Camera Game

Camera Game is a wildlife photography game where you go on six photo trips with 12 shots of film each. Pan across a wide scene, zoom in, hold to focus and press the shutter at the right moment. Every photo gets a score, and your best shot of each animal goes into an album you can save as a PNG. You can play this camera game online free in your browser with no download, using a mouse, a keyboard or a phone’s touch screen.

How to play

Pick a trip from the menu: Savanna at Dawn, Rainforest Canopy, Coral Reef, Arctic Coast, Night Forest or Dino Valley. Each trip has a photo list of three animals, shown under the viewfinder. The strip beneath the photo is a map of the whole scene, with a dot for each animal and a box for where your camera is pointing.

• Pan and zoom: drag the photo, or use the arrow keys or WASD, to look around. Zoom with the mouse wheel, the Zoom buttons or the Z and X keys.
• Focus: hold the mouse or your finger still on the photo, hold the Focus button, or hold F. The bar fills and the center brackets turn green when the shot is sharp. Panning or zooming blurs the picture again, so set up first, then focus.
• Shoot: release the mouse or lift your finger after focusing, or press the Shutter button or Space. A small print of the photo appears in the corner with its score.
• Mind the film: you get 12 shots per trip. When they are gone, or when you press End, the trip finishes and you see a contact sheet of every frame.

How photos are scored

Every photo is worth up to 100 points, and the line under the photo list shows the breakdown for your last shot.

• Subject (20): one of the animals on the trip’s photo list has to be in the frame.
• Size (20): full points when the animal fills roughly an eighth to almost half of the frame. A tiny dot in the distance or an extreme close-up scores less.
• Rule of thirds (15): the faint grid splits the frame into thirds. Place the animal on one of the four points where the lines cross. An animal dead center gets nothing here.
• Whole animal (10): cutting off part of the animal at the edge of the frame costs these points.
• Focus (20): a sharp photo earns all 20. Blurry photos really are blurry, in the corner print and in the album.
• Timing (15): catch the animal mid-action, such as the lion’s yawn, the zebra’s kick, the arctic fox’s pounce, the owl’s head turn, the octopus changing color or the puffin with fish in its beak.

A photo scoring 88 or more earns 3 stars, 65 earns 2 and 40 earns 1. A trip’s stars are the lowest best-photo rating on its list, so 3 stars means a 3-star shot of all three animals. Earning at least 1 star unlocks the next trip. Stars and the album are saved in your browser.

Animal behavior

Grazing animals wander, stop to feed and now and then do their action. Hiding animals, like the tree frog, the clownfish, the raccoon and the owl, peek out for a few seconds and then duck back down. Flying and swimming animals, such as the toucan, sea turtle, bat and Pteranodon, cross the scene and come back. If you swing the camera too fast, nearby grazers run off and hiding animals vanish for a while. Normal arrow-key panning is safe, but holding Shift pans fast enough to scare them.

Tips

• Frame first, then focus. Get the size and the thirds placement right, then hold focus and wait for the action.
• Watch the pattern. Peeking animals come back to the same spot, so you can frame the spot and wait.
• Lead the fliers. Fliers move steadily, so pan along with them slowly and focus as you go.

FAQ

Is Camera Game free?

Yes. It is free to play with no account and nothing to install.

Can I keep my photos?

Yes. Open the Album and press Download PNG under any animal to save your best photo of it as an image file.

Are the animal facts real?

Yes. Each animal in the album comes with one short, real fact, for example that every zebra’s stripe pattern is unique and that Pteranodon was a pterosaur, not a dinosaur.

Does it work on phones?

Yes. Drag to pan, hold still to focus and lift to shoot, or use the on-screen buttons. The game area won’t scroll the page while you play. Press P or Esc to pause on a computer; switching tabs also pauses.

Like spotting animals? Try Bird Game to photograph 30 real bird species, or test your eyes in Hidden Object.