Spot the Five Differences.

October 10, 2007 12:06 PM

Spot the Five Differences. It is fun. [flash]
posted by brain_drain (87 comments total)

Service Unavailable
posted by ND¢ at 12:08 PM on October 10, 2007

Well, that was quick.
posted by brain_drain at 12:09 PM on October 10, 2007

&glCacheMan to the rescue!
posted by phaedon at 12:10 PM on October 10, 2007

The trick with these is to use the old magic eye focusing trick on them. You end up with a third image in the middle and all the differences are in a sense flashing. It turns the game into a 5-10 second exercise. I know I know.. where's the fun in that?
posted by mulligan at 12:11 PM on October 10, 2007 [6 favorites]

err.. just kidding? It does work if you go here and click "Cached".
posted by phaedon at 12:11 PM on October 10, 2007

You are right. It is fun.
posted by ND¢ at 12:14 PM on October 10, 2007

So it's Erotic Photohunt, but without naked 80s chicks? What's the point?
posted by uncleozzy at 12:14 PM on October 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

Your first link worked for me, phaedon.

And what mulligan said. The animated angle is a nice touch, though.
posted by cortex at 12:14 PM on October 10, 2007

I am totally stuck on the level with the traffic light in the water and the reeds! ARG!
posted by leesh at 12:21 PM on October 10, 2007

I'm stuck on the cache loading level. :(
posted by Dr-Baa at 12:23 PM on October 10, 2007

fun. cool. thanks.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:26 PM on October 10, 2007

This is a Radiohead viral, right?

Seriously, lots of fun. The "No motorized vehicles on the horizon after 5PM" one is especially brilliant.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 12:31 PM on October 10, 2007

Thanks phaedon!
posted by brain_drain at 12:37 PM on October 10, 2007

Kind of an underhanded trick in the first scene.
posted by Curry at 12:38 PM on October 10, 2007

Gorgeously executed, too. This is great.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 12:40 PM on October 10, 2007

SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: buying paintings from guys in the park may make you levitate for no good reason.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 12:49 PM on October 10, 2007

Damn ... Thank God I paid attention as a kid to the puzzles in the Highlights magazine at the dentist's office.
posted by ericb at 12:51 PM on October 10, 2007

I gave up after the floating girl with umbrella.
posted by nola at 1:00 PM on October 10, 2007

I like them but I can't get that eye trick to work for me. How far back is your face from the monitor? (I can usually do the magic eye thing)
posted by rmless at 1:00 PM on October 10, 2007

I had to back off about four feet, rmless. But I gather that folks that do the trick by crossing their eyes (instead of, as I do, forcing them outward toward some impossibly distant horizon) can pull it off from a lot closer.
posted by cortex at 1:05 PM on October 10, 2007

I concur with cortex... I can't do it by focusing my eyes outward, but I can simply cross them. I'm less than four feet back, maybe my monitor resolution is different. Just focus your eyes closer and closer until the two images align, and then tilt your head until it's at the right angle. At that point your eyes will "lock" and it doesn't require any concentration to keep them there, you can blink, etc. It sure contributes to some eyestrain after several minutes though...
posted by cacophony at 1:13 PM on October 10, 2007

Those are awesomely cool and very challenging. I had to clean my monitor to catch all of 'em. Thank goodness I did. Yuck.
posted by sneakin at 1:13 PM on October 10, 2007

I am on Free Hugs. Giving up to be productive. But the window stays open. Yes it does.
posted by sneakin at 1:18 PM on October 10, 2007

What the heck is the last one on the Walk sign water board!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!
posted by Debaser626 at 1:20 PM on October 10, 2007

Fun, and very nicely drawn/animated images.

I'm not sure if I'd call it art though, since I didn't see any cracks in the ground.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 1:21 PM on October 10, 2007

The cross eyes trick works well. It is tough to do if you haven't spent a while looking at stereoscope images online before, but it's a good skill to develop. Now my eyes will feel crossed for a few minutes.
posted by JBennett at 1:22 PM on October 10, 2007

Thanks for the tips, I can almost get it...
posted by rmless at 1:29 PM on October 10, 2007

Got all the levels! I am awesoooooome!

My boss is totally away at luuuuunch!
posted by katillathehun at 1:31 PM on October 10, 2007

What the heck is the last one on the Walk sign water board!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!

Here TOOOO! PLEASE!
posted by Jody Tresidder at 1:33 PM on October 10, 2007

Finished... now I can take my life back!
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:33 PM on October 10, 2007

Grrr, be warned, if you have an old flash player (I'm guessing), some shit just won't show up at all.
posted by mrnutty at 1:36 PM on October 10, 2007

I could not have done it without mulligan's trick. The stars on the last one...fuhgedaboudit!
posted by Turtles all the way down at 1:39 PM on October 10, 2007

We broke it on the FPP link :(

Service unavailable.

