I see regularly that schools use Puzzel.org and that is awesome! A feature that will stimulate this use, is the option of having automatic answer checking enabled/disabled. 
The answer checking makes sure that every entered answer within the puzzle is being checked against the actual valid answer. This happens via an encrypted route though, so no one will have access to the real answer. When the answer turns out to be false, the colors stay neutral as visual feedback.
In combination with the user-friendly use of Backspace, Tab and the Arrow Keys, it is very easy to undo wrong answers and to jump to the next question.
<h2>Answers plus end solution</h2>
Besides that, there is a nice feature with which you can connect a final solution to the puzzle, when someone has deciphered all of the answers containing 'hint squares'. This ultimate goal of the puzzle gives a little extra dimension and makes it usable for prize questions.
<h2>Security</h2>
To be able to use Puzzel.org online, for schools, it is necessary to block any kind of spying on the real answers, even for the smart and technically adept children :). To facilitate this, Puzzel.org saves the answers encrypted. When a puzzle player checks the answer, it runs the same encryption and checks if the encryptions match.
<h2>Disabling answer control</h2>
As a premium feature, there is the option to disable answer control as well. This will allow teachers to manually check and grade a puzzle based on the filled in answers. It is also a bit more difficult for the students this way, since you do not know if your filled in answer is valid or not.

To make the puzzle playing process as clear and friendly as possible, automated answer checking is enabled by default.

The answers immediately turn green (customizable) whenever the player gives the correct answer.

The puzzles therefore give the implicit feedback to the player that whenever an answer does not turn green, the answer is incorrect. It does not need to turn red (or any other 'wrong' color).

Automated checking

The correct answer feedback can range from puzzle cells turning green, to cards turning green or even puzzle pieces sticking in the right spot (jigsaw).

The styling of the correct answer can be changed via the 'Correct color' setting on the Premium-tab.

Feedback is everywhere!

Sometimes assignments deserve a higher degree of difficulty or you just don't like the fact that the player gains feedback on a given answer.

To disable the answer control, you can simply enable the 'Disable checking answers' option on the Premium-tab.

Correct answers will not be shown in any way now, but if you wish, you can enable the 'Keep track of stats' + 'Force registration' option to allow the result tracking for you as the puzzle owner.

Disabling answer control

All puzzles have built-in answer control - no more manual checking, let the system do the work!

Extend the crossword puzzle maker into your courses with ease! Just for teachers! Embedding crossword puzzles within your Canvas LMS environment is done within a few clicks after the setup.

<h2>Why use the integration?</h2>

Currently you need to create the puzzles at Puzzel.org, copy the embed code and then make sure you embed the puzzle correctly by adding it to the source code. 

Time to reduce some hassle and make it more easy!

Note: if you are using a different LMS, no worries! You can still follow the 'normal' <a href='https://puzzel.org/en/features/general/embed-on-own-website'>embed flow</a>.

<h2>Using the integration</h2>

The first step to get set up, is to visit the LMS integration page of <a href='https://www.eduappcenter.com/apps/1089/'>Puzzel.org on the EduAppCenter</a>. Follow the installation instructions there (or ask your IT guy/gal to help with the integration)


Then test your first puzzle by following the next instructions:
<ol>
<li>Create a new assignment and edit it</li>
<li>Click the new black/yellow Puzzel.org editor icon in the Rich Content Editor and log in with your Puzzel.org account (only needed the first time)</li>
<li>Pick the puzzle you would like to embed into the assignment</li>
<li>Wait for your awesome puzzle to be loaded into the editor as an iframe</li>
</ol>

<h4>For Premium Users</h4>
<ol>
<li>Go back to your Puzzle-settings on Puzzel.org, enable 'Show helpful buttons when embedded' and save the puzzle.</li>
<li>Fill in the puzzle (or not), hit save as image above the puzzle, and upload the downloaded image into the assignment via the Canvas 'submit assignment' button</li>
</ol>

<h4>For non-Premium Users</h4>
<ol><li>Use screenshots :)</li></ol>

<ol><li>Check SpeedGrader and there is the image! :)</li></ol>

<h2>Missing something in the integration?</h2>

Do you have ideas on how to improve the integration or make it even more useful for you and other teachers? Let me know! (<a href='mailto:daan@puzzel.org'>daan@puzzel.org</a>).

To start off using Puzzel.org and Canvas together, I would recommend following the installation instructions listed here first:
<a href='https://www.eduappcenter.com/apps/1089#.Ys6yquxBwqs'>Installation instructions</a>
This will install the Puzzel.org app for you and give you the correct configuration URL required by Canvas.

Where to start?

After the installation, it is very easy to add new puzzles to your assignments. Click 'Tools' - 'Apps' and choose 'Pick your puzzle'

Adding a puzzle to your assignment

If you are still logged into Puzzel.org, the puzzles in your account will automatically be loaded. Otherwise you will need to log in first, and then the puzzles are loaded.

The only thing you will have to do now, is click the puzzle you need, let it load and you are done!

Embedding the puzzle

Currently there is no direct grade integration. The Canvas LTI standards require the app to have certain access rights on behalf the student/user to add their grade/score.

