in the editor and change the sections or products. Make a duplicate first so you can always go back to the original.
Grocery Shopping Simulator
Version 6.1 again
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