What is Hidden Objects?
Hidden Objects is an observation game: one picture packed with things, and ten objects listed at the bottom that you have to spot somewhere inside it and tap. It is the puzzle from the back page of a children's magazine, brought to the screen.
There are six scenes. A messy study with books and papers everywhere, a busy kitchen with steam rising from a pot, a forest picnic with birds crossing the sky, a little harbor with rolling waves, an attic full of clutter and floating dust, and a night street with blinking windows. Each scene holds dozens of drawn objects, and tucked between them are things like a key, an umbrella, a pencil, a button, a fish, a moon or a hat. Everything is drawn in code, so it looks like a bright pastel illustration rather than a photo, and each scene has a few small animations.
What are the rules?
The rules are simple. Find the ten objects from the bottom strip in the picture and tap them; the scene ends when all ten are found. Tapping at random, however, costs you.
| What happens | Result |
|---|---|
| Tap a hidden object | It sparkles and is ticked off for 100 points. Its icon in the strip gets a ✓ |
| Tap the wrong spot | A red ✕ appears. Five misses in a row blur the screen for about 2 seconds and cost 30 points |
| Hint button | A dashed yellow circle around one unfound object. Available again 10 seconds after use, costs 40 points |
| Find all ten | Bonus for the time left (timer) or for finishing fast (relaxed), plus stars |
| The 3 minutes run out | Points only for what you found, no stars |
You get three stars for clearing a scene with no hints and no penalties, two stars with two or fewer of them combined, and one star otherwise. Stars show on the scene cards on the start screen, and a star rating only changes when you beat it.
What is the difference between Relaxed and the timer?
Relaxed has no time limit; the 3 minute timer requires all ten objects within three minutes. Pick a mode on the start screen, then tap a scene card to begin right away.
- Relaxed: only the elapsed time is shown at the top. At the end you get twice the difference between 240 seconds and your time as a bonus, so speed still pays.
- 3 minute timer: the clock counts down, and the last ten seconds flash red with a ticking sound. Clearing the scene gives three points for every second left.
- Best scores are stored separately for each mode, and the scene cards show the record for the mode you have selected.
How are the objects hidden?
Objects are painted in the same tones as their surroundings, half covered by other things, or slipped in among similar shapes. The icons in the strip show the natural colors, but in the picture you may be looking for a wood colored key, a leaf green kite or a wallpaper colored sock, so look for the outline rather than the color.
For example, the pencil in the study stands upright between two books on the shelf, and the scissors poke out from under a sheet of paper. In the kitchen the egg sits in a bowl of lemons and the carrot is mixed into a crate of orange peppers. The harbor's fish is inside the net, and the night street's cat is a silhouette on a roof. Each scene has twelve hiding spots, and every round picks ten of them at random, so the list changes a little each time you replay a scene.
The picture is too small. Can I zoom?
Roll the mouse wheel or spread two fingers to zoom up to 4× around that point, then drag to move the picture around. There are also + and − buttons at the top and a scale button that returns to 1:1.
On tall phone screens the game starts slightly zoomed in, so drag left and right to look around. The picture is redrawn with vector lines at every zoom level, so it never gets blurry. On a keyboard use the arrow keys or WASD to move, + and − to zoom and 0 to go back to the original size.
Tips for finding things faster
- Memorize the list first. One look at the ten shapes in the strip is enough for them to catch your eye as you pass over the picture.
- Look for outlines, not colors. Hidden objects wear the colors around them. Hunt for the round head of a key, the scalloped edge of an umbrella, the two circles of a pair of glasses.
- Suspect edges and overlaps. Box corners, gaps between books, the inside of bowls and the back of bushes are the usual hiding places.
- Zoom in and sweep one area at a time. Working from top left to bottom right in sections stops you checking the same spot twice.
- Use hints when stuck. A hint costs 40 points, which is cheaper than five misses, and comes back every 10 seconds.
Controls
- Phone or tablet: tap an object to find it. Drag with one finger to move the picture, spread or pinch two fingers to zoom.
- Mouse: click to find, drag to move, scroll the wheel to zoom.
- Keyboard: arrow keys or WASD to move, + and − to zoom, 0 to reset, H for a hint, Esc for the menu. On the start screen the number keys 1 to 6 jump straight into a scene.
- Top right buttons: 🔊 toggles sound effects, ⌂ returns to the start screen.
Stars, best scores, the chosen mode and the sound setting stay in this browser and are never sent to a server. Share result turns your score and time into a picture card. All graphics and sounds are generated in code, so nothing is downloaded separately.