Up to now, Find the Difference was something you played alone. You picked a pack, solved the levels, collected stars. That's still there, and it's still how most people start. But over the last weeks the game grew a second half, and it changes how the whole thing feels. You can now play with other people. With them, or against them.

Here's what's new.

Three tabs on the home page

The home page now has three modes: Puzzles, Arena and Create. Puzzles is the pack list you know. Arena is where the live matches are. Create is where your own packs live.

New players get a short guided first puzzle and a quick tour of the three tabs. If you've been playing for a while, you can skip it.

The arena

In the arena, you and your opponents get the same puzzle at the same moment. When someone taps a difference, it's theirs, and it's gone for everyone else. That one rule turns a calm game into a surprisingly loud one. We've caught ourselves yelling at the screen more than once.

There are three ways to play:

  • 1 vs 1: the first tap gets the point.
  • 2 vs 2: find more than the other team.
  • Four players: everyone for themselves, and placements count.

A match ends when all differences are found, when the clock runs out, or as soon as the result can't change anymore. Arena puzzles come from the official packs, so every level has been checked for unintended differences before it shows up there.

Trophies and leagues

Ranked matches earn trophies when you win. Your trophies put you in one of six leagues, from Bronze up to Master, and the leaderboard now ranks players by trophies. In the lower leagues a loss doesn't cost anything, so you can find your feet. Higher up, losses start to cost trophies.

A few rules keep things fair. Leaving a match early ranks you last. If your partner leaves a 2 vs 2 match, you don't lose trophies for it. And if your connection drops, you get a button to jump back into the running match.

Heroes and chests

Every match pays stars, and so do solo levels. Stars are now something you spend: on chests, which give you heroes. There are a lot of them, from a cool cat in sunglasses to an ice golem, and they come in common, rare, legendary and mythic.

Heroes aren't just decoration. Each one adds a bonus to the stars you earn, and collecting copies of a hero levels it up. There's a free chest every day, too.

We rewrote how stars, trophies and the leaderboard work from scratch, because almost everything in it had changed.

Playing together

This is the part we're happiest about. Create a party, invite up to three friends, and pick any puzzle. Everyone sees the same two pictures, and every difference one of you finds counts for the whole team. Each player gets a color, so you can see who found what. Afterwards, the leader starts the next level, and you can play through a whole pack together.

Levels solved together count for everyone's pack progress and pay stars like solo levels. At the end you see how your time compares with other teams of the same size.

To invite people, add them as friends by username or send them your invite link. Everyone plays in their own browser, on a computer or a phone, so it doesn't matter who's on what. There's a page with all the details: play spot the difference with friends.

From the party, you can also start a private arena match against each other. Private matches don't touch your trophies, so it's the place for settling family arguments.

Energy

Every level and every match now costs energy, and energy refills by itself over time. When you're in a party, the game shows who is out of energy, so nobody is left wondering why the search won't start.

The Star Club

The Star Club got a new look and new perks: unlimited energy, double stars, three hints instead of one, and no ads. You can also gift it to a friend for a month or a year.

Your packs in the arena

If you build puzzles, this one is for you. When a community pack is especially good, our team can make it an official pack, and official levels are the ones that come up in arena matches. So a puzzle you made at your kitchen table can end up in a live duel between two strangers on opposite sides of the world. We think that's pretty cool.

How to get there is in making your own puzzle, step by step, and there's an overview on the create your own puzzles page.

What's next

The arena is new, and we're watching closely how it plays. Matchmaking, rewards and the hero balance will keep changing as more people join. If something feels unfair or just plain wrong, tell us through the feedback option in the game. We read all of it.

See you in the arena.