These access rights are almost never given by IT departments / schools, but if your school would like to try it out, feel free to contact me at <a href='mailto:daan@puzzel.org'>daan@puzzel.org</a>

Grade integration

There is hope though! You can easily add the 'Keep track of stats' + 'Force registration' option to each of your puzzles via the Premium-tab.

This tracks completions/completion percentages within Puzzel.org and allows you to export it to Excel as well.

Alternative grade tracking

Since privacy is super important, all registration fields can be handpicked so that you register/share as little personal info of the students with Puzzel.org as possible.

You can choose to only ask for a 'Student ID' number, or only 'First name' for example.

Never will any of this info be reused/resold in any way.

Pick your own registration fields

The ideal way to integrate puzzles in the Canvas LMS - embed every puzzle type in your assignments

One of the most cool aspect of puzzles is the challenge. The challenge to solve the riddle that is given, no matter the format. Puzzel.org loves this feature and tries to support it in all different kinds of implementations of a code puzzle maker.

<h2>Show me the code options!</h2>

The options are pretty diverse and you can try for yourself which suits you best. One requires a <a href="/en/pricing">Premium-account</a> but most are free by default. Let's check them out!

<ol>
<li>The Cryptogram</li>
<li>The Scavenger Hunt</li>
<li>The Hidden Solution within Crosswords</li>
<li>The Acrostic Puzzle</li>
<li>The Message shown on Completion</li>
</ol>
<h2>1. The Cryptogram</h2>

This is the most classic code puzzle maker I would say. Encode a secret sentence in numbers and let the puzzle player solve the rest! 


To make it a bit easier for the puzzle player, the code can be partially filled with helper letters (most common / custom / vowels) which gives the player a bit more context.


Feeling the vibe with the cryptogram? <a href="/en/cryptogram/create">Start creating one right away!</a>

<h2>2. The Scavenger hunt</h2>

This is a code puzzle type with endless depth since you can add as many code puzzle challenges as you like! Every challenge has a code, a description, an image and an optional link to an external or Puzzel.org puzzle. 


You have to make sure every challenge in the scavenger hunt has a way to discover the code of course, but besides that you are completely free in how to setup this puzzle type. 


Unleash the online scavenging and <a href="/en/scavenger-hunt/create">start the hunt!</a>

<h2>3. The Hidden Solution with Crosswords</h2>

An all-time favourite within the Puzzel.org platform, even earning its own feature page about <a href="/en/features/create-crossword/with-solution">how the hidden solution is implemented</a>.


Since crossword puzzles are very familiar to most and offer a fun and accessible way to solve a puzzle, even if you are not the most capable puzzle player, the hidden solution here is a cool way to create a general playable puzzle. Filled with auto-completion and all :). 

Start implementing <a href="/en/crossword/create">your new crossword</a> right away.
<h2>4. The Acrostic Puzzle</h2>

The whole purpose of the acrostic puzzle is to contain a hidden code to find. This code puzzle maker does not even function without it! It is the body that connects the answers and is therefore awesome!


Make sure you have enough answers to cover the code and you will have a great puzzle skeleton to share with your puzzle players.


Start working on your skeleton and <a href="/en/acrostic/create">create an acrostic puzzle</a>.

<h2>5. The Message shown on Completion</h2>

This option requires a Premium-account.


All puzzles within Puzzel.org have a 'completion state', the moment on which the puzzle is done and completed by the player. This is the moment to unlock the code and share it with your player via the completion message.


The message can be fully customised and has therefore earned the rights to an <a href="/en/features/general/with-custom-success-message">own feature page</a> as well! :)


Great in conjunction with the online scavenger hunt for example, since you can connect a whole series of puzzles together via the code shared on completion. The code puzzle maker fantasy for everybody, right? :)


As a Premium member you can add the completion message to every puzzle via the Premium-tab. Scroll down to the bottom and you will find the 'Show message' which unlocks the other customisations.

<h2>Need more code puzzles?</h2>

As a developer I of course like code ;), and there is always room for improvement or different ways to implement a code puzzle. So if you have new ideas, just send me (<a href="mailto:daan@puzzel.org">daan@puzzel.org</a> a message with your concept and I will seriously consider looking into it.

The most natural code maker is the cryptogram. It allows you to fill in a sentence and the puzzle generator does the rest!

Your sentence is encrypted using random numbers to represent certain characters. Check it out here:

<a href='/en/features/create-cryptogram'>Create a cryptogram</a>

1: Encrypt a sentence with the cryptogram

The scavenger hunt creates multiple challenges for your players, and in each challenge a code or answer needs to be found.

You can add as many challenges as you like and you can vary the ways how players can find the code. Check it out here:

<a href='/en/features/create-scavenger-hunt'>Create online scavenger hunt</a>

2: Add multiple codes with the scavenger hunt

Some puzzle types allow adding a hidden solution to the puzzle field. This way, players find the code within your puzzle by entering correct answers that partially contain the hidden solution characters.