But it's here: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/404448
posted by disclaimer at 1:44 PM on October 10, 2007

hur, i know how to operate a metafitler

Link here.
posted by disclaimer at 1:45 PM on October 10, 2007

eponysterical.
posted by nickyskye at 1:45 PM on October 10, 2007

What the heck is the last one on the Walk sign water board!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!

I suspect you are missing the two points on the top edge of the sign? There is only one in the second picture.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 1:47 PM on October 10, 2007

NOPE WHAT ELSE
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:50 PM on October 10, 2007

Done, another work day afternoon wasted.
posted by Mercaptan at 1:50 PM on October 10, 2007

*clicks randomly*
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:52 PM on October 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

I suspect you are missing the two points on the top edge of the sign? There is only one in the second picture.
nope... got that one....
posted by Debaser626 at 1:53 PM on October 10, 2007

*clicks successfully but unsatisfyingly*
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:53 PM on October 10, 2007

Might have been thinking of the wrong one...

Walk sign/water differences:

Shadow under bridge.
Rock at lower left (by the left most patch of willows).
Rock along the bottom in the centre.
Rock in the water almost directly under the end of the bridge.
One of the boards divisions in the middle of the bridge is missing.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 1:53 PM on October 10, 2007

K I finally got it to load. I think I'll be suspiciously eyeing bricks and sidewalk lines for the rest of the afternoon.
posted by Dr-Baa at 1:53 PM on October 10, 2007

**** BELATED SPOILER ALERT ****

Sorry, should have said.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 1:54 PM on October 10, 2007

Heyyyyy... I just loaded the page in Firefox (to see if my flash on safari was preventing me from seeing something) and the 1st board has a couple different "missing" items..... that's cool
posted by Debaser626 at 1:55 PM on October 10, 2007

I think you are right. I played through again to get the water/walk sign one, and I don't recall the boards on the bridge being wrong before, but I remember the missing 'nubs' on the top of the sign and they were there this time.

Perhaps it randomizes the five differences each time?
posted by WinnipegDragon at 1:57 PM on October 10, 2007

Doing an ambrosia now - did water sign with some integrity - but I've become a hopeless cheat!

(Thanks WinnipegDragon).
posted by Jody Tresidder at 1:58 PM on October 10, 2007

The differences are definitely different each time, with maybe two extra differences possible per page. But more importantly, the guy dangling one is IMPOSSIBLE.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:59 PM on October 10, 2007

No, no - keep doing your random stuff ambrosia!

(Then the diamond one after that is a cinch - even without cheating!)
posted by Jody Tresidder at 2:02 PM on October 10, 2007

Very fun. Some were difficult even with the cross-eye trick.
posted by aerotive at 2:07 PM on October 10, 2007

The ones I recall from dangle-guy were:

Left most bridge rivet.
Graffiti (JL vs PM).
Missing building in skyline reflection.
Leftmost cable is missing it's connection to the bridge.
The trail of paint at the bottom fo the heart graffiti.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 2:08 PM on October 10, 2007

I had the heart
the cable
the building in the skyline (and reflection. same building.)
as well as a cloud difference.

no rivet difference in evidence, no graffiti differnece in evidence. copious clicking.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:12 PM on October 10, 2007

The 'blob' of paint on the left side of the heart.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 2:15 PM on October 10, 2007

Err... Not really the left side. Bottom I guess. The round splotch where the spraycan started drawing the shape.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 2:18 PM on October 10, 2007

WOO. You are truly the Dragon of all Winnipeg.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:18 PM on October 10, 2007

Best of luck with the rest, AV! I must vacuum in anticipation of my parents visiting tomorrow and step away from the Blue.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 2:20 PM on October 10, 2007

Er - thanks brain_drain - that was dreadfully addictive.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 2:25 PM on October 10, 2007

Oh snap I finished it.
posted by sneakin at 2:36 PM on October 10, 2007

Is there a word for when an FPP drives so much traffic breaks a site? There should be. Someone make one up.
posted by sneakin at 2:36 PM on October 10, 2007

Boingboinged
posted by Flashman at 2:48 PM on October 10, 2007

MetaPilfered?
posted by Citizen Premier at 2:48 PM on October 10, 2007

MeTarded
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:49 PM on October 10, 2007

I cannot accurately translate my frustration into written word. I am stuck on the park regulations and I feel like somebody whopped me upside the head with the stupid stick. Everybody's given spoilers for everyone else but meeeeeee.
*throws myself sobbing onto the couch*
posted by msali at 2:49 PM on October 10, 2007

msali, check the spelling of some of the words. It took me a while to notice "dinners" vs "diners".

