Featured: ChessEmoji Hunt: Spot the Hidden Emoji
A target emoji appears. Find it in a crowded grid before the clock runs out or before your friends do.
How to play Emoji Hunt
Pick a level
Choose Easy animals, Medium faces or Hard lookalikes, how many emoji to find and a time limit.
Watch the target
After a 3 second countdown the card shows the emoji you need to find right now.
Tap it in the grid
Find that emoji among 80 cells and tap it. The next target appears at once.
Clear the list
Find every target before time runs out. Fewer misses and a faster finish win.
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Rules and scoring
Every game uses one grid of 80 different emoji. No emoji appears twice, so each target hides in exactly one cell among 79 others. The targets come one at a time in a fixed order, and you have to find the current target before you can move on to the next one.
Each emoji you find is worth 100 points. Each wrong tap costs 50 points, so guessing wildly is a bad idea. In solo games a hint also costs 50 points. Your score never drops below zero.
When the time limit runs out, the round is over and you keep the points you earned. Results are ranked by score first. If two players have the same score, the faster finish time wins. Only an exact tie in both score and time is a draw.
In a match, each round winner earns one round win. Best of 3 needs two round wins and best of 5 needs three.
Levels and settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Easy | 80 animals in many colors and shapes. Great for kids and warming up. |
| Medium | 80 smiley faces. Same yellow color, so you read the expression. |
| Hard | 80 lookalike faces that differ in tiny details like eyes, brows or mouth. |
| Emoji to find | 10, 20 or 30 targets per round. |
| Time limit | Off, 30, 60, 90 seconds or 2 minutes. |
| Match | One round, best of 3 or best of 5 (multiplayer). |
Your best score is saved on this device for every level, target count and time limit.
Tips to find emoji faster
Emoji Hunt is a visual search game, and a little technique goes a long way. Instead of letting your eyes jump around the grid, sweep it in a pattern. Read it like a page, row by row, or split it into four quarters and check them in the same order every time. A steady sweep stops you from looking at the same corner three times while the target sits somewhere you never checked.
Search for one strong feature instead of the whole picture. On Easy, look for the color first: an orange fox, a pink flamingo or a green frog stands out from far away. On Medium, every face is yellow, so look for the special detail such as hearts, tears, a tongue, sunglasses or a hand. On Hard, the faces are almost the same, so lock onto the mouth or the eyes and ignore everything else.
Use your memory too. While you hunt for one target you pass dozens of other emoji. Many of them will be targets later, and the moment they appear you will remember roughly where they were. Good players get faster as the round goes on because of this.
Never tap when you are not sure. A miss costs half the value of a find, so a calm, correct tap is worth more than two quick guesses.
Play with friends online
Pick Race friends, enter your name and create a room. Share the six letter code or the invite link with up to three friends. The host chooses the level, the number of emoji, the time limit and the match length, and everyone sees those settings in the room. When the match starts, every player gets exactly the same grid and the same targets, and the game itself checks every tap and keeps the scores, so the results are fair. With no time limit, the round ends 60 seconds after the first player finds every emoji, so one slow player cannot hold up the game.
Why a visual search game is good for you
Spotting a target among many similar items trains selective attention, the skill of focusing on what matters and filtering out the rest. It also exercises scanning speed and short term visual memory. A few rounds make a quick brain break between tasks, a fun warm up for a classroom, or a friendly race with family where kids and adults can play on equal terms on the Easy level.
Emoji Hunt FAQ
Is Emoji Hunt free to play?
Yes. Emoji Hunt is completely free and runs in your web browser on phones, tablets and computers. There is nothing to download and you do not need an account.
How big is the emoji grid?
Every level uses a grid of 80 different emoji. Each emoji appears only once, so the target is always one single cell hiding among 79 others. The grid is shuffled again for every game.
How is the score calculated?
Each emoji you find is worth 100 points and each wrong tap costs 50 points. In solo games a hint also costs 50 points. Your score can never go below zero.
What happens if two players have the same score?
The player who finished faster wins the round. Only an exact tie in both score and time counts as a draw, and then nobody gets the round win.
How do I play Emoji Hunt with friends?
Choose Race friends, enter your name and tap Create a room. Share the six letter room code or the invite link. Up to four players can join, and everyone gets the same grid and the same targets.
What do the Easy, Medium and Hard levels mean?
Easy uses 80 animals that are easy to tell apart. Medium uses 80 smiley faces in the same yellow color. Hard uses lookalike faces that differ only in tiny details such as the eyes or the mouth.
How does the hint work?
In solo games the Hint button turns on after 10 seconds without a find. Tap it and the target cell pulses for 2 seconds. Each hint costs 50 points, and hints are switched off in multiplayer.
What happens with no time limit in multiplayer?
With the time limit set to Off, the round ends 60 seconds after the first player finds every emoji, so nobody can stall the game. Anyone still hunting keeps the emoji they found so far.
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