The puzzle types that have the 'Hidden solution' option on the Settings-tab are:

<ul>
<li><a href='/en/features/create-crossword'>Crossword puzzle</a></li>
<li><a href='/en/features/create-acrostic-puzzle'>Acrostic puzzle</a></li>
<li><a href='/en/features/create-word-scramble'>Word scramble</a></li>
</ul>

3: Adding a hidden solution 

Every puzzle type has a 'completion' state once the puzzle is solved. Via the Premium-tab you can add a completion message that shows at this point.

The message can be fully customized, including the info shown. Thus it can contain any code that you would like the player to have after solving the puzzle! :-)

To learn more about the customized completion messages, check out the info here:

<a href='/en/features/with-custom-success-message'>Completion messages in puzzles</a>

4: Hiding the code in your completion message

Puzzel.org has loads of code puzzle makers spread across all kinds of puzzle types. Hide your secret in any way you like!

Code Puzzle Maker - Create a hidden solution

The crossword puzzle maker that creates fully personalized and customized crossword puzzles, which combines perfectly with embedding puzzles on your own website.

<h2>Add custom styling</h2>
<img src="/static/features/custom-crossword-example.png" />

With a number of simple options you can now easily add your own custom styling to the crossword puzzle. The options that are currently available:

<ul>
<li>Image instead of black squares</li>
<li>Logo</li>
<li>Primary color</li>
<li>Secondary color</li>
<li>Fonts</li>
<li>Size of the crossword puzzle cells</li>
</ul>
<img src="/static/features/custom-styling-example.png" />

Each puzzle can be customized in its own way, so please experiment, discover and surprise your puzzle players with your unique crossword puzzles!

<h2>Print?</h2>

Even within the print-version, the styling is applied just the way you would expect it. Create thematic crossword puzzles with awesome background images and matching colors!

<h2>Create your own custom crossword puzzle</h2>

You can easily <a href="/en/crossword/create">create</a> your own custom crossword puzzle as a premium user by filling in your puzzle questions/answers <a href="/en/crossword/create">here</a>.

All of the custom styling options are available under the Premium-tab > 'Custom styling' section.

From there you can start picking your own colors, fonts and puzzle specific styling settings.

Adding your own styling

The base of any branding is the colors used throughout the puzzle. These can be chosen via the simple color pickers in any of the color settings.

Changing a 'Primary color' and 'Secondary' color has effect on all features used within the puzzle, ranging from card colors to details in completion messages.

Changing colors

Whether you like Comic Sans or not, you have the option to pick a font from the pre-selection. Here you can even pick different fonts for the headers and the regular text.

The current font selection has some of the most regular fonts and some more offbeat fonts to mix it up. If you really need a font that is not in the list, contact me at <a href='mailto:daan@puzzel.org'>daan@puzzel.org</a>

Picking your fonts

Besides the general customizations, each puzzle type has their own custom styling options to tweak the look and feel.

There are too many to list here, but you can think of things like:
<ul>
<li>Custom card sizes (width/height)</li>
<li>Custom backgrounds (for crossword cells for example)</li>
<li>Background color when embedding a puzzle</li>
<li>Maintaining aspect ratio of images shown on cards</li>
<li>Font size of all sorts of elements</li>
</ul>

Puzzle specific customizations

Sometimes styling elements might mean that you would like to not show them at all, or changing their position. This can be done via the Premium-tab > 'General' settings.

Via these settings, you can add/enable/disable certain buttons/textual elements. This way the introduction to your puzzle will be as concise or extended as you like.

Picking the shown elements

The last step to the customizations is the visibility of your puzzle. You have multiple options here via the 'Visibility' setting:
<ul>
<li>Public: the puzzle is visible by default, even findable through possible Puzzel.org overview pages.</li>
<li>Private: the puzzle is visible to those with the link, not findable in any Puzzel.org overview pages.</li>
<li>Closed: the puzzle is closed for everyone, it cannot be played/solved anymore (until you change the 'Visibility' setting).</li>
<li>Between dates: this will allow players to solve the puzzle between certain dates, before the start the date or after the end date, the puzzle will be closed.</li>
</ul>

Managing puzzle visibility

Create the puzzle with exactly the look and feel that you have in mind, tweak any styling option to your preference

Customizable puzzles

With just a little bit of code you can embed a crossword puzzle, and all of the other puzzle types, within your own website with ease!
At Puzzel.org I want to ensure that the online sharing of crossword puzzles is as easy as possible. I have therefore made a special, clean version of the crossword puzzles which can be embedded nicely!
<h2>Why embed a crossword puzzle?</h2>
<ul>
<li>It's fun and awesome! :)</li>
<li>Directly available to the visitors of your website</li>
<li>More engagement from your visitors</li>
<li>In combination with some of your own styling/logo, the embedded crossword puzzle will be an integral part of your website.</li>
</ul>
<h2>How does the embedding work?</h2>
All of the features and styling are being loaded from the Puzzel.org servers. Therefore you don't need to implement any fancy code, except the embed-code of your own crossword puzzle. This works in the same way as embedding a YouTube-video. The example code looks as follows:
<textarea style='font-size:20px; border: 0; outline: 0; border-bottom: 5px solid black;'class="code-snippet" cols="60" readonly="readonly" rows="5">&lt;div&gt;&lt;iframe src='https://puzzel.org/en/crossword/embed?p=-L1v2n-yhlUB-bGDzGol' width='750' height='750' frameborder='0'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</textarea>

