About

"Open for a Surprise" is an interactive game on Twitter in which the participant shares a large-scale, portrait-oriented photograph on the social media platform, with a hidden subject or object that is only visible upon enlarging the image in full-scale by clicking the preview thumbnail. Since rising to popularity in mid-August 2017, the game has been mostly be used to reveal cute animals, although it has also been used to showcase other humorous, surprising or offensive photos.

Origin

The earliest example of the "Open for a Surprise" game being played on Twitter^[1] occurred on September 18th, 2014. Twitter user @livschnittker posted an all blue picture that, when you clicked to enlarge the photo, revealed a disgusted face. However, the post (shown below, opened on the right) received two retweets and 16 likes.

Click the thumbnail to see the image in full-dimension

Precursor

Prior to the above post, the phrase "Open for a Surprise" had been used on Twitter for a number of posts, including links and videos. On April 4th, 2010, the Twitter account @openforsurprise^[2] joined the site. However, they did not start posting pictures in this type of way. Originally, the account links to Instagram and YouTube accounts. As of August 2017, the account has acquired more than 163,000 followers.

There are other examples of similar types of were played online, such as When You See It.

Spread

On July 29h, 2017, Twitter^[3] user @david8hughes posted the first "open for a surprise" to gain traction online. Posting a picture of a clear sky, the user posted it with the caption "open for a surprise," revealing the banner that reads "Kill Yourself." The post (shown below) received more than 400 retweets and 1,200 likes.

Click the thumbnail to see the image in full-dimension

A little over a week later, @openforsurprise began posting images in this manner. Much like the above example, the account collected photos of images that would remain hidden until the image is clicked and expanded (examples below).

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On August 10th, Twitter^[4] account @SurpriseltsA began posting these type of tweets exclusively. While the account had been started in December 2015, this is their first available post. These posts almost exclusively reveal a dog in the expanded photo. The tweet (shown below) received more than 2,800 retweets and 4,100 likes.

Click the thumbnail to see the image in full-dimension

On August 16th, Twitter^[5] user @ MorgansMumbles posted a version that revealed a dog resting its head on another dog's head. The post (shown below) received more than 119,000 retweets and 260,000 likes.

Click the thumbnail to see the image in full-dimension

Twitter Image Preview Change

In January 2018, social media company Twitter changed their image preview algorithm by focusing on the "salient" image to better predict where the subject is.^[6] In addition, the company now uses machine learning to better approximate where the focus of the image should be for the preview. Therefore, the "open for a surprise" Twitter account and meme no longer works (examples below).

Several media outlets covered the image preview change and its effect on the meme, including The Daily Dot^[7] and Mashable.^[8]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References