Getting Started

In essence, The Secret Society: Hidden Mystery is a very simple hidden object game. You need to find a list of objects in a picture scene within a certain time frame. However, the addition of a complex storyline, different picture modes, mini-games, quests and social interaction with other players flesh out the game into something much more addictive and challenging than simply looking for objects.

You play as an unidentifyed new recruit to the mysterious Order of the Seekers. The Order of Seekers are people with the unique ability to move through worlds using photographs.

Your Uncle Richard, and elite member of the Order of the Seekers, has gone missing. It is up to you to discover what has happened to him and save the Order of the Seekers. You do this by tracing his footsteps, and searching the places he has been. By piecing together Richard's old photographs you unlock new worlds to investigate, new games to play, and new objects to find. All the information you gather as you try to unravel the mystery of Richard's disappearance is kept in your Diary.

Home Desktop
When you enter the game, you are faced with your own Home Desktop. From here you can view your game progress, choose a picture or a puzzle to play, see your active quests, look at your inventory, visit the shop, read your diary, enter the collections section, look at your current awards goals and enter the friends section.



Current Player Information
Number 1 on the picture of a Home Desktop shows your Player name.

You choose this name when you first start the game. The default name is Player, however it is recommended that you choose an unique name to distinguish you from other players when you get involved in the friends section of the game. You may change your player name at any time by pressing the current name on your home desktop, but each change costs crystals.

Number 2 shows your avatar. Your avatar appears next to your name in all the social interaction portions of the game. You can change your avatar by pressing the avatar next to your name on the home desktop. There are a set amount of default avatars to choose from at the beginning of the game. You may also win new avatars by completing certain time sensitive Holiday Challenges as part of Holiday Updates. You may also use your Facebook profile picture as an avatar if you link your game to facebook.

Number 3 shows your current experience points in a blue bar. Next to your current experience points is the number of experience points you need to reach the next level. As you reach this goal, the blue bar fills up. In the example here, the player is on level 52, currently has 361,615 experience points, and needs to reacdh 364,600 experience points to get to level 53.

Number 4, the red circle under the Avatar, shows your current level in the game.

When you first start the game, the only picture that is available to play is Venice. As you progress through the levels, you will be able to unlock new pictures and puzzles. You increase your level by earning experience points from successfully investigating pictures, winning games, completing tasks or visiting your friends.

Energy Points
Each Picture investigation and Puzzle game costs Energy points to play. The number of energy points required varies between pictures (with the pictures you unlock at highest levels costing the most for each play) and also increases as the level of that picture increases. Pictures that contain anomalies cost additional energy points to play, unless you banish the anomaly before playing.

Your energy points do restore slowly over time and are restored to maximum every time you reach a new lavel in the game.

Number 5 in the picture of a Home Desktop above shows your current and maximum energy points. In the example in the picture, the player has 617 out of a maximum 290 energy points available (clearly this player hasn't been playing very many pictures!). Your maximum energy points increase by 5 for each level you increase in the game. You can also increase your maximum by using a Dinner (restores all energy and adds 10 points to your maximum) or a Holiday event equivalent of a Dinner (restores all energy and adds 15 points to your maximum, e.g. the Gingerbread House from the Christmas Update).

Your energy recovers over time at a rate of 1 energy point every 3 minutes. You can increase the rate your energy restores for a short period of time by using Talismans. The clock under your energy points (number 6) shows how much time is left before a new energy point is restored. Once you reach your maximum, the clock stops and your energy will not start restoring again until your energy points drop below the maximum level again. However, you can still gain energy points from awards or by using Food items in your inventory, and these will still be added to your current total energy points, even if the total is more than your maximum (see the example in the picture above, the player has 617 energy points, even though their clock has stopped restoring energy since they are above their maximum of 290 points).

Note: Energy Points are different to Strength points. Using weights that restore strength points will not increase your energy points. Stregth points are used to charge your friends pictures and awards when visiting them.

Game Currency
The game contains two different currency items: Coins (number 7 in picture above) and Crystals (number 8 in picture above).

