Mystery Pic

Mystery Pic is one of the most difficult games in the history of the entire universe on Neopets. A new round starts every Thursday, and the following phrase is probably the best way to sum up each game: "Many will enter, few will win."

The Mystery Pic

Every week, an obscured image is presented. Your job is to guess where this obscured image is from. You only get one guess per round, so be confident before you submit it!

For the first 1488 rounds of Mystery Pic, this was always a very zoomed in excerpt of a much larger image. For example, on the left is the Mystery Pic from round 100 in February 2002, with its solution on the right. See how this Mystery Pic is cut out of the middle right side of the picture? Later on, it was made more challenging by using very small excerpts, as small as 5x5 pixels. This style returned starting with round 1700 in January 2022, and is the current method TNT uses to obscure the Mystery Pic.

   
The solution was "Best of Friends Neogreeting"

Beginning with round 1489 in September 2017, the Mystery Pic introduced a new strategy: a highly pixelated version of a larger part of an image, rather than a tiny excerpt of it. If the image was square, it would usually be the entire image. For example, on the left is the Mystery Pic from round 1612 in April 2020, with its solution on the right.

   
The solution was "Pick Your Own"

If the original image was not square, a square subsection of it would be pixelated. For example, on the left is the Mystery Pic from round 1617 in May 2020, with its solution on the right. See how the pixels of the Mystery Pic correspond to larger coloured areas in the original?

   
The solution was "Collectable Sea Shells"

On rare occasions, the two strategies would be combined, and the Mystery Pic will be a highly pixelated version of a zoomed in area! When this was used, the prize would often be a heavy hint for the solution. For example, on the left is the Mystery Pic from round 1584 in September 2019, with its solution to the right and below.

   


The solution was "Gift Tags, Happy Valley"
and the prize was Fancy Wrapped Gifts

Strategy

In theory, the Mystery Pic could come from any image on the site. However, past rounds have shown that TNT tend to focus on a much smaller pool of possible solutions.

A great resource for locating the Mystery Pic is DrSloth.com. It offers an easy way to navigate the many images of Neopets. You can search by keyword or category there, which really helps on the journey of finding a single picture on a picture-based website.

Since mid-2015, with very few exceptions, the Mystery Pic solutions have consistently come from these sources:

• Shopkeeper banners from the main shops
• Click-to-Play icons from the Games Room
• Any image on a page accessible from a World Map; we call these World Images in the Dr. Sloth Image Emporium

If you think you've found the correct image that the Mystery Pic belongs to, type it in in the entry box on the Mystery Pic page.

In the past, some other categories were more favored, but seem not to be used anymore (though they still could!). They most commonly included:

• Desktop Backgrounds (last used round 1077 in January 2012)
• Caption Contests (last used round 1175 in January 2013)
• Game screenshots (last used round 1321 in July 2014)
• Item images (last used round 1377 in March 2015)
• Neopedia images (last used round 1337 in September 2014)
• Shop Blogs (last used round 1194 in March 2013)
• User Shopkeepers (last used round 1269 in January 2014)

Prizes

If you guess correctly, you'll split a 2,000,000 Neopoint prize pool with all the other winners! And if you're one of the first 250 winners, you'll also receive an item.

The prize is always a regular item, usually with a rarity of 80-89, and is listed on the Mystery Pic page each round. The prize is not related to the solution (unless by coincidence).

In addition to receiving the special item, the first 250 people to guess correctly will also receive a trophy. The breakdown of trophies is as follows.

• Correct guesser #1-10: Gold trophy
• Correct guesser #11-50: Silver trophy
• Correct guesser #51-250: Bronze trophy

If you happen to win multiple Mystery Pics and receive a higher trophy, it will replace your old trophy on your userlookup. Your lookup will only ever show one Mystery Pic trophy at a time, and gold trophies stack: if you get gold multiple times, it will be reflected on your lookup! If you get a silver or gold trophy and in a later round qualify for a lower level trophy, your trophy will not be demoted.

Exclusive Prizes

Over the years, Mystery Pic has given out some exclusive prizes that were previously not obtainable anywhere else:

Winning

If you guessed correctly, you will receive a Neomail from the official TNT account. This Neomail will mention your share of the Neopoint prize and (if you were one of the first 250 correct guessers) the name of the item prize. There will be no mention of trophies, regardless of whether you have earned any.

Subject: Congratulations!

Body: Congratulations! You have guessed correctly in the Mystery Pic game (Round [####]). We have given you a [ITEM PRIZE NAME] and [#####] NP!

Subject: Congratulations!

Body: Congratulations! You have guessed correctly in the Mystery Pic game (Round [####]). We have given you [#####] NP!

The item prize will be automatically added to your inventory, and the NP prize will be automatically added to your on-hand total. Trophies are silently added to your userlookup.

The Neomail notifications and prizes usually go out just before the start of the next round, so this is also a sign to start checking back on the Mystery Pic page to be one of the first guessers in the next round!

This game guide was written by: Kenny and Cameron