Spot the Shiny
Spot the real shiny among 4 recolors of the same Pokémon. 10 rounds, 3 mistakes allowed.
3 mistakes allowed. Score as many as you can!
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About Spot the Shiny
Spot the Shiny is a visual Pokémon quiz: four sprites of the same Pokémon, only one is the real shiny, the others are decoy recolors. Pick the genuine shiny across 10 rounds with three mistakes allowed.
If you grew up shiny-hunting in Pokémon Gold, chain-fishing in X/Y, or doing Masuda method egg cycles, this is your arena. The decoys are deliberately plausible, no easy wins.
Rules & scoring
Each round shows one Pokémon in four different colour palettes. Only one matches the official shiny; the other three are algorithmically recoloured decoys.
Ten rounds per run, three misses allowed. The correct tile position is randomized every load so you can't memorise; you have to actually recognise the shiny palette.
Strategy tips
Learn the famous shinies first. Red Gyarados, black Charizard, pink Butterfree, green Rayquaza (wait, that's the regular one), gold Magikarp: these are burned into fandom memory and cover a surprising chunk of the pool.
When you don't know the specific shiny, look for the least logical recolour. Real shinies almost always keep the same value pattern (dark parts stay dark, light parts stay light) and just shift hue. A decoy that inverts brightness is usually the fake.
For Pokémon where the shiny is almost identical to the base form (Garchomp, Rayquaza, most Dragon types), the correct tile is often the one that looks least changed. Trust the boring option.
Frequently asked questions
- How do you decide what the 'real' shiny looks like?
- We use the official shiny sprite from the games. The other three options are algorithmically recolored to look reasonable but wrong.
- Why are some shinies barely different from the normal sprite?
- That's authentic, many shinies (looking at you, Garchomp) are only slightly different from the regular Pokémon. Those rounds are the hardest.
- Are all generations included?
- Yes, every Pokémon with an official shiny sprite is eligible, across all generations.
- Does the correct tile stay in the same spot?
- No, tile positions are randomized every time the round loads, so a friend playing next to you sees a different layout for the same puzzle.
- Do Pokémon with multiple forms use their base shiny?
- Yes, we standardise on the base-form shiny sprite to keep the puzzle fair.