How would you find Waldo

[Soredavide]

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I might have to try this, when I get some time.

[j03]

Waldo is the only character in the image with two eyes instead of dots like the other people, so I'd prolly utilize that. Search for the eyes somehow and then do a check of the surrounding pixel colors, if they match Waldo then it's him, if not then move to the next region of what might be his eyes.

[Miguel]

Waldo is the only character in the image with two eyes instead of dots like the other people, so I'd prolly utilize that. Search for the eyes somehow and then do a check of the surrounding pixel colors, if they match Waldo then it's him, if not then move to the next region of what might be his eyes.

Thats because he has glasses, in other puzzles I'm sure there are characters with glasses

[j03]

Ehhh, just going from my observations of this picture. :P

[John]

found him in like 30 seconds

EDIT: without looking at the programming part:P

[Miguel]

found him in like 30 seconds

EDIT: without looking at the programming part:P

The point was discussing an algorithm to find waldo

[Inq]

If people are good at solving these puzzles, obviously it only means that they have their own subconscious algorithms that they've learn to automate. From a pre-programming point of view, I think it's important to pinpoint what those internalised methods might be.

Initially, I had the same idea as Joe, but it's true that there are other characters that wear glasses. I'm also very critical of the stripe algorithm which is posted on that site. Sure, it works for that image, but there is no way in hell that it works for all of them. Just look at all of the characters wearing red and white striped clothing: in a different puzzle, there will be people who have stripes which are closer together than Waldo's are. In this one, many come within only millimetres of being so.

So, what else is there? Waldo always looks towards the reader. As far as I'm aware, only the "objective" characters do this, and it might only be Waldo. Surely there's a way to write an algorithm which searches for a pair of black dots in the dead centre of a pair of white circles? You'd look for black dots vaguely equidistant in all directions to black pixels.

The only problem is that this method would require a higher resolution of picture: the scan provided is too blurry to see the whites of Waldo's eyes, so to speak. If this isn't possible, you'd probably have to combine Joe's idea with the stripe algorithm, in order to eliminate the odd freak similarity. That doesn't seem too difficult, in concept: simply check for the closest eyes to Waldo-like stripes.