Embedded puzzles are also available via Wordpress by installing the new Puzzel.org Wordpress plugin! A new experiment that is interesting to try out! :) - <a href='/en/features/general/wordpress-plugin'>
Discover the new Wordpress Plugin
</a>


Are you using the Canvas LMS as a teacher? - <a href='/en/features/create-crossword/canvas-integration'>
Discover the LTI Canvas LMS integration for crossword puzzles
</a>

<h2>Embedded puzzles are premium</h2>

Embedding puzzles is a premium feature, which means it is available to you as a teacher for 30 dollars per year, or as a non-teacher for 10 dollars per month. You can read more about the pricing <a href="/en/pricing">here</a>.

<h2>Custom puzzles</h2>
To make sure that the puzzle is in its optimal form, you can also adjust the width/height of the iframe in the code above. This also impacts if a scrollbar is shown or not.

A different way to customize the puzzle is to make use of the brand new custom styling feature. This allows you to create a personalized puzzle which fits your website perfectly. Read more about <a href= 'https://puzzel.org/en/features/create-crossword/with-custom-styling'>customized crossword puzzles</a>.

Embedding puzzles on your own domain is the best way to allow the player to experience the puzzle while still within your own branded environment.

The puzzle itself is fully white label, meaning it has no direct recognition of Puzzel.org whatsoever while the colors and fonts can be matched to those of your own brand. This turns the puzzle into a native part of your website.

Embedding puzzles

The embedding happens with the help of a small piece of an iframe code. The iframe is a well-supported HTML element that can be included in almost any website/CMS/LMS.

This piece of code loads the Puzzel.org puzzle into your own website. From there you can determine the size of the iframe by changing the width and height attributes.

For more advanced embedding, you could even change the styling of the iframe via your own CSS stylesheets to change the iframe size for different screen sizes for example.

How does the embedding work?

Before joining, you might want to check out how a sample Puzzel.org puzzle looks and works within your own website. This is an easy way to discover how easily you can embed puzzles in your own website.

Copy/paste the following sample code within your own website/CMS/LMS and see how it looks:

<div class='code'>
&lt;div&gt;&lt;iframe src='https://puzzel.org/en/crossword/embed?p=-L1v2n-yhlUB-bGDzGol' width='750' height='750' frameborder='0'&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</div>

Trying out an embedded puzzle

Whenever a puzzle is embedded on your own website, the loading and interaction in the background still runs through the Puzzel.org server.

And so whenever a player starts interacting with your puzzle for the first time (embedded of not embedded), it will count as one puzzle play and be aggregated in your account puzzle plays total for the given month.

Counting embedded puzzle plays

There currently are thousands of puzzles being embedded all across the web and I know some people like seeing real world examples.

Check out some of the puzzles embedded here (opens in a new tab):

<ul>
<li><a target='_blank' href='https://www.gojourny.com/stories/journy-crossword-puzzles/'>GoJourny puzzles</a></li>
<li><a target='_blank' href='https://www.middlebury.edu/office/alumni-and-families/ways-engage/reunion'>Middlebury.edu Alumni crossword puzzle</a></li>
<li><a target='_blank' href='https://iuday.iu.edu/enjoy/index.html'>Indiana University Sliding puzzle &amp; quiz</a></li>
<li><a target='_blank' href='https://www.uwalumni.com/news/matching-puzzle-past-chancellors/'>Wisconsin Alumni Matching Pairs</a></li>
</ul>

Checking out some puzzles in the wild

Easily embed any puzzle that you create on your own website via an iframe - fully white label

Embed Puzzles into your website

I know you math teachers out there enjoy puzzles and that is why I wanted to expand the current genres being used within the puzzles of Puzzel.org!
Most crossword puzzles have restrictions on the input needing to be characters from the alphabet, but why exactly? Wouldn't it be awesome to gather hints and numbers while solving math equations, just like you gather characters when solving normal crossword puzzles?
<img alt="math crossword puzzle" src="/static/features/math-puzzle-example.png" />
<h2>Introducing math puzzle options</h2>
By allowing creative character input and having descriptions in multiple forms (images / sentences), you can even show visual representations of math challenges. Puzzles are always a fun and low threshold question form which is what math and math teachers sometimes need (or actually the math students)
<h2>More ideas</h2>
I have just touched the surface with this math crossword puzzle idea, but it would be great to increase the number of user generated math puzzles out there with different puzzle types.
Currently I do not have any extra inspiration, but if you do and just need someone to implement it, let me know and I will look into it! :) - <a href="mailto:daan@puzzel.org">daan@puzzel.org</a>In the meantime, <a href="/en/crossword/create">enjoy the math crossword puzzle creator</a>!

The crossword puzzles have no restrictions in terms of what kind of characters can be used and so you can use numbers and even math symbols within your puzzles.

