Anyone who plays a Hidden Object game, like the popular Facebook title Criminal Case, will inevitably notice that there is a concept or a set of concepts that these games that are common to each and every game. Of course, each game is unique on its own, but there is a theme that you can find is prevailing among most, if not all, Hidden Object games.

First of all, if you look closely, the plotlines of Hidden Object always involves the protagonist being called to action by a set of mysterious circumstances that calls his or her attention. For instance, in Pearl’s Peril, Pearl is called on take over the management of their private island resort after a death in the family. She has to solve the mystery of what happened, while keeping her own self safe from the same dangers that befell her relatives.

Spirits of Revenge: Cursed Castle, on the other hand, pits the protagonist against a mysterious curse that has resulted to the deaths of members of the noble Flatsbury Castle. The only survivor is the couple’s only daughter, but she is unable to provide answers to your questions and, thus, you have to explore the castle on your own to find out what really happened and how, if possible, the curse can be lifted from the next generations of Flatsburys.

There is also the feeling that time is against you when you play Hidden Object games online, like you have to rush through the puzzles to get through to the end of the mystery. This theme is very prominent, for example, in the game 10 Days to Save The World: The Adventures of Diana Salinger. An enigmatic environmental event is occurring all over the globe, and the clues to how the worldwide extinction event can be prevented can only be unearthed if Diana Salinger, her father and a colleague travel the world to search for them in various excavation sites.

Conspiracy is also a commonly recurring theme in Hidden Object games. Some of the chapters in Criminal Case, for instance, involve a conspiracy that eventually led to the murder of the victim. Another game that employs this plot device is Hidden Expedition: Dawn of Prosperity, where a team of scientists are conspiring to build an earthquake-inducing device with the goal of making big profits from the project. There's also Hidden Object Crime Scene, which sees you hunt down a murderer through a series of hidden objects-based crime scene investigations.

Some Hidden Object games can be surreal with their themes as well. The plot for Alice In Wonderland, for instance, reveals that an old house purchased by the protagonist is actually the “rabbit hole” that the time-chasing Rabbit goes down to in the popular story. She falls into the hole as well, and now she has to solve all the puzzles in Wonderland in order to save herself and all the children that has been kidnapped by the Rabbit.

Hidden Object games are popular because they have intriguing plots, and the intriguing nature of those stories are made up by these common elements that you can find in most, if not all, of this kind of game. These are the factors that make these games very enjoyable.