Mochi Spot

About Mochi Spot

Mochi Spot is a one-tap spot-the-difference game. Two panels sit one above the other showing what looks like the same scene of mochi, stars, hearts, flowers, candies, clouds and leaves. A few things are not the same. Tap one of them - in either panel - and a ring locks around it in both at once. Find them all to finish the picture.

Every difference is a real change to a real object rather than a pixel trick, because both panels are drawn from lists of the same items. That means anything you can see, you can trust: an item might be missing, be a different colour, be bigger or smaller, be mirrored so it faces the other way, or simply be standing somewhere slightly different.

The 20 hand-tuned levels introduce those types from loudest to subtlest, one at a time: only missing items to begin with, then colour swaps (level 4), size changes (level 7), mirrored items (level 10) and nudged ones (level 13). From level 16 the scenes themselves get busier and the number of differences climbs, up to eight changes hidden in a very crowded picture at level 20.

There is no timer at all - careful looking is the whole point, so nothing ever rushes you. The only limit is three hearts against wrong taps, and a wrong tap simply leaves a fading red X without changing the scene. Lose all three and you get the identical picture again. Clear all 20 and Endless mode opens: generated pictures that start at the final level's density and keep climbing, with every difference type live from the first endless picture and a fresh scatter seeded by the level number. Finishing any level always lights up all three stars.

How to play Mochi Spot

1. Look at the two pictures - the top one and the bottom one show almost the same scene.
2. Hunt for something that isn't the same in both: missing, a different colour, a different size, facing the other way, or in a different place.
3. Tap that thing in either picture. A ring locks around it in both.
4. Check the counter at the top to see how many differences are left.
5. Take your time - there is no timer of any kind.
6. Avoid wild guesses: a wrong tap leaves a red X and costs one of your three hearts.
7. Find every difference to complete the picture and open the next one.

Controls

Tips & strategy

• Sweep one row at a time across both panels rather than hunting all over - a systematic scan finds subtle changes that a random one skips.
• Count first. If a picture has an obvious gap, that's a missing item and the cheapest difference in the game.
• For colour swaps, compare the same item in both panels rather than looking at one panel at a time.
• Size changes show up best at the edges - look at how much space an item leaves between itself and its neighbours.
• Mirrored items keep everything in the same place, so look at faces and at which way a leaf or candy is leaning.
• A nudged item often overlaps something it didn't before; a changed overlap is easier to see than a changed position.
• If you're unsure, don't tap. There is no timer, so looking for another ten seconds is always free - but a wrong tap costs a heart.
• When you're down to the last one or two, cover half of each panel with your hand and compare the halves.

Game features

• Every difference is a genuine change to a real object - never a shadow or a pixel trick.
• Five difference types that each ask you to look differently: missing, recoloured, resized, mirrored and moved.
• Tap in either panel: a ring locks around the difference in both at once.
• No timer anywhere - careful looking is the point, so nothing ever rushes you.
• Wrong taps leave a soft red X and cost a heart, which exists only to rule out tapping everything in turn.
• Generated scenes: a fresh scatter of mochi, stars, hearts, flowers, candies, clouds and leaves for every level number.
• 20 hand-tuned levels ramping from three loud differences in a quiet scene to eight subtle ones in a crowded picture.
• Endless mode past level 20: busier pictures with more changes, every difference type live from the first one.
• Soft failure - three hearts and the identical picture offered again, so nothing is ever lost for good.
• Synthesized sound throughout, and three stars for clearing any level, saved in your browser.

Every Difference Is a Real One

The quiet problem with most spot-the-difference games is that you can't fully trust them. Somewhere in the picture there's a shadow that's two shades off, or a shape whose edge was nudged by three pixels, and finding it feels less like observation than like eye strain. Mochi Spot is built so that can't happen. Both panels are drawn by the same routine from two lists of objects, and a difference is a change to an object: it's gone, or it's a different flavour, or it's bigger, or it's facing the other way, or it's standing somewhere else. Nothing is ever hidden in a gradient. If you look at the thing, you can see it.

That fairness is what lets the game have a proper difficulty curve instead of just getting noisier. The first levels only ever remove an item, which is the loudest difference there is - a four-year-old finds those instantly. Colour swaps come next and change how you look: you stop scanning for holes and start comparing pairs. Size changes are subtler still and reward looking at two items side by side rather than at one. Mirrored items are the sneakiest of all, because the scene has exactly the same amount of stuff in exactly the same places and only a face is looking the wrong way. Nudged items round it out: everything is present, correct and the right size, and one thing is simply standing somewhere it wasn't.

There is no timer anywhere in this game and that is a deliberate design decision, not an omission. A timer turns careful looking into panicked scanning, which is the opposite of the pleasure on offer. The only pressure is three hearts against wrong taps, which exists purely to stop the degenerate strategy of tapping every object in turn - and even that is forgiving, since a wrong tap just leaves a little red X and the scene stays exactly as it was.

Because the scenes are generated rather than drawn by hand, the game doesn't run out. Each level number seeds its own scatter of mochi, stars, hearts, flowers, candies, clouds and leaves, and the endless levels past twenty keep piling on both the number of objects and the number of changes, with every difference type live from the first one. The pictures you get at level fifty are pictures nobody has ever looked at before.