Creating a Decipher

Objective

Learn how to create Decipher puzzles using the creator form.

Getting started

You can create Decipher puzzles using the creator form or by uploading a file. The creator form is the quickest way to get started—just enter your phrase and PuzzleMe automatically scrambles it into a grid for players to decode. To begin creating a Decipher puzzle:

1. From your dashboard, click Create, then click New game, and select Decipher.
2. In the "New Decipher" dialog, choose your Puzzle series.
3. Click Create to use the creator form, or click Upload to upload a file.

Using the creator form

The creator form lets you quickly turn any phrase into a Decipher puzzle. Enter your phrase, and PuzzleMe handles the scrambling and grid layout automatically.

Here's how to create your puzzle:

1. Enter a Game title for your puzzle.
2. Select the Game language.
3. Optionally, enter a Slug—a unique identifier used in your puzzle's URL and embed code.
4. In the "Set up your Decipher" section:
   • Enter your Phrase in the text field. Your phrase must be between 10 and 300 characters including spaces. Any punctuation marks will be automatically removed.
   • Select the number of Rows from "Auto size" to 12. If you choose "Auto size", PuzzleMe calculates the optimal number of rows based on your phrase length.
5. Click Create game.

Once you click Create game, PuzzleMe generates a grid with your phrase scrambled. Pre-revealed cells (hints) are automatically jumbled, and this jumble varies each time you create a puzzle, so you can regenerate if you want a different arrangement.

Grid size limits

The grid size is limited to 25 by 25 cells. Make sure your phrase length and number of rows work together. For example, if your phrase has 100 characters and you choose 3 rows, the creation will fail because 100÷3 ≈ 34 characters per row, which exceeds the 25-character limit per row.

Editing the grid

After creating your puzzle, you can customize it using the grid editor. From your dashboard, click the Edit grid & clues icon for your Decipher puzzle.

The grid editor includes standard features like circle letters, box font, shaded cells, and image in grid. Decipher puzzles also have a Shuffle letters feature that re-scrambles the pre-revealed cells in the top half of the grid. Use this if the auto-generated scramble is too close to the actual words, or if you simply want a different arrangement.

For more information about uploading Decipher puzzles, see Upload formats.