You can earn coins by successfully investigating pictures and puzzles. Each picture or puzzle awards a certain number of coins for each play. This number increases as the level of the picture or puzzle increases. You can also increase the amount of coins you win by using Talismans, hiring Friends with the Merchant Profession before playing that picture/puzzle, or the first time you play a picture after it has been charged by a friend with the Merchant Profession while visiting you. You can also earn coins by combining collections, and from collecting your desktop awards rewards after they have been charged by visiting friends.

Coins are needed to open new pictures and puzzles once you have unlocked them and collected all the picture/puzzle pieces needed to open them. Some pictures need as many as 100,000 coins to open. When you press open on a new picture you have collected all pieces for, you are brought to a mini game in the form of a jigsaw puzzle. If you do not complete the jigsaw in the alloted time, you will not unlock the picture and will need to pay the coins again to try and open the picture again. If you do not unlock the picture your coins are not depleted. If you are just starting out in the game, it is recommended to hold onto your coins until you have unlocked all the pictures and puzzles. Even when you have all pictures and puzzles unlocked, you will need to keep a stockpile of coins to ensure you can any new pictures/puzzles added by game updates.

Coins can also be used to buy certain items, such as some tools, in the shop. You can buy additional coins from the bank by pressing the green + sign next to your current coin (or crystal) total at any time to make an in-app purchase.

You earn 1 crystal for each new level you reach in the game. You can also earn some crystals for completing certain quests at the beginning of the game (such as following G5 on twitter). You can also buy additional crystals from the bank by pressing the green + sign next to your current crystal (or coin) total at any time to make an in-app purchase.

Crystals are used to unlock pictures/puzzles when you haven't collected all the pieces yet. Crystals can also be used to buy the majority of items available in the shop, including food items that restore energy points. Crystals can also be used to open up new items to give to friends as free gifts before you reach a high enough level, and to refresh the list of game generated players you can invite to be friends earlier than its normal 8 hour refresh rate.

Playing the Game
Once you are ready to start playing a game you simply press the picture or puzzle icon on your home desktop to bring up the games 'research window'. Pressing Research will start that picture investigation or puzzle game.

Normal Pictures
Number 1 in the picture to the right, shows a normal picture ready to play. The green banner above the picture gives the pictures name. The colour around the frame of the picture indicates what level you are on in that picture. The box in the top left hand side of the picture indicates what mode the picture is currently in (what game type pressing research will launch).

When you open the research window for a picture, you will see all the information about playing that picture. The box in the top left hand corner of the research window shows the amount of experience points and coins that will be won if you successfully investigate the picture. In the example with an anomaly present below the first number indicates the normal amounts won, while the second numbers after the '+' show the increase in coins and experience points awarded by using talimans, hiring friends or a friends charges.

The box below this shows the current price to investigate the picture in energy points. The photo to the right shows the picture you are about to play. The paper attached to the picture with a paper clip shows what mode the picture is currently in (e.g. Throne Room above, the 'abc' means the game will be in text mode). If a friend has charged the picture, a mystery man symbol will be in the top right hand corner of the picture photo with a profession symbol (e.g. Throne Room above, the camera sign means a slueth has charged the picture). Pressing the mystery man symbol will bring up a box telling you the game name of the friend that charged the picture for you.

The banner below the photo shows your current scene level and beneath this is a green progress bar indicating how far the picture is away from the next scene level (e.g. Throne Room above, the picture is at Pro level, so the banner is silver, the picture is at 20% of Pro, and requires another 80% to reach High Seeker level).

You can scroll through the can be found list to see the list of potential items you could win by successfully investigating the picture. This list contains both collection items and elements to combine collections. Each picture has it own set of items to be won, and some items can be won in every picture that is in a certain mode. If you are looking for a particular item and it is not in the 'can be found' list you may need to investigate the picture in a different mode, or investigate a different picture.

Pressing the Brown 'X' in the top right hand corner of the research window will bring you back to your Home Desktop, and pressing the green 'Research' button at the bottom of the research window will begin the picture investigation.

Pictures with Anomalies
Number 2 in the Home Desktop picture above is the picture Venice with the 'Lost in Time' anomaly (Misty Shed and Crashed Plane both have a 'Ghostly Mirror' anomaly and Bungalow has a 'Scroll Eater' anomaly). When you open the research window for a picture with an anomaly it will have a 'banish' button in place of the scene progress bar.