You can create all sort of sums, equations and other mathematical challenges to challenge the player in a fresh puzzling way :)

Create your crossword puzzle here:
<a href='/en/features/create-crossword'>Crossword Puzzle maker</a>

1: Creating a math puzzle within a crossword

You can create cool drag and drop math puzzles via the 'Matching Pairs' puzzle type.

Enter the answer as the first field in the card pair and the question/equation in the other field. This will allow players to search for the right combination and solve the math puzzles!

Create your matching pairs here:
<a href='/en/features/create-matching-pairs'>Matching Pairs maker</a>

2: Math puzzles through matching pairs

Just like with the matching pairs, card pairs allow you to create all kinds of creative exercises, including math puzzles.

Memory is quite a bit harder for the players though, since the cards only have certain amount of 'Flip time' and then switch back. This will challenge the players to remember the question/equation and match it with the answer card.

Nonetheless, I would say this can be really fun to try out and gamify any math subject 

Create your memory game here:
<a href='/en/features/create-memory'>Memory game maker</a>

3: Next level Memory game with math

The most free format and therefore it can allow any sort of puzzle creation, including math puzzles.

You can enter any sentence and as long as you separate each symbol and number with a space, they can separately be 'gapified'. This way each question sheet can be turned into an online puzzle exercise.

Answers can vary from adding the correct numbers to finding the correct symbols to whatever you can think of in terms of math challenges.

Create your 'Fill in the gap' here:
<a href='/en/features/create-fill-in-the-gap'>Fill in the gap maker</a>

4: Fill in the gap math puzzles

By using the puzzle types in creative ways you can even turn them into all sorts of math puzzles

Math puzzles - Create your own

To have an easy overview of your different types of puzzles, you can organize them by using the folder-system.

A folder can contain any number of puzzles and each puzzle can be added to as many folders you like.

By clicking the Folder, you instantly get an overview of all of the puzzles listed in that folder.

The folder-system

By toggling the 'Add folder' button, you can hide/show the 'Add folder' form to create a new folder.

You can pick a name and even a color to make it even more to find your folder later on.

The name as well as the color can be changed later on, by clicking on the folder and choosing 'Edit folder'.

Adding a folder

Each puzzle has the 'Manage folders' button which will allow you to easily see the folders it is currently connected to.

By clicking the desired folders (or clicking them again to undo), the folder-system will auto-save and immediately connect/disconnect the puzzle to/from that folder.

From the same pop-up you can also add a folder if you have forgotten to do so earlier :).

Adding puzzles to folders

If you want to delete or edit a folder, you can select the folder itself and the 'Delete folder' and 'Edit folder' buttons will pop out below.

From there you can easily your desired task. Note that deleting/editing a folder does never change/delete any of the puzzles within. The folders are purely a functional overview and do not 'physically' contain the puzzles.

Deleting/editing a folder

Make sure that you can easily find back your puzzles by organizing them into an easy to use folder system

Everbody likes visuals! Instead of reading a question you can just take a look and check out the image in front of you. It still may be in the form of a <a href="/en/features/create-crossword/with-pictures">crossword puzzle with pictures</a> for example, but at least there are pictures!
<h2>Build puzzles with images</h2>
Since everybody learns differently, it can be a nice change for some students or puzzle solvers to step into a visual challenge. Puzzel.org understands this need and offers all sorts of puzzle makers which include pictures.
<ul>
<li><a href="/en/slidingpuzzle/create">Sliding Puzzle Maker</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/quartets/create">Quartets</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/memory/create">Memory</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/crossword/create">Crossword puzzle with pictures</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/wordseeker/create">Word search with pictures</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/scavenger-hunt/create">Scavenger hunt</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Sometimes premium</h2>
Some of the puzzle types require a premium subscription to be used with images (crossword / word search), but the others are all free from the start since the essence of the puzzle includes pictures. Upgrading can always be done afterwards if you like the basics :).
<h2>Your picture puzzle maker</h2>
Do you have different ideas with which you would like to make awesome picture puzzles? Just let me know your concept and I will look into expanding the current options with your idea: <a href="mailto:daan@puzzel.org">daan@puzzel.org</a>

The jigsaw puzzle maker is the most commonly used to create your own picture puzzles. It is the most classic type of puzzle and easy to play.

You only have to upload your own image and from there it allows the players to drag and drop the pieces to the correct locations on any device.

Find the jigsaw puzzle maker and all of the info about its features here:

<a href='/en/features/create-jigsaw-puzzle'>Go to the jigsaw puzzle maker</a>

1: Jigsaw puzzle maker

The sliding puzzle is a more challenging picture puzzle since you cannot drop the puzzle pieces in any given location, you need to find the right 'pattern' to bring a piece from point A to point B while maintaining the earlier solved puzzle pieces.

It is a lot of fun to solve and just as easy to create. Just upload your image, pick the number of pieces on the Settings-tab and you are good to go!

Find the sliding puzzle maker and all of the info about its features here:

<a href='/en/features/create-sliding-puzzle'>Go to the sliding puzzle maker</a>

2: Sliding puzzle maker

Crossword puzzles are by default known as textual puzzles but at Puzzel.org this be changed! The hint types are customizable and can therefore be changed to be images.

