Advanced Guide to Spot Spencer
Spot Spencer is a seek and find game in the classic picture-book style: a scene packed shoulder to shoulder with tiny people who walk around, and one particular person to find. Before every scene a Wanted card shows Spencer the Traveler close up, with his five details listed. Press Start, then drag to look around the scene and pinch, scroll or use the + and − buttons to zoom in. When you think you have spotted him, tap him. The timer stops the moment you find him.
The crowd is full of look-alikes. Each one is dressed almost exactly like Spencer but gets one or two details wrong. Tap a look-alike and the game circles it and tells you what gave it away, such as “Striped scarf. Spencer’s is checkered”, and adds 5 seconds to your time. So the real skill is checking the whole outfit before you tap.
Meet Spencer: the Five Details to Check
- Raincoat: hunter green, down to his knees. Look-alikes wear olive, pale sage or bright green coats, and plenty of ordinary people wear dark greens too.
- Hood: always up. From the Snow Festival on, some look-alikes have their hood down.
- Scarf: teal and checkered. Watch for striped, plain and red checkered scarves, or no scarf at all.
- Backpack: orange with a white star patch. Some have a round patch, no patch, or a blue backpack with a star.
- Boots: tall green rain boots. Look-alikes wear red or brown boots, or low green shoes.
Six Worlds, 60 Scenes
Each world has ten scenes that get busier as you go, and ends with a Big Scene. Spot Spencer in the Big Scene to get a postcard for your Travel Journal and open the next world.
- Harbor Market: fish stalls, sailing boats and crates. People stroll through the crowd from the start, and the first look-alikes appear in the third scene.
- Mountain Station: a busy platform with a train pulling through. Some look-alikes now differ in only one detail.
- Seaside Boardwalk: walkers stream along the boardwalk, and beach umbrellas hide people.
- Snow Festival: scarves and dark green coats everywhere, skaters circling the rink, and hood-down look-alikes.
- Night Carnival: the lights are out. Search inside your torch circle and the glow of the lanterns.
- Grand Parade: floats with riders on board roll down the street, flags wave and most people are on the move.
Stars, Lost Things and Hints
Finding Spencer earns a star, beating the scene’s par time earns two, and finding him in under half of par with one wrong pick at most earns three. Every scene also hides two of Spencer’s lost belongings, like his camera, compass, kite or teal mitten, and every world hides twenty, so there is a second hidden object hunt inside each scene. If you get stuck, the magnifier hint draws a gold circle around Spencer’s part of the scene. You earn more hints by clearing worlds and collecting three-star scenes.
Every scene is placed fresh each time you play it, so going back for three stars is a new search, and the Daily scene brings a new search every day from the worlds you have opened, with a streak to keep.
Tips for Finding Spencer Faster
- Hunt for the orange backpack. His dark green coat blends into the crowd, so zoom out and look for an orange backpack over a long green coat, then zoom in to check the other details.
- Check from the top down. Hood, scarf, backpack, boots: a quick routine stops you tapping a look-alike.
- Sweep in rows. Move across the scene in strips instead of jumping around, using the little map to keep track.
- Watch the walkers. In moving crowds, Spencer may step out from behind a stall or umbrella. Pause on busy paths.
- Use the torch well. At the Night Carnival, move slowly and check each lantern pool.
A Seek and Find Game for Kids and Grown-ups
Spot Spencer is gentle enough for young children, whose first scenes have small crowds and no look-alikes, and the later worlds are hard enough for adults. Searching a crowd for the right combination of details is good practice for visual attention and careful checking. There is no sign-up, no chat and nothing to download, and progress saves in the browser, so it works well on a family tablet, a school Chromebook or a laptop.
Seek and Find Games, Then and Now
Crowd-search puzzles became a worldwide craze in 1987 with Martin Handford’s picture books, known as Where’s Wally? in the UK and Where’s Waldo? in North America. Walter Wick and Jean Marzollo’s I Spy books and the Hidden Pictures puzzles in Highlights magazine kept the idea going, and video games like Hidden Folks and Hidden Through Time brought hand-drawn search scenes to phones and computers. Spot Spencer is our own take on the genre, with an original character, look-alikes built from his five details, and crowds that move.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Spot Spencer?
Spot Spencer is a free seek and find game. Spencer the Traveler is lost in a busy crowd, and you have to spot him in a packed crowd, from about 200 people in the first scene to around 1,500 in the Grand Parade, while look-alike decoys wear almost exactly what he wears. There are 60 scenes across six worlds, from a harbor market to a grand parade, plus a Daily scene.
What does Spencer look like?
Spencer has five things to check: a hunter-green raincoat, the hood up, a teal checkered scarf, an orange backpack with a white star patch, and green rain boots. The Wanted card before every scene shows each one close up.
What are the look-alikes?
Look-alikes are decoys dressed like Spencer with one or two things wrong: an olive, pale sage or bright green coat, a striped or plain scarf, a backpack with a round patch or no patch, red or brown boots, or, from the Snow Festival on, the hood down. If you tap one, the game tells you which detail gave it away and adds 5 seconds.
How do I earn three stars?
Finding Spencer earns one star. Beating the scene's par time earns two. Three stars need a time under half of par, one wrong pick at most and no hint. A scene where you used the magnifier earns two stars at most.
What are the lost things?
Every scene also hides two of Spencer's belongings, such as his camera, map, compass or teal mitten. Tap them to add them to your Travel Journal. Each world hides 20, and each one adds to your score. After you spot Spencer you can keep looking for any you missed.
How do hints work?
The magnifier draws a gold circle around the part of the scene where Spencer is, and a second hint draws a smaller one. You start with 3 hints, and earn one for each world you clear and one for every ten three-star scenes.
Does the crowd move?
Yes. People stroll through the crowd from the very first scene, and more of them walk in every world. Skaters circle the ice rink at the Snow Festival and a train pulls through Mountain Station. At the Night Carnival the lights are out, so you search inside a torch circle and the glow of the lanterns. In the Grand Parade most people are moving, and floats with riders on board roll down the street.
Is every scene the same each time?
No. The crowd, the look-alikes, Spencer and his lost things are placed fresh every time you start a scene, so replaying a scene for three stars is a new search. The Daily scene changes every day and is picked from the worlds you have opened, with a streak for playing on consecutive days.
Can I play on a phone or tablet?
Yes. Drag to move around the scene and pinch to zoom. If a person is too small to pick fairly, a tap zooms in first, so you never lose time to a mistap. The small map in the corner shows where you are, and you can tap it to jump.
Is my progress saved?
Yes. Your stars, best times, lost things, hints and awards are saved in your browser after every scene, and Continue on the start card takes you back to your next scene. There is no sign-up and no chat.