Pressing banish will remove the anomaly if you have the right banishing tool (in this case you would need a Hand Fan to banish the Lost Time anomaly). If you do not have the right banishing tool, then you will be offered to buy it with crystals or play the picture with the anomaly present. Banishing an anomaly gives you a list of rewards from the 'can be found' list, regardless of whether you choose to play the picture after banishing or not.

Once you banish an anomaly out of a picture, the next game mode in that picture is always Text mode.

Pressing the green research button will start the picture investigation with the anomaly in place. Each anomaly creates a new game type. Playing with an anomaly in place will cost extra energy points than playing that picture normally, but the list of items that can be found investigating the picture increases to include items that can only be won by investigating pictures with anomalies (these items may also be won by banishing the anomaly).

Once you successfully play a picutre with an anomaly in it, the next game mode in that picrture is always Curse mode. This is the only way to get Curse mode to appear in a picture.

Puzzles
Number 3 in the Home Desktop picture above is the puzzle 'Pipes'. Pressing a puzzle icon on your home desktop will bring up a research window similar to the one for pictures. Pressing research will start the puzzle game.

Locked and Unlocked Pictures
Number 4 in the Home Desktop picture above is an unlocked but not yet open picture. When you first start the game, the only picture that is open for you to play is Venice. As you increase your game level you will unlock more and more pictures and puzzles to play. Pictures and puzzles with a close padlock symbol on them are currently locked. Pressing the picture will bring up a box telling you what level you need to be to unlock the picture.

Once you are at the correct level, the closed padlock symbol will turn into an open padlock symbol, and a new quest will appear in your quest list on the left hand side of your home desktop telling you how to find the four missing pieces of the new picture.

In order to open the new picture, you need to complete the quest to find the missing four pieces. Once you have all four pieces you can open the picture by playing a mini-game. The mini game is to put together a jigsaw puzzle of the new picture within a certain time frame. To play the mini-game you need to pay with both energy points and coins. The energy points required to open the new picture is usually the same amount as will be required to play the picture on its base level (Trainee) once opened.

Once a picture is unlocked you can skip the steps of opening it at any point by using crystals to instantly open the game. Each picture piece costs a set number of crystals, depending on which picture it is. If you are missing one picture piece as with the Illusionist's Room above, it would cost 55 crystals to instantly open the picture, but if the player was missing all four picture pieces it would cost 220 crystals to unlock the picture.

Quests
Your list of active quests are shown on the left hand side of your home desktop.

Number 5 in the Home Desktop Picture above shows the current list of quests, and number 6 shows a new quest that has appeared. New quests are marked with exclamation symbols until you open them and read the instructions. Quests that have multiple parts will also rise to the top of your list and have an exclamation mark if you have completed one part of them. When you open a quest with multiple parts that has jumped to the top of your quest list the part of the quest you have already completed will have a green check mark beside it.

Pressing a quest will bring up the quest box. This box gives you a dialog explaning the quest, with a picture of the person who has given you the quest next to it. Beneath the dialog is a symbol representing the quest. In the example above, the quest is to investigate two pictures, so the photos of those pictures are there. If the quest is to find a certain item, a picture of the item is beneath the dialog.

Underneath the symbol of the quest is a one sentence explanation of what you have to do to complete the quest. Read this sentence carefully, as it may reference a particular picture mode as well as a picture to investigate. In the example above, both Venice and Buddha's Square must be investigated in Night mode to complete the quest. Investigating the pictures in any other mode will not complete the quest.

Most quests involve the successful investigation of either a picture, puzzle or anomaly. Collection items asked for in quests are won by successfully completing a picture investigation. The items are not found within the picture itself, but are given as rewards for successfully completing an investigation of the picture.

Active Talismans
To help you investigate pictures or puzzles, you can activate Talismans or Artefacts from your inventory. Active Talismans and Arefacts show up on the right hand side of your Home Desktop (number 7 in the Home Desktop picture above), along with a timer showing how long the Talisman or Artefact has left before it is used up. See the List of Talismans and List of Arefacts for details of what they do and how you can acquire them.

