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Creating word search puzzles

Objective

Learn about the different ways to create a word search puzzle - using Word Search CoPilot and using the Creator Form

You can create a word search puzzle using two different approaches:

  1. Using Word Search CoPilot to generate words for a topic
  2. Using the Creator Form to generate a puzzle with words you already have

Word Search CoPilot​

PuzzleMe Word Search CoPilot uses the power of large language models (LLMs) to automatically generate a list of words around a topic. These words are automatically added to the creator form. You can then add your own words or remove existing words from the list before generating the puzzles.

Word Search CoPilot is very useful if you are creating word search puzzles around a specific topic, such as trivia, geography or celebrities. This method generates only the words, and does not generate any clues, explanations or media.

Creating a puzzle using Word Search CoPilot
note

Sometimes LLMs can "hallucinate" words which might be controversial, or unrelated to the topic. Please ensure that you review the generated list of words before publishing the word search.

Steps to generate a word search puzzle using Word Search CoPilot:

  1. From your dashboard, select New Game > Word Search.
  2. Specify the title and the language of the puzzle.
  3. Enter the topic of the puzzle in the "Wordsearch Topic" field.
  4. Click on the "Generate" button.
  5. Wait for sometime. The words will be generated and populated in the puzzle creator form fields.
  6. Click on "Create Game" at the bottom of the page.

Creator Form​

Creating a word search using creator form
  1. On the PuzzleMe dashboard, on the navigation bar at the top, select "New Game".
  2. On the New Game page, select Word Search.
  3. Enter your game title.
  4. In the Words panel at the bottom of the page, add your word entries, one at a time. You can also add clue data by enabling the "With clues" toggle on the top right corner of the Words panel.
  5. Once you've added your words and their associated clue data, press the "Create Game" button on the bottom right.
tip

Word search games can be edited after creation. If you'd like to tweak your clues or come back to add more words, you can simply edit the game using the PuzzleMe dashboard.

Customizing Clues​

Word search clues can be customized in many ways to enhance player experience.

Adding clue data
Enable the "With clues" toggle button on the top right corner of the Words panel
Modifying word search clue data

  1. Entry: This refers to the word entry that will be placed on the word search grid itself. If the Clue and Media fields are left blank, then the Entry field is displayed in the clue area.

  2. Clue: This refers to the clue text for the word. If no multimedia is linked to the word entry, then this is displayed in the clue area. If some multimedia is present, then the clue text is presented as an overlay on the thumbnail for that media.

  3. Media: This refers to the multimedia linked to the clue. You can link an image, audio, video file, or even a YouTube video directly. This will be visible as a thumbnail in the clue area of the game, and the player can interact with it there.

  4. Credits: If you'd like to include media attribution or credits for the linked multimedia, you can do it using this field. This text is displayed inside the multimedia popup box.

  5. Explanation: This text is displayed below the clue in the clue area after the player has completed the puzzle.

tip

You can insert valid HTML inside the Explanation field for word search clues.