Some of the most fun we had when we were kids was going through books like “Where’s Wally?” and “Where’s Waldo?” Looking for a single person hidden in gorgeously illustrated spreads really made us feel like detectives. These days, though, there’s a lot more to choose from for that sort of sleuthing!
The members of the popular r/FindTheSniper online community share images with hidden objects in them and invite folks to find them. It’s a really enjoyable pastime, as it tests your awareness and helps sharpen your observation skills. We’ve collected some of the coolest and newest hidden object pics to share with you, Pandas. Scroll down to check them out, and be sure to let us know in the comments if you were able to spot what was camouflaged!
Bored Panda got in touch with the team running r/FindTheSniper. One of the moderators, u/Electrical_Middle78, was kind enough to answer our questions and even shared some advice that might help anyone new to hidden object hunts. You’ll find our full interview with them below.
We have to be honest with you, Pandas. Even though we absolutely love hidden object photos, illustrations, and games, some of us (hi there!) are pretty bad at them. (Or, to put it in slightly geeky Dungeons & Dragons terms, yours truly has a -2 in the Perception skill and needs to buff Wisdom ASAP.)
The good news is that our observation skills are exactly that—skills. Even though some people are naturally good at spotting camouflaged people, animals, and things, it’s not like we can’t sharpen our senses and our environmental awareness through (lots and lots of) practice. Their usefulness goes beyond finding hidden animals and/or Waldo, though: they can help you spot people in a crowd, identify someone’s micro-expressions, and avoid potential danger, too.
We were curious to hear about why the subreddit resonates so much with so many internet users. “I think the ‘thrill of the hunt’ makes this community a little more interactive than your normal ‘answer this question’ or ‘react to this meme.’ We challenge our users with each approved post to put their knowledge of finding things to the test,” u/Electrical_Middle78, one of the main moderators running r/FindTheSniper, shared their thoughts with Bored Panda.
The content itself is extremely versatile. “We go beyond the basic ‘have you seen my keys’ to ‘there is a snake looking right at you, do you see it’ mentality, which I believe adds an element of adrenaline and danger to each post. We also cater to the other side of the spectrum—find my cute animal hiding in plain sight—so that our focus brings in multiple viewpoints and audiences.”
The moderator had some spot-on advice for anyone hoping to sharpen their observation skills. “Always start in the center! Ha! People tend to immediately frame the target in what we call ‘dead center,’ or right in the middle of the frame. This is our most removed content, as it provides zero challenge for the experienced ‘sniper hunter.’ If it’s not dead center, then zoom can be either your best friend or worst enemy. Your next best bet after that is to slowly scroll and look for breaks in the natural flow of trees, bushes, scenery, etc.” they suggested.
According to u/Electrical_Middle78, they and the other moderators are proud to have helped shape the r/FindTheSniper community into what it is today. The current team is actually not the original group of moderators who had created the subreddit in the start. The newcomers had a lot of hard work on their hands, but they dealt with all of the challenges very well.
“With our community growing from 50th-ish ranking to as high at #5 in popularity, obviously our user interaction has dramatically spiked. In addition to that, our first challenge was to tackle a backlog of roughly 9 years of unmoderated content. We decided as a mod team to create better communication channels between ourselves with the creation of a Discord mod channel,” the mod told Bored Panda.
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