Online attention game

Spot the difference: compare two pictures and mark what changed

Also known as: find the differences between two pictures, spot the difference game, compare two pictures, what’s different in the picture

You see two nearly identical pictures. In the second one something has disappeared, appeared, changed color or moved. Tap a difference on either picture and it gets circled on both. There are two kinds of scenes, a furnished room and shelves of items, and they take turns. Every scene is built from scratch, so pictures never repeat. A round lasts two minutes.

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2 minutesone round
3–5 differencesin every picture
No sign-up10 minutes a day
Progress30-day chart

What it trains

What spotting differences trains

To find a difference, you compare the pictures piece by piece: remember a part of the first one, find the same spot in the second and check whether everything matches. This calls on attention to detail and short-term visual memory, the kind that holds an image while your eyes move from one picture to the other.

Differences vary: an item has disappeared or appeared, changed color, has a different pattern or stands in another place. On the shelves an item can be swapped for a similar one from the same group: an apple for a pear, a cup for a mug. At the first levels the differences are large and the shelves hold only six items; later there are up to sixteen items, the swaps look more and more alike and the moves get shorter. Your results show how many differences you found, how many misses you had and which level you reached.

You don’t notice when something at home has been movedYour eyes glide over the familiar
You cross-check two documents or spreadsheetsYou need to catch a small difference
You check whether you’ve packed everythingSeeing what’s missing matters
You want a calm warm-upTwo minutes, a simple rule

Attention to detail

At the top level the pattern on a cup or the stripes on a sweater change.

Visual memory

You hold the first picture in mind while looking at the second.

Comparison

Gone, added, recolored, moved or swapped for a look-alike: on the shelves an item is replaced with another from the same group.

Accuracy

Three misses on one picture and it’s replaced by the next one.

Rules

How to play

Start
Press “Start”. Two pictures appear (a room or shelves of items): stacked on a phone, side by side on a computer.
Look for differences
The second picture has three to five differences. The number found so far is shown above the pictures.
Tap a difference
Tap it on either picture. A found difference gets circled on both.
Hearts and hint
A miss costs one of your three hearts. Run out, and we show all the differences and give you a new picture. Once per picture, a hint highlights a difference, but it earns no points.
Results
After two minutes we show your points, differences found, pictures completed, misses and highest level.

Play online

Spot the difference online

Compare the two pictures and tap every difference. Play 10 minutes a day without signing up.

Spot the Difference

Compare two pictures and tap every difference: an object is gone, added, recolored, has a new pattern or has moved. Three misses and the picture changes.

Free play left today without signing up: 10 min

Method

What the exercise is based on

Spot the difference is an old puzzle familiar from children’s magazines. In psychology a similar task is called visual comparison: you move your eyes between the pictures and match them part by part, and changes that don’t catch the eye are easy to miss.

In this game the scenes are built from items with different properties: color, pattern, position. The shelf scenes take items from an icon library (an apple, a cup, a ball), and their arrangement is new every time. So every round is different, and the difficulty grows with the number of items, the size of the differences and how alike the swaps are. A similar memory task is “What’s Missing?”.

1Three big differencesA chair is gone, the painting changed, the curtains are a new color

2Four differencesSmaller items join in: a cup, a vase, a bird

3Five differencesSmall details: the pattern on a cup, the leaves of a flower, stripes on a sweater

+Shelf scenes with itemsSix items on level one, nine on level two, twelve and sixteen on level three; swaps get more alike: first a different color, then the same one

Who it’s for

Which ages

Adults

A calm attention workout for anyone who cross-checks documents, spreadsheets and layouts.

Kids

Suitable from age 6. In a kids profile every picture has three big differences, the shelves hold six simple items and the level doesn’t rise. This game isn’t part of the “Kids” collection.

60+

Not part of the “60+” collection, but worth a try: the first pictures have big differences, and the hint helps when a difference just won’t show up.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

How are points counted?

A difference is worth 2 points on level one, 3 on level two and 4 on level three. If you find all the differences in a picture, you get a bonus: 2 points plus one more for every heart you have left.

Where do I tap, the first picture or the second?

Either one. A found difference gets circled on both pictures.

When does the level go up?

When you find all the differences without a hint and lose no more than one heart. If you run out of hearts, the level drops by one.

Do I need to sign up?

No, you can play 10 minutes a day right away. Free sign-up lets you keep playing, save your results, track your progress and unlock the daily workout.

What are the pictures with items on shelves?

They’re scenes made of icons: fruit, dishes, toys, vehicles and more. In the second picture one item has been removed, an extra one added, one moved to another spot or swapped for a similar item from the same group. They take turns with the rooms.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes, the game runs in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer. On a phone the pictures are stacked, on a computer they sit side by side.

Save your results and track your progress

Free sign-up: round history, a chart by skill and a daily workout of 5 exercises. No credit card needed.

All trainers

Spot the difference: compare two pictures and mark what changed