I love going to garage sales.  The whole idea of finding hidden treasures in other people’s garbage is just too much fun.  But most of our treasures these days consist of toys for the kids, or maybe some clothes.  You see, I have never been the kind of person who can look at old junk and find the hidden potential to turn it into something else.  I have, however, always been a bit intrigued by that concept, and wished I could be a bit more creative with these kinds of things.  So, I was intrigued to play a game which let me do just that…Yard Sale Hidden Treasures.

Let’s start with what exactly we are looking at here.  Yardsale Hidden Treasures is a hidden picture game…with a bit of a twist.  What I really liked about this one is that you are not just given a picture and told to find a bunch of hidden pictures in there.  I mean, sure you do have to do that, but there is a story woven throughout this one, tying all of the picture hunts together.

So,here is the story: the town of Sunnyvale is holding a garage sale.  The occasion?  Well,Superstar Homes Magazine is coming to town and holding a competition for the most fashionable home.  Being new in town, your house could really use some work in order to be ready for the competition.  So, you’ll need to hit those yard sales right away in order to find everything you need…not to mention a few random goodies as well.

The game consists of six levels, and in each level your ultimate goal is to find the materials you will need to finish a particular room.  at the beginning of the level, you inspect the room, figure out what you want and what you will need to find at the yard sales.  Then you are off to shop.  There are 12 homes (aside from yours) in the town of Sunnyville, but not all of them are involved with each level.  At the beginning, you will be shown a map of the town indicating which homes you must visit and how many items you will need to find at each.  Among the items you must find are the ones you need to complete the room.  When you find one of these, you they will jump right out at you (as seen below).

In the beginning, you will only need to visit a few homes and there is plenty of time on the clock.  As you progress though, you will need to find significantly more items, spread across multiple sales (you can also ditch the clock and play without a timer at all in relaxed mode.)

What I really liked about the game were the colorful characters.  Each home is owned by a character whose house and items match their personalities.  Some of these personalities are just fun, like Sandy Beach, who lives in a beach house.  Others resemble famous historic people, like the scientist E. Stein (above).

As you play the game, you will need to visit each location multiple times.  One thing I noticed is that each location does not significantly change from one visit to the next.  This means a good memory can go a long way.  Pay attention during the easier levels and the later levels will be significantly easier.  I wish there had been more changes in each location when you visit them later in the game.  It did start to feel a bit redundant after a few visits to each location.

What I really liked about this game, and what sets it aside from other hidden picture games, is the end of each level.  Once you have located all of the pieces you need, you’ll have to use them to assemble items for your room.  What this does is create a narrative thread which links all of the levels together, making an interesting storyline; rather than just randomly finding objects.  And let me tell you, assembling these items was not always easy either.  Typically, you must perform a task or variety of tasks, such as: painting, cutting, gluing, and assembling, in a limited period of time.

Once you have completed all six rooms, and completed the game, you will unlock the Sunnyville Tour Mode.  In this mode, you must find every hidden item (around 85-90) at each location.  try to beat the record time of 2:40:00.  Good luck.

I have to say I was a little leery going into this game initially.  I was afraid it would be just another hidden picture game.  Enjoyable, but really aren’t they all pretty much the same?   Well, Sunnyville certainly proved me wrong.  I thought they did a fantastic job of creating a narrative thread which wove through the story.  They did this with a few short cut scenes, interesting characters, and the challenges at the end of each level.  I thought the developers did a fantastic job of creating a fun and challenging game.  Good luck and Happy hunting!

What I Liked:

• Nice graphics
• Fun locations and characters
• Great storyline tying the game together

What Needs Improvement: Visited the same location too many times.  There should have been more locations, or the locations should have changed significantly between visits.

Developer: method solutions

Price: $4.99 (but there is also a free version)

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