Vitaly Friedman

About The Author

Vitaly Friedman Vitaly Friedman loves beautiful content and doesn’t like to give in easily. Vitaly is writer, speaker, author and editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine. He runs responsive Web design workshops, online workshops and loves solving complex UX, front-end and performance problems in large companies. Get in touch.

The 3rd Smashing Mystery Riddle: Have You Figured It Out Yet?

Ah, these mystery riddles never stop, do they? To celebrate the launch of the SmashingConf Whistler, our very first conference in Canada, we’ve prepared a yet another riddle, and of course this time it's not going to be any easier! Tip: Watch out for a hint in one of the frames in each of the GIFs. Large view. So, how does it work this time? Well, below you'll find the first of a few...

Ah, these mystery riddles never stop, do they? To celebrate the launch of the SmashingConf Whistler, our very first conference in Canada, we’ve prepared a yet another riddle, and of course this time it's not going to be any easier!

So, how does it work this time? Well, below you'll find the first of a few hidden animated GIFs that contain a secret Twitter hashtag. Your job is to deconstruct that hashtag as fast as possible. To do that, you have to pay attention to the file name and count objects within the GIF (for example, "3 chairs") and search for them on Twitter (i.e. #3chairs).

If your guess is right, you'll find a tweet leading you to the next level. Once you've reached the last level (oh, you'll know when), just tweet out all the hints in one single hashtag to @smashingmag on Twitter! Not that difficult, right?

Alright, let's get to business. Are you ready? Action! (And good luck!)

Smashing Book Mystery
Tip: Watch out for a hint in one of the frames in each of the GIFs. Large view.

So, What Can You Win?

We'll raffle a quite extraordinary, smashing prize (and a couple of other Smashing extras, see below) to the first couple of readers who tweet out the correct hidden hashtags to us!

  • a roundtrip flight to Whistler, Canada,
  • full accommodation in a fancy hotel,
  • a ticket to the Smashing Conference Whistler 2014,
  • any Smashing workshop ticket of your choice,
  • full access to the Smashing eBook Library,
  • a signed edition of the Smashing Book #4,
  • a truly Smashing laptop bag,
  • your very own Smashing caricature, designed just for you.

Please notice that to avoid spoilers, comments are closed for this post. And sorry, we aren’t going to make it too easy for you. The winners will be announced on Saturday, July 19th.

Alright! Let's get to work. Or have you already figured it out? ;-)

Update (19.07.2014): the first person to tweet the right hashtags was @jaicab_, followed by @rakesh_katti, @_paulrose, @furniest. Congratulations! All the other winners will be announced at latest early Monday. Thanks to everyone for participation!


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