Journal · 21 September 2026 · 4 min read

Close Looking: a player’s guide

How the detail game works, and a few habits that help you name a work sooner.

Close Looking borrows an exercise used in art history teaching: study a small part of a picture and work out the whole. On the home page, a magnified detail of one cover pulls slowly back. Name the game before the full picture — and its painted title — comes into view.

How a round is built

One of the four options always comes from the same room as the answer, so colour alone will not always give it away. The first detail is always taken from the upper part of the cover, away from the title lettering.

Habits that help

Look for texture before subject: brushed brass says Automata, faceted light says Regalia, foliage says Pastorals. Then look for a creature or a single object — a lantern, a comet, a cherry. Most covers are built around one.

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