This allows for a more visual crossword puzzle and thus a picture puzzle as well. The image hints can be activated via the Premium-tab of the crossword puzzle via the 'Type of crossword' setting.

Find the crossword puzzle maker and all of the info about its features here:

<a href='/en/features/create-crossword'>Go to the crossword puzzle maker</a>

3: Crossword puzzle with pictures

Just like the crossword puzzle, the word search can be changed to have the hints show as images. Since word search has a completely different type of interaction, this might be a better fit depending on your players and goals.

The word search can be made visual via the 'Type of word search' setting on the Premium-tab.

Find the word search puzzle maker and all of the info about its features here:

<a href='/en/features/create-wordseeker'>Go to the word search puzzle maker</a>

4: Word search puzzle with pictures

The memory game lends itself perfectly to be used with pictures. By default memory is known to contain the same picture/picture combinations, but Puzzel.org all sorts of other combinations too!

You can create your own memory game with any text/image/audio card pair combination and therefore reach your goals just as you would want.

Find the memory game puzzle maker and all of the info about its features here:

<a href='/en/features/create-memory'>Go to the memory game maker</a>

5: Memory game

Another way to use a picture puzzle is via the 'Categorize' puzzle type. This one forces players to classify images and put them in the right category.

It also allows other content on the cards, like text and audio, so you can combine it in any way you like.

Find the categorize puzzle maker and all of the info about its features here:

<a href='/en/features/create-categorize'>Go to the categorize puzzle maker</a>

6: Grouping pictures with the Categorize-puzzle

A different type of a card pair puzzle is the 'Matching Pairs' puzzle type. This allows you to set up the cards just like with the memory game, except now you have to find the correct combination by dragging and dropping them next to each other.

You can challenge the player to find the text/image/audio that belongs to a certain image, creating all sorts of visual puzzle possibilities.

Find the matching pairs puzzle maker and all of the info about its features here:

<a href='/en/features/create-matching-pairs'>Go to the matching pairs puzzle maker</a>

7: Matching picture pairs

If you want to turn a picture into an educational exercise, then this is your puzzle type! Each answer can be dragged and dropped on an image allowing you to 'label' certain parts of the image. This is a nice way to challenge the understanding of a certain image and its components.

This puzzle type can be used in all sorts of ways, varying from topography, anatomy to any puzzle that can be understood better based on its subcomponents / details.

Find the 'Label This' puzzle maker and all of the info about its features here:

<a href='/en/features/create-label-this'>Go to the 'Label This' puzzle maker</a>

8: Label This Image

Generate all sorts of picture puzzles via the different types of online picture puzzle makers

Picture Puzzle Maker

A 'puzzle play' occurs once a player interacts with your puzzle for the first time. This means that if a player reloads the puzzle or tries it a second time, it will not count as an extra puzzle play. Only the first time counts, per puzzle.

These first time interactions for all of your puzzles are added up together and form the total puzzle plays per month for your account.

Counting puzzle plays

The puzzle plays are registered in your account by default and can easily be found at any point.

The current puzzle plays for this month can be found via your <a href='/en/account/dashboard'>account dashboard</a> (when logged in) and then view the 'Account details'. There you see the 'Puzzles played this month'.

Besides that, there is the extensive insight in puzzle plays for Premium users.

Finding your puzzle plays

Via the same <a href='/en/account/dashboard'>account dashboard</a>, you can go to 'Puzzle stats', which will show multiple interesting graphs, all which collect their data starting from the point that you join as a Premium member.

The first graph shows the most popular puzzle this month. This will give cool insight in the puzzle play distribution among your puzzles for the active month.

Premium puzzle plays

The next graph shows all of the puzzle plays per month, over the years that you have been active at Puzzel.org.

This way you can see which periods were more popular among your puzzle players and if you managed to improve your puzzle usage throughout the months and years.

Total puzzles played per month

The last graph shows the puzzle plays per puzzle per month. You can easily switch which puzzle stats you are viewing via the sidebar to the left.

Viewing the puzzle plays per puzzle per month, might help you get insight in the popularity of certain puzzles and if they are still being played.

Puzzle stats per puzzle per month

Understand how puzzle plays are being used and how they are reported back in your account

One of the most fun ways to puzzle / play, is the multiplayer-form, in which you try to solve problems together! And with a little bit of competition, it is even more awesome!
<img src="/static/features/crossword-teams-preview.png" />

<h2>As a teacher</h2>
To facilitate this for schools, I have built a feature where the teacher can construct teams or let Puzzel.org construct the teams at random. After you start the crossword puzzle for teams, you will receive a link to share with the students. Then, you will see the students join the teams in real-time, on your overview-page.

After the teams are complete, start the battle between the teams! You will be able to see the stream of correct answers live on your overview page. This way, you will know the progress of the teams and which team finishes first! It is awesome to show this overview / team-progress on a central screen such as a digital schoolboard, so students themselves are aware of the progress of other teams.

