Mottle Hide & Seek map: all hiding spots explained

Is there a map of every hiding spot? Not in the usual sense. Mottle takes place in one garden of 25 coloured stones, and any of them will hide you: let go, Camo fills in under a second, and a Seeker’s light can pass right over you. What makes a spot safe is when you stop and where the Seekers are looking, not which stone you pick. Here is the real arena, what in it is fixed, and how to read it as the rounds get harder.

The Mottle map: one 5 × 5 garden

The whole game happens on this square. There are no other areas, no scrolling and nothing hidden off screen. The drawing below marks the parts that are the same in every round. We took them from the game’s own setup code and drew them over a real round-1 frame.

The Mottle arena: a 5 by 5 garden of coloured stones, the hidden creature on the centre stone and one Seeker beside it — A real round-1 frame with the fixed parts of the arena drawn on top. Columns A–E, rows 1–5; each stone is one fifth of the garden. Everything not drawn (stone colours, firefly spots, Seeker routes) changes from round to round.

What’s fixed and what changes

Part of the arena	Fixed or changing?
Size: 5 × 5 stones, square	Fixed
Your starting stone (the centre)	Fixed, every round and after every catch
Where Seekers start	Fixed for each Seeker count: evenly spaced, two stones out, facing you
Stone colours	Reshuffled at the start of every new round
Firefly spots	New each round; the same spots again if you’re caught and replay it
Seeker routes	Random every time; they pick a new point after each walk or scan
Number of Seekers	1 in round 1, 2 in rounds 2–3, 3 in rounds 4–5, 4 from round 6

So a list of “the 10 best hiding spots” would be made up. The colours under any given spot change every round, and the Seekers never walk the same route twice. What you can learn is how to read the garden in the moment.

So where are the best hiding spots?

The best hiding spot is the one you can reach and stop on before any cone gets there. Blending takes about 0.7 seconds, so “safe” means a stone no cone will touch in the next second or so. How to spot one:

Behind a Seeker. Cones point the way a Seeker walks. Ground it has just left is out of its sight until it turns.
Not between two Seekers. A stone where two cones could meet is where Alert fills fastest: each extra cone adds 45% to the rate.
Away from a Seeker that has stopped. About half the time a Seeker pauses to scan, and its cone nearly doubles in width for 1.7 seconds.
Not on a Seeker’s path while you’re moving. Running right into a Seeker gets you seen even outside its cone. Once you’re blended, it can walk past you.
Not chosen by colour. Every stone hides you equally. Grey is no better than green.

Round 1 vs round 6+: how the map changes

Round 1 during the Hide! countdown: one Seeker at the lower right, four fireflies, the creature in the centre — Round 1: one Seeker (lower right), 4 fireflies, 13-second timer.

Round 6 during the Hide! countdown: four Seekers spaced around the centre and nine fireflies — Round 6: four Seekers on every side, 9 fireflies, 23-second timer.

Round 1 is a lesson more than a test. The single Seeker starts at the lower right, its cone reaches about one and a half stones, and it patrols at about a third of your speed. At any moment most of the garden is unwatched, so almost every firefly can be taken. Hide when the cone turns your way; otherwise, collect.

Round 6 and up is a different map in practice. Four Seekers start on four sides, each cone reaches about 1.8 stones, and the timer runs 23 seconds. There’s no longer a quiet half of the garden. The safe ground is the gaps between cones, and it moves as the Seekers move. Run one stone at a time, stop, look again.

Round 6 a few seconds in: the four Seekers have walked toward the middle, the creature still hidden on the centre stone — Round 6, four seconds in: all four Seekers have drifted inward. The creature, still on its start stone and fully blended, is safe.

Round 12: all four Seekers stopped to scan with wide cones sweeping most of the garden — Round 12: all four Seekers scanning at once. The wide cones cover most of the garden. This is a moment to wait, not to run.

One more late-game detail: the starting cones get longer each round, and from round 10 their tips just reach the centre stone. You start blended, so it doesn’t matter if you wait, but if you move in the very first instant of “They Seek” you can be inside a cone. Give the Seekers a beat to turn away first.

Three situations, read from the map

1. Fully blended, and a cone passes over you

Do nothing. At 100% Camo the cone has no effect: Alert stays at zero and the Seeker carries on. This is the moment most players get caught, by moving “just a little” while the light is on them.

2. A cone is about to reach you while you’re running

Let go now, not when it arrives. You need about 0.7 seconds to blend. Stopping inside one cone still costs about 21% Alert; stopping just before it costs nothing.

3. Several cones overlap between you and the next firefly

Don’t run through the overlap. With two cones on you, you’re spotted in about 1.3 seconds; with four, under one. Stay blended, wait for the Seekers to walk on, or take a firefly on the other side instead.

A Seeker cone passing over the fully blended creature with Alert at 0% — Situation 1: cone over a blended creature. Alert 0%.

The coral creature running in the open while the Seeker looks the other way — Situation 2: running in the open. Let go before the cone swings back.

Spotted: Alert at 70% with the cone turned red on the creature — What happens if you don’t: Spotted at 70% Alert.

Common misconceptions

“There are secret areas.” There aren’t. The garden you see is the whole game.
“Some colours are safer.” They aren’t. The creature copies whatever stone it stops on.
“Corners are safe.” They’re not special. Seekers don’t patrol the outer strip, but their cones reach it, and a corner leaves you fewer ways to run.
“You have to keep moving.” The opposite. Standing still while blended is the safest thing in the game.
“There’s a route that always works.” Seekers pick random patrol points every time, so no fixed route survives every round.

Map and hiding spot questions

Is there a Mottle — Hide & Seek map showing all hidden locations?+

Not in the traditional sense. Mottle is played in one 5×5 garden of coloured stones, and there is no fixed list of better hiding spots. You can blend into any stone by letting go and waiting for Camo to fill, and once fully blended you stay hidden even when a cone passes over you.

Are there secret areas or hidden rooms?+

No. The whole game is the one garden you see. There are no doors, tunnels, bushes or off-screen areas, and nothing to unlock.

Is one colour of stone safer than the others?+

No. The creature always takes the colour of the stone under it, and all seven stone types hide you equally well.

Can I stay on the same stone the whole round?+

Yes. If you never move, your Camo stays at 100% and Alert cannot rise, so you will clear the round. You just won’t collect any fireflies.

Is there a route that is always safe?+

No. Seekers pick new patrol points at random every time, so no path is safe in every round. Safe routes are read in the moment from where the cones point.

Next: learn the controls in how to play Mottle, then use the Alert Lab to see how long each number of cones gives you. The exact numbers behind this page are on the rules page.