History Literature / ISpy

* TreasureHuntEpisode: ''I Spy Treasure Hunt'', natch.

** ''I Spy Spooky Night'' immediately preceded the release of ''Treasure Hunt'' and has a similarly linear storyline and "first-person" perspective to the camera angle in each of the pictures complete with a possible antagonist in the form of the ghostly skeleton that is in every picture) complete with the final two pictures implying that it was just a dream and that the skeleton was just a rubber doll and the haunted mansion was a dollhouse.

!!The books in the ''I Spy'' series provide examples of the following tropes:

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: ''I Spy Treasure Hunt'' has a more linear storyline (with an almost FirstPersonShooter-style perspective to the photos) than the other books, and the photos are mostly of model environments (a seaside village, an island, a cave) built with ordinary O-scale props, with hidden objects mixed in instead of a jumble of items arranged around a theme. It also features some specially-drawn traditional art in the form of the treasure map the story revolves around.
** ''I Spy Spooky Night'' immediately preceded the release of ''Treasure Hunt'' and has a similarly linear storyline and "first-person" perspective to the camera angle in each of the pictures complete with a possible antagonist in the form of the ghostly skeleton that is in every picture) complete with the final two pictures implying that it was just a dream and that the skeleton was just a rubber doll and the haunted mansion was a dollhouse.

'''''I Spy''''' is a [[LongRunners long-running]] series of [[HiddenObjectGame hidden object puzzle books]] aimed at children, by writer Jean Marzollo and photographer Walter Wick. The concept of the books are fairly simple; the reader is given a collection of pictures chock full of items, and they are presented with a riddle that lists off a number of objects that are hidden somewhere in the picture. However, it isn't usually as simple as just finding the item sitting in plain sight; objects will often be hidden inside others (for instance, when it tells you to look for a fish, it might actually be referring to a fish that is engraved in wood), or they'll be used as a decorative set piece cleverly disguised in the scenery.

'''I Spy''' is a [[LongRunners long-running]] series of [[HiddenObjectGame hidden object books]] aimed at children, by writer Jean Marzollo and photographer Walter Wick. The concept of the books are fairly simple; the reader is given a collection of pictures chock full of items, and they are presented with a riddle that lists off a number of objects that are hidden somewhere in the picture. However, it isn't usually as simple as just finding the item sitting in plain sight; objects will often be hidden inside others (for instance, when it tells you to look for a fish, it might actually be referring to a fish that is engraved in wood), or they'll be used as a decorative set piece cleverly disguised in the scenery.

!!The books in the I Spy series provide examples of the following tropes:

It was also adapted into a stop-motion animated series, which aired on [[Creator/{{HBO}} HBO Family]] between 2003 and 2004 for 26 episodes. This show was in a somewhat different format, being an {{edutainment}} series, but hidden, random objects still remained a core part (even the main characters are made up of random objects).

* ExtendedGameplay: Extra Credit Riddles, which were introduced in ''Mystery'', are sets of extra riddles for each picture. Also, the "Find Me" riddle, which tasks the reader to find a single object that appears across every picture in the book.

* HauntedHouse: ''I Spy Spooky Night'',

Not to be confused with [[Series/ISpy the spy show of the same name]].

* RubeGoldbergDevice:
** "Levers, Ramps, and Pulleys" in ''School Days''. The machine [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-00r54HAazA actually worked]] too!

The series began in 1992 with the release of the book simply titled ''I Spy'', which did not have much of a unifying theme; later on came a multitude of other books, though, such as "I Spy School Days" which has a classroom theme and ''I Spy Spooky Night'' which takes place inside a haunted mansion. It quickly became a huge success and spawned a whole slew of spinoffs aimed at various age groups and even a series of (surprisingly well-made) {{Licensed Game}}s for various game consoles, but most often the PC. Although main series books are a lot less common nowadays, all of the older books are still in print and still easy to run across in the children's section of your local bookstore, and don't be surprised if you're still running across them in the average elementary school classroom.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** The original PC game and its UpdatedRerelease ''School Days'' are vastly different from the future ones, playing out more or less like a hidden object MinigameGame instead of having a plot and an adventure to follow. They're also the only ones to include a Find Me riddle. The ''Junior'' games would be the only ones to follow this format past this particular entry.
** The first iteration of ''Spooky Mansion'' is the first one to feature a plot and an adventure, but it's still quite a bit different from the later games that follow this format. First off, there is only one adventure instead of three (this prompted a lot of complaints for the game being [[ItsShortSoItSucks too short]]). Every picture also has only two riddles instead of three, and you solve them back to back instead of solving one at a time and holding the next one off until the next adventure. Also, quite unusually for an adventure-centered ''I Spy'' game, this one has minigames and a Make Your Own activity, and until the very end, they're not important to finishing the game. The ''Deluxe'' remake alleviates a lot of this weirdness by making the minigames integral to the plot, removing the Make Your Own entirely, and overall changing it to the "three adventures" format (the original way you got out of the house is now saved for the third and final time you escape).