<h2>The students</h2>
Via the link, students can fill in their name and pick a team, or be randomly divided into teams, depending on your settings. Afterwards, they will have to wait until the teacher / puzzle-owner starts the crossword puzzle battle. This will be accompanied by a short countdown clock :). 

The players within the teams will then work on the solving of the crossword puzzles. Every correct answer will be shared directly with the other team-members and will appear in their own crossword puzzles. This way, everything will stay up to date and you can really work together as a team, in real-time. Multiplayer-style!


<h2>Try it out!</h2>
Solving crossword puzzles with multiple players at the same time is a unique feature which I hope teachers and students will enjoy!
<a href="/en/crossword/create">Create a crossword puzzle for teams!</a>
<img src="/static/team.png" width="100" height="100" />

Currently the crossword puzzle, word search puzzle and jigsaw puzzle have the option to be played in teams.

To enable this, go to the Premium-tab and activate the 'Play in teams' option (and save the puzzle).

<ul>
<li><a href='/en/features/create-crossword'>Crossword puzzle maker</a></li>
<li><a href='/en/features/create-wordseeker'>Word search puzzle maker</a></li>
<li><a href='/en/features/create-jigsaw-puzzle'>Jigsaw puzzle maker</a></li>
</ul>

How can I create a puzzle as a team-exercise?

After enabling the 'Play in teams' setting and saving the puzzle, you can now 'Open the control room'.

This allows you to choose any number of teams, their names and if players that are joining should handpick a team, or should be randomly assigned to one ('Randomized')

After setting this up, we can go and open the registrations for our players via the 'Open registrations' button!

Setting up the teams

We are now waiting for registrations. You can find the link to share with your players here and you can see any player that joins per team as well. 

The 'Activate the puzzle' button will be inactive until at least two players join. It does not matter if team sizes are not equal, or if some teams have no players at all. Two players in total is the only requirement.

The pop-up is completely real-time, so whenever a player joins, you will see the name of that player pop-up in the team connected to that player.

Wait for the registrations

Once players join your puzzle link, they will get a pop-up to register with just their 'First name' (to keep it as easy and privacy-friendly as possible).

Depending on your 'Randomize' setting, they can either pick a team or they will be randomly inserted into one.

Registering as a player

The player that has just registered can now see their team name and other team members. If someone made a mistake by accident, the player can still cancel their registration, fix their mistake and re-join.

The system will auto-correct all of these cancellations and re-joins so no worries there, your overview will still always be correct in real-time.

Once a player is registered

After the registrations are done and you have hit the 'Activate the puzzle' button, the puzzle starts!

You can watch the progress made per team in real-time, making it extra entertaining for class-based exercises or other places where you have a central screen to show the progress per team to everyone.

Note that once the puzzle has started, players cannot register anymore. They will have to wait for you to restart the complete registration flow.

Let the puzzling begin

Solve a puzzle together, at the same time! Team-based puzzles give great interaction possibilities for group-based work

Crossword Puzzles in Teams

There are two ways to track the results of your puzzle players, both of which require access to the Premium-tab.

You can track puzzle results via pre-registration and/or completion of the puzzle.

Setting up puzzle tracking

The benefit of using pre-registration is that you can track the time spent per player since you know who is playing during the solving of your puzzle.

To enable pre-registration, check the 'Keep track of stats' option + 'Force registration'

Forcing registration allows you to to see individual results based on handpicked registration fields, but if you just want the aggregate/averages you don't need this.

Using pre-registration

As you can see in the connected image, there are quite some registration option and none of them are required, as long as you pick at least one.

You can make the registration as privacy-friendly as you like or if you need some more info, you can go for that, too.

All of the registration info will never be resold/reused in any way, it is for your eyes only.

Selecting registration fields

By default, Puzzel.org asks for the email and password when setting up pre-registration. This allows the player to log back in to their previous puzzle answers and continue their session at a later moment (even from a different device!)

This might not be useful to you though, so you can always disable the password field if you do not need players to log back in. This will feel more friendly to players having no need for this.

Why use email and password?

Each puzzle type has its own type of results, since it differs per type which insights are relevant.

There are puzzle types that show the correctly answered questions (crossword, quiz, etc..).

There are puzzle types that just show the progress made and the time spent.

And there are puzzle types that just show if a player has completed the puzzle or not (cryptogram, jigsaw, etc..)

Individual player results

For most commercial use cases, tracking completions is often good enough. This allows user to decide to join a competition / prize contest afterwards for example.

This can easily be set up via the 'Show message' + 'Collect user info' options.

From there you can also handpick the registration fields to combine with the completion of the puzzle.

Just tracking puzzle completion

The info of the completions can be found via the 'View contact info' button on the Publish-tab of your puzzle.

The info of the pre-registration results can be found via the 'View stats' button on the same Publish-tab, or via the 'View stats' button on the Premium-tab.

Viewing the info

You might need the results in a different place than Puzzel.org, which is why there is the option to export the result to Excel. This can be done for both the pre-registration and the tracking on completion.