And now I'm stuck on the park/christmas lights/guy walking the atomic symbol looking thing level.
posted by gummi at 2:52 PM on October 10, 2007

Finshed! Huzzargh.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:55 PM on October 10, 2007

Finished. Finally.

Quick, how do I get my eyes uncrossed?
posted by gummi at 3:12 PM on October 10, 2007

Took me a while (intermittently), but I finally finished. Nice game.
posted by slogger at 3:25 PM on October 10, 2007

That was really, really cool.
posted by tepidmonkey at 3:31 PM on October 10, 2007

hint: click wildly around the image. You'll eventually get everything.
posted by empath at 3:37 PM on October 10, 2007

Stuff like this is exactly how to learn how to draw. You stop labeling things as "sign" or "dude" and start matching up blobs and how close things are to one another. It's a completely different way of seeing.

After that, you just have to practice getting your hand to work right.
posted by lauranesson at 4:01 PM on October 10, 2007

Great link, though I'd like it more if it had a pause button so I could go scream into a pillow.
posted by suki at 4:10 PM on October 10, 2007

That was fun! Thanks!
posted by leahwrenn at 4:17 PM on October 10, 2007

For those generous souls who feel compelled to post spoilers/solutions in these types of threads, I offer to you for consideration the awesoma powa! of rot13.com.

Luckily, I finished all the puzzles before I read the thread. Cool ending!
posted by carsonb at 4:40 PM on October 10, 2007

I wanted to be really great at this for some reason, and though it took me a while, now that I read about everyone else's frustrations I conclude I'm at least fairly good at it. Another useless skill!
posted by tula at 4:45 PM on October 10, 2007

I am stuck in the Christmas lights one. I even screen-grabbed and used Difference layer merging in Photoshop, and there are no more differences. Does it really have a solution?
posted by Dr. Curare at 5:23 PM on October 10, 2007

That was really neat and surprisingly difficult in a couple of places. I particularly liked how they hid the numbers in plain sight.
posted by quin at 5:35 PM on October 10, 2007

mulligan: The trick with these is to use the old magic eye focusing trick on them. You end up with a third image in the middle and all the differences are in a sense flashing.

Damn- I was coming here just to post that, and thought that maybe I was the only one to have figured out that trick.

I hate when I'm confronted with evidence that I'm not the only smart person around...
posted by hincandenza at 6:00 PM on October 10, 2007

And now I'm stuck on the park/christmas lights/guy walking the atomic symbol looking thing level.

...

I am stuck in the Christmas lights one. I even screen-grabbed and used Difference layer merging in Photoshop, and there are no more differences. Does it really have a solution?

I am too- I can see the difference when he opens the pizza box only... but I can't seem to click on the right "thing" to make it take...
posted by hincandenza at 6:15 PM on October 10, 2007

Oops- nope, found it, and it's NOT the pizza box. It's the one flaw of mulligan's trick: things that are completely missing in one picture seamlessly, or the color is different, are harder to spot. Turns out the pizza box steam, while different, is not the the thing to click. It's something that's missing entirely in one picture, but in such a way that the cross-eye view doesn't notice.
posted by hincandenza at 6:17 PM on October 10, 2007

It is fun.... Kind of an underhanded trick in the first scene.

Yes, it was fun. Thanks, brain_drain, for the link. And yes, that ‘underhanded’ trick in (one version of) the very first scene drove me the craziest of all.
posted by LeLiLo at 8:23 PM on October 10, 2007

bully for all of you.
obviously, I'm trapped in the first scene.

I got the spare bird, the spare branch, the missing crack in the sidewalk, and the misspelled title...where the feck is my five?
posted by squasha at 9:56 PM on October 10, 2007

squasha: check the silhouette of the buildings. Extra spires/tv antennae.

got through them all, though it took a while. tried the random clicking but it didn't work. it's infuriating but possible.
posted by Azaadistani at 11:38 PM on October 10, 2007

This is awesome magic eye practice. I had trouble doing the first one that way, and then it got easier and easier. Easier in fact to spot the differences without, so my idea of "cheating" was pretty much the reverse of everyone here. Great site, though. I want more!
posted by dreamsign at 9:21 PM on October 11, 2007

Oh this is definitely made with magic eye in mind. What ever spills out of that briefcase looks crazy wild in magic-eye-mode and yet it's never one of the differences.
posted by dreamsign at 9:45 PM on October 11, 2007

squasha, you're looking at the figure too, right? With his leg crossed?
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:46 PM on October 11, 2007

What ever spills out of that briefcase looks crazy wild in magic-eye-mode and yet it's never one of the differences.

I can't find the last difference on that page!!
posted by crossoverman at 11:22 PM on October 11, 2007

that was really fun! i think my favorite part was trying to find the countdown; i loved the clock and the phone number.
posted by mosessis at 1:53 PM on October 12, 2007