* GimmickLevel: In the PC games, a standard riddle is just like in the books -- a standard picture with things to find. Other riddles will change things up a bit though; this includes making the screen span more than a single picture, making everything tiny and handing the player with a magnifying glass, [[BlackoutBasement using binoculars on a faraway view or a flashlight in a dark room]], or giving multiple viewing angles for the same scene.

* HauntedHouse: ''I Spy Spooky Night'', known as ''Spooky Mansion'' in video game adaptations.
* InexplicablyAwesome: Skelly from the ''Spooky Mansion'' games, who appears to be [[UndeadChild rather young]] judging from his [[VocalDissonance prepubescent voice]], yet lives in a gigantic mansion which has a lab that can spawn ghosts, and inordinately uses OffscreenTeleportation, BehindTheBlack, and YourSizeMayVary.
* InnocentAliens: The one-eyed aliens from ''I Spy Fantasy'' for PC. They have a cave full of Earthling objects that they're observing and pose no threat. The lab notes even say that they are friendly.
* LicensedGame: Quite a few of them; two for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, three for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, one for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, and eight for Windows and Macintosh computers. The latter are the most well-known ones. There are also a few mobile apps and for educational handheld consoles. [[NoProblemWithLicensedGames Many of them were surprisingly good]].
* NoNameGiven: In the original ''Spooky Mansion'' game on the PC, the skeleton that hosts the game went unnamed. The closest we got was the note on the finished puzzle being signed "[[ADogNamedDog Skeleton]]," but it was never made clear if that was his actual name. The ''Deluxe'' version averts this by naming him Skelly.

** There was also a Balloon Popper in the PC game, which had three different ways it could work.

* TreasureHuntEpisode: ''I Spy Treasure Hunt'', natch.
* UpdatedRerelease: The PC version of ''School Days'' is actually an updated version of the first game released on the PC, originally simply known ''I Spy.'' The only major difference between the two versions, however, is the inclusion of a new theme, Craft Projects, which has a new set of pictures along with riddles to solve.
* VideoGameRemake: ''I Spy Spooky Mansion'' was remade into ''I Spy Spooky Mansion Deluxe.'' This included adding a new riddle for each room, two new ways to get out of the house (essentially updating it to the "three adventures" format introduced in ''Treasure Hunt''), creating new versions of certain scenes, and making the minigames part of the story.

'''I Spy''' is a long-running series of [[HiddenObjectGame hidden object books]] aimed at children, by writer Jean Marzollo and photographer Walter Wick. The concept of the books are fairly simple; the reader is given a collection of pictures chock full of items, and they are presented with a riddle that lists off a number of objects that are hidden somewhere in the picture. However, it isn't usually as simple as just finding the item sitting in plain sight; objects will often be hidden inside others (for instance, when it tells you to look for a fish, it might actually be referring to a fish that is engraved in wood), or they'll be used as a decorative set piece cleverly disguised in the scenery.

* LicensedGame: Quite a few of them; two for the {{Wii}}, three for the NintendoDS, one for the GameBoyAdvance, and eight for Windows and Macintosh computers. The latter are the most well-known ones. There are also a few mobile apps and for educational handheld consoles. [[NoProblemWithLicensedGames Many of them were surprisingly good]].

* UpdatedReRelease: ''I Spy Spooky Mansion'' was remade into ''I Spy Spooky Mansion Deluxe.'' This included adding a new riddle for each room, two new ways to get out of the house, creating new versions of certain scenes, and making the minigames part of the story.

* LicensedGame: Quite a few of them; two for the {{Wii}}, three for the NintendoDS, one for the GameBoyAdvance, and eight for Windows and Macintosh computers. The latter are the most well-known ones. There are also a few mobile apps and for educational handheld consoles. Many of them were surprisingly good.
* RubeGoldbergDevice: "Levers, Ramps, and Pulleys" in ''School Days''. The machine [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-00r54HAazA actually worked]] too!

* TreasureHuntEpisode: ''I Spy Treasure Hunt'', natch.

* MilestoneCelebration: ''I Spy Mystery'', which celebrates the series' 10th anniversary, and ''I Spy Spectacular'', which celebrates the series' 20th anniversary.
* RecycledScript: Well, not so much "script", but the ''Challenger'' books all reuse pictures from the previous books with newer (and usually much more difficult) riddles.