Mystery Pic is one of the most difficult games 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
It is against the rules to share the Mystery Pic answer with other users:
Can you guys make it reportable to post the lenny conundrum answers? I mean I've seen at least 4 people blab this week's answer already... it's really uncool to work around 15-20 minutes to find, whoops, someone has just posted the answer. Please try to resolve this. :( ~6xbassplayax6
If you post, "THE NEW LENNY CONUNDRUM ANSWER IS 2,423!" anywhere, you'll likely be getting a warning from one of the monitors. Blabbing it all over affects the prize for everyone, and that's not cool. Helping each other to come up with the correct answer is just fine. Just please don't post the steps or the answer for everyone to see.
This goes for Mystery Pic answers as well.
From Neopian Times, Issue #235, published April 14, 2006
Please lovely and wise editor, tell me, is it against the rules to Neomail your answers/guesses for the mystery picture to other people? Some people claim to do it as confirmation on the boards but I think it's a way they can pass around answers. Is confirming it cheating? Please, can the all-powerful TNT put a stop to this? It ruins it for the honest MP hunters. :( *hopes not to asplode till you answer* ~ paula197
Erm, when we say not to share the answers, we mean everywhere. This includes Neomail. ;) It's a different story if you and a friend work together, for example, splitting the task of checking several different images that you think might be correct and one of you figures it out and shares it. You both put effort into solving it and worked together, but just handing out the answers so that someone who hasn't tried to figure it out gets credit is not allowed.
From Neopian Times, Issue #261, published October 13, 2006
Hi, I was wondering if you guys noticed the sudden high number of Mystery Pic winners. It seems like there never used to be more than 200 people getting it, but now it looks like more than 750 are getting it each week. ~moneylover995
Yes, we've noticed that too, and aren't very happy about it. Someone, or some site, has been leaking the answers. Please remember that blurting out the answers to Mystery Pic or Lenny Conundrum is not allowed. Keep in mind, the Neopoints awarded come from a pool of 2,000,000 NP. For every additional Neopian that knows the answer, that means less Neopoints for everyone else who wins.
From Neopian Times, Issue #390, published May 1, 2009
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:
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:
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 usually 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!
