Learn About Hidden Object Games

What are Hidden Object Games?

The goal of a hidden object game is to find hidden pictures camouflaged in a larger picture or scene. If you read the children’s magazines Highlight’s For Children or Jack and Jill when you were growing up you will remember the hidden pictures puzzle pages which were a regular feature in the magazines.

Similar hidden object pictures were a favorite with kindergarten and primary school teachers who would use the old mimeograph machines to replicate these puzzles for their classes. The games were passed out to occupy students during recess on rainy days or to keep a student constructively busy when they completed an assignment before the rest of the class.

The hidden object computer games are the internet version of these classic paper puzzles. The simplest version of these games requires the player to find a list of hidden objects in a complex room, scene or area. Other types are more complicated and include a series of clues you find in order to solve a larger mystery or complete a quest. Many of the games require the player to solve the puzzle in a limited time. Others are not time limited.

Some of the games include a series of objects or clues to find with each clue building on the last.  When all the objects are found, you solve a mystery or complete a quest. Some games offer unlimited hints if the player gets stuck which helps if you absolutely cannot locate an object. Other games offer limited hints, maybe three or four per game or picture.

History of Hidden Object Type Games

Conventional wisdom is that the first computer hidden object game was offered in November 2005 by the casual game portal Big Fish Games. This seminal game, Mystery Case Files: Huntsville, was a bit like the classic who-done-it board game Clue.  The players of the “Mystery Case Files: Huntsville” are role acting as detectives trying to solve crimes in the town of Huntsville by finding clues in various scenes. The clues lead the players to a perpetrator of the crimes. Mystery Case Files was such a massive hit that Big Fish created several sequels and many other game companies rushed to create similar games in order to cash in on the popularity of this new casual game genre.

Who Will Enjoy These Games?

These virtual scavenger hunts are a popular genre of computer games for all ages. Hidden object games come in various levels of difficulty from simple pictures and objects suitable for children to highly complex games with multiple clue levels building to a solution or an answer to a complicated mystery or achievement of an intricate adventure quest. The more complicated games will take hours to solve.

If you enjoy scavenger hunts, mystery or adventure themes, and are looking for slower paced games that don’t require quick reflexes, hidden objects games are a great match for you!