Desktop Awards
At the top of your Home Desktop are your desktop awards (number 8 in the Home Desktop picture above). These awards are given out for reaching certain milestones in the game. Most of the desktop awards have 10 levels, and the decoration of the award changes depending on what level you have reached. The Friendliness award currently only has 8 levels, and the Sphere of Miracles and Pyramid of Wonder do not have any additional levels currently.

Each desktop award gives out rewards to you in set time intervals. Once a desktop award is ready to give out rewards it sparkles. Pressing a sparkling award will discharge it, giving you the rewards, and restarts the rewards timer again. Pressing an award at any other time will bring up a description of the award, what rewards it will give out once its timer has reached zero, and how long is left on its timer currently

If an award has been charged by a visiting friend it will have a green check mark next to it. When the award is ready to collect and is sparkling discharging it will bring up a box telling you which of your friends charged the award.

Other Sections of the Game
In addition to pictures and puzzles, you can also access other areas of the game from your home desktop. At the bottom of your home desktop are 6 tabs that open additional sections of the game.



Inventory
You can access your inventory by pressing the inventory icon (number 1 on the Home Desktop picture to the left).

Your inventory contains all items you have won in the game including talismans, Energy (food items that restores energy points or weights that restore strength points), Tools, Special (contains chests you have won ready to be opened), and Different (contains all you combining elements, once off quest items, and special items needed to play certain pictures).

Shop
The shop icon (number 2 on the Home Desktop picture above) opens the Shop. Here you can buy any items you may find in your inventory for either coins or crystals won in the game or bought in the bank. Additonal high level versions of certain items such as Talismans and Chests that cannot be won in the game can also be bought in the shop.

Diary
As you play through the quests you will unlock pages of your Diary (number 3 on the Home Desktop picture above). Opening the Diary allows you to re-read all the pages you have unlocked so far. The order of the pages of the Diary depends on the order you complete certain quests, and so each players Diary may have a slightly different order. This means you need to unravel the order of the pages yourself to follow the story of the game.

Collections
The Collections item (number 4 on the Home Desktop picture above) opens the Collections section of the game. Here you can combine Collections and Artefacts as well as manage your wishlist.

Awards
The Awards icon (number 5 on the Home Desktop picture above) opens the list of awards that can be won in the game. This includes the desktop awards and all other awards that can be acheived as you play. Pressing on an award icon will bring up a description of the award, what level you are on for the award, and what you progress is towards reaching the next level of that award. The non-desktop awards each have 5 levels to complete.

Friends
The Friends icon (number 6 on the Home Desktop picture above) opens up the Friends section of the game. Here you can manage your current friend list; gift, visit and hire your current friends; accept gifts from your friends; invite new friends from a randomly generated list of suggestions; accept or reject freind requests from other players; invite a particular friend using a code they have given you; find your own friend code to give to other players; and view the top1000 list of all players. An exclamation mark will bounce over the Friends icon on your home desktop if you have a new friend request in your waiting room, or if a someone you have invited to be friends has accepted your invitation and has been added to your friends list. See Friends for futher details on this aspect of the game.

In addition to the check mark next to charged awards, you might see other signs of your friends on your home desktop. Any picture or puzzle charged by a visiting friend will have an icon in the top left corner of its frame (sometimes covering the symbol for current game mode in pictures). The symbol indicates what profession the friend who charged the picture/puzzle is (see number 8 on the Home Desktop picture above, where a slueth - camera symbol - has charged the puzzle Gem Match). Opening the research window for the charged picture/puzzle and pressing on the enlarged charged symbol there will bring up a box telling you which friend charged that picture/puzzle.

When you have new gifts waiting to accept an icon of a wrapped present will appear on the right hand side of your Home Desktop with the number of gifts waiting listed in the box beneath the icon (number 7 on the Home Desktop picture above). Pressing this icon will bring you directly to the gifts tab of the Friends Section.

Hints and Tips
This page just explains the bare basics of the game. Follow the links in the related section below or throughout this article to get more detailed information on the different aspects of the game not covered here. Visit the FAQ to find answers to some of the most common questions new players have, and if you have a question not covered in the FAQ or any of the other pages on this wiki post your question in the wiki's forum

Related

 * SS Home
 * List of Pictures
 * Energy
 * List of Puzzles
 * Quests
 * Collections
 * Friends
 * Strength
 * Awards