Athletic's Mayhem

Chaos rules the athletics stadium in this busy illustration from the Where's Wally series, dreamed up by British artist Martin Handford in the late 1980s. Hundreds of tiny figures crowd every inch of the running track, and almost all of them are caught in some kind of trouble. Runners crash into hurdles, javelins sail overhead, and tangled piles of arms and legs spill across the lanes. Wander around long enough and you will find dozens of little jokes tucked into the mess.

Handford worked in a flat, cartoon style with fine linework and gentle, muted colors, packing so much detail into one page that your eyes barely know where to land. The whole point, of course, is the hunt for Wally in his red-and-white striped shirt, hidden somewhere in the crowd. That tiny challenge turned looking into a game and made the books a hit around the world, where the character is also known as Waldo in North America.

These pictures were never made for gallery walls, and they do not pretend to be grand art. Yet for many people who grew up peering at their pages, they carry a real sense of fun and nostalgia. Spotting a single striped hat among all this stadium madness still feels like a small win.