How Fast Can You Find Santa in This Festive Optical Illusion?

Has the harsh winter weather forced you to hunker down indoors? If that’s the case, don’t let yourself fall victim to that all-too-common cabin fever syndrome. Instead, sit back, relax, and give your brain a workout with a mind-bending – and oh-so-addictive – brain teaser!

Over the past year, we’ve been really getting into visual puzzles, like the one seen above. They remind us of the simpler days when we were kids and we had all of the time in the world to spread out on our bed with the latest edition of Where’s Waldo?

Back in the day, it would sometimes take us a good 15 minutes to find the elusive stripes-wearer—and those 15 minutes usually required some help from Mom or Dad, too! These days, we can usually spot the character—or the Santa in this case—in less than 5, but we do have to admit that this particular one took us longer.

Now, we have too much pride to admit just how much longer, but we will reveal that by the time we did find Saint Nick, our eyes were so dry from the minutes of searching that we found ourselves reaching for a bottle of Visine!

The key to solving “I Spys”? Practice, practice practice!

If you’re an “I Spy” newbie, we’re willing to bet that you are finding today’s puzzle just as migraine-inducing as an hour spent in rush hour traffic! While we totally sympathize, the last thing you should do is give up on your first shot. Like most things, it takes a fair amount of practice to get REALLY good at solving these brain teasers.

So, let’s do a bit of “I Spy” training to get you prepared for the harrowing task that is “finding Santa.” Take a look at the picture below:

This one calls for the “brain-teasee” to find the solitary panda among the snowmen. It has a lot of similarities to today’s task, but it is just a wee bit simpler to solve. Less geometric shapes and harsh colors are included, which makes the image easier on the eyes, a virtual godsend for puzzles like these.

So, have you been able to spot the panda yet? If not, hold a piece of paper up to your screen and look at the image in two separate halves.

Still having some trouble? Click here for the solution!

Now that you’re all warmed up, it’s time for you to do your own searching. If you need a little bit of help—or you’re not too sure about the solution to this visual puzzle—be sure to watch the video below. In it, you’ll learn some fun facts about “I Spy” games and, more importantly, where Santa has been hiding all along!

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this colorful optical illusion. How long did it take you to spot Santa? Did you need to watch the video to find him? Do you have a favorite visual puzzle that you would like to share?