Games like Hidden Folks for people who love a good search

Hidden Folks turned Where's Waldo into a living, hand-drawn game. The closest follow-ups are Hidden Through Time and its sequel, and Tiny Lands for spot-the-difference fans. Roam has two crowd-search games of its own.

What Hidden Folks is

Hidden Folks is a hidden-object game by Adriaan de Jongh and Sylvain Tegroeg, released in 2017. Every scene is a big black-and-white drawing full of tiny people, animals and things that move. You get a list of targets with a short hint each and tap around to find them. Tap a tent and it opens. Tap a bush and someone jumps out.

All the sound effects are made with a human mouth, which gives the game a warm, silly feel. It is on phones, PC and Switch.

Hidden object games like Hidden Folks

Where's Waldo. Martin Handford's picture books from 1987, called Where's Wally in the UK. The original crowd search, still great on paper.
Hidden Through Time. Crazy Monkey Studios' 2020 game. Find hidden items in drawn scenes from the Stone Age to Egypt, and build your own maps.
Hidden Through Time 2: Myths and Magic. The 2023 sequel with fantasy worlds and the same level editor.
Tiny Lands. Hyper Three Studio's spot-the-difference game with 3D dioramas you can turn. On PC and Switch.

Tips for faster searches

Search in strips. Go left to right across one band of the picture, then move down. Your eyes skip less than when you jump around.

Read the hint twice. In Hidden Folks the clue often tells you where to look, like on a roof or near water. Zoom out before you zoom in, so you know what kind of area you are hunting in.

Roam spot-the-person games

Roam is a free iPhone app with thousands of short games.

Tiny Crowd: Spot the Person. Three faces and hundreds of beachgoers. Find them.
Aim to Please. A whole town in your sniper scope, and only one person is the one. A search game with a crosshair.

Play it on Roam

Make your own hidden object game with Roam

Use a photo of your friends and put them in a crowd, or describe the scene. Roam builds the search, and you can ask for more people to hide.

Try: "find my 3 friends in a giant crowd at a music festival, 60 seconds per level, a new outfit each round"

Create it with Roam See Roam

Questions people ask

Who made Hidden Folks?

Adriaan de Jongh and Sylvain Tegroeg made Hidden Folks. It came out in 2017.

Is there a Where's Waldo game?

Hidden Folks and Hidden Through Time play like a Where's Waldo book, with scenes full of tiny people.

Is Hidden Folks on mobile?

Yes. It is on iOS and Android, and also on PC and Switch.