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How Many People Are In This Cartoon? (Illusion)

ByJohn P.

Please count the people below, wait for the picture to change, then count them again. This is guaranteed to drive you crazy!

How Many People Are there? (Illusion)
How Many People Are there? (Illusion)

Where exactly did the extra guy come from?

Here’s what happened… it’s easier when you see the images switch instantly.

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John P.

John P. is a former CEO, former TV Show Host, and the Founder and Wizard behind Texas Metal Works. You can find him on X, Facebook and LinkedIn. Feel free to send shoutouts, insults, and praise.

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16 Comments

  2. I think it’s further exacerbated by the fact that the MOVEMENT is actually in a cycle INSTEAD of back and forth. [back and forther lol]

  4. forget it. my brain short circuited and melted. i have to just accept that i am way stupider than i thot.

  5. the people who make these things are cruel. it is brain torture. i copied both pics onto powerpoint. i am going to experiment with manipulating the pics and try to get this figured out, dammit.

  6. For reference, the “extra man” comes from the person on the bottom left.

    You can think about this as 1 person = 1 head = 1 pair of feet. The person on the bottom left actually looses just a tiny piece of his hair (his head) during the swap. His tiny piece is enough to complete the corresponding other person, but not enough for most people to notice that he’s not “complete” any more.

    This is further facilitated by the fact that all the other people are slightly less or more people between switches as Simes pointed out.

  7. It only took me 40 minutes and some disassembly with Jasc’s Animation Shop to work this out!

    If you number the people 1 to 13 then the major difference is a person number 6 appears / disappears. The minor differences are much more subtle. A number of people get shorter: some of the 12 people are taller than their counterparts in the 13 people. The 13th person – number 6 – is effectively made up of slices taken from others.

    What an imaginative piece of work! It must have taken ages to put together, even after the initial idea. It is probably a work of genius.

  8. How’s it going John, From what I can see it’s the top two guys that are making the numbers change. 13 and 12, but there’s more to it.

  9. I’ve spent 10 mins looking at this, the only thing I can think, which may already be obvious is that the shoes are shaped like the top of their hair, and there are an extra pair of shoes somewhere behind one of them. But still I am confused!

  10. This is sure to waste much time. I know I have already spent too much time looking at this, and I plan to come back later and figure it out. Great puzzle!

  12. this made my head hurt! I don’t wanna think where the extra person came from, I am just amazed how a simple image can be as painfully tough to think about.

  14. I think it’s this: the only part of the person at the bottom left that moves it the very top of the hair, instead if half a person like the others. The hair is used to “complete” the person in all white in the bottom row. It makes sense when I watch the picture, let me know if this makes sense to anyone else. :)

  16. The extra guy comes in the second row. Not exactly from where but I think something to do with shifting of these people around. Hit print screen and observe both, tough though.

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