If you would like to implement a more automated solution (where Puzzel.org posts the data to an endpoint of your choosing), let me know and we will discuss the details: <a href='mailto:daan@puzzel.org'>daan@puzzel.org</a>

Exporting the results

Another cool feature of tracking puzzle results in some puzzle types, is the fact that you can see results per question.

This can give you direct (even real-time) insight in which questions seem to be harder to solve.

Tracking results per question

See who completes your puzzle based on handpicked registration fields, including the time they spent and the submission timestamp

From scavenger hunts to online competitions to a nice bonus for the students, your own custom success message after solving a puzzle offers a range of possibilities!

<h2>Add your own custom message</h2>
The puzzles within Puzzel.org all have the option to add a success-message once the puzzle has been solved. To customize this, you as the puzzle owner have the following types of input:

<ul>
<li>Title</li>
<li>Description</li>
<li>Image</li>
<li>Link</li>
<li>Confetti! :)</li>
<li>Gather contact info</li>
</ul>
<h2>Puzzle scavenger hunt</h2>

A very nice way to use this, is to unlock a secret code/link once the puzzle has been solved. In that way, puzzle players can be sent from link to link of can unlock a code which can be used elsewhere, like a physical lock, a password, you name it!

<h2>Subject introduction</h2>

Via image and text you have the opportunity to introduce a new subject once the puzzle has been solved. The puzzle itself can be used to ask a number of basic questions about the subject and then follow through with the introduction and a link to read more about it.

<h2>Also interesting</h2>

This type of functionality is comparable to/an extension of the crossword puzzle feature: '<a href="/en/features/create-crossword/with-solution">crossword puzzle with solution</a>'.

Whenever a player completes a puzzle, the completion message is shown if you have enabled it. By default, there is no completion message.

Starting your own message is as easy as going to the Premium-tab and enabling 'Show message'

This will give you access to all kinds of extra features to tweak the look and feel of your message.

Setting up your message

The most common way to start tweaking the message is by changing the header text, body message and if you like, adding an image.

The body text does not allow any HTML, but you can always refer players to more extended content on your own website via the next feature.

Adding the basics

In many cases, completing a puzzle is a nice way to trigger the player to engage with some sort of next activity that you have in mind.

The external link to your website where this next step takes place, can be fully customized in terms of:
<ul>
<li>link text</li>
<li>link target</li>
<li>show as button or text</li>
<li>show the call to action above or below the body message</li>
</ul>

Adding a call to action

Solving a puzzle can take up quite some time and thus it should be rewarded!

Enabling the 'Show confetti' option triggers an infinite rain of animated confetti within the completion message once the puzzle is completed. Definitely one of the most favourite features!

Confetti!

The completion message also allows you to ask who has completed your puzzle. The info collected here can be used to determine a winner, a check for who participated or whatever use case you can think of.

The form fields shown to the player can be handpicked and thus allow you to only ask for as little required information as possible, making it as privacy-friendly as you like.

Gathering player submissions

Since in some cases you really want to semi-force players to submit their info (to collect a certain kind of reward for instance), you can hide an extra 'thank you message' and the earlier described call to action (link/button) until the player submits the form.

You can hint at this in the regular message and then give the reward info (maybe a secret code) after the players enters their info.

Encouraging players to submit info

Show your own message to a player when the puzzle is completed - fully customizable with loads of features

Puzzles with Custom Completion Message

In this article I will explain what the word search puzzle generator options are and how you can use it for your own goals. Not looking for the word search? Check out our <a href="/en/features/create-crossword/online-generator">online crossword puzzle generator.</a>
<h2>The generator</h2>
To make the creation of a new word (search) puzzle as friendly as possible, I have added a real-time view which updates every time you add a new word for your puzzle.
You can easily tweak and change your puzzle directly if it doesn't meet your requirements / expectations yet.
<h2>The algorithm</h2>
The algorithm looks through your word list and the allowed list of given directions (north/east/southwest/etc..). It will then randomly insert a word into the size of the grid and move to the next word until either all words have been placed, or a new spot for a word could not be found.
Missing words from the grid are highlighted in red and can be added by increasing the size of the word search grid via the Settings-tab.
<h2>Generate a puzzle with your own answers</h2>
The cool thing about generating a puzzle is when you can customize it with your own questions and answers. And that is exactly what Puzzel.org offers!
And not only that, the word search puzzle has different types that allow you to create different types of 'hints' or questions to find the words in the puzzle. The currently supported types/hints are:<ul>
<li>Words</li>
<li>Questions</li>
<li>Images</li>
</ul>
<h2>Create your own</h2>
To start with your own first word search puzzle, you can be off to the races within a few seconds! Start with your first word <a href="/en/wordseeker/create">here</a> and see your puzzle unfold!

The most common word puzzle is the 'Word Search'. It allows players to look through the puzzle grid and find the hidden words in any given direction.

The Word Search is friendly to players of all levels, and can be tweaked in difficulty accordingly.

Find the Word Search puzzle maker and all of the info about its features here:

<a href='/en/features/create-wordseeker'>Go to the Word Search puzzle maker</a>

1: Word Search generator

The crossword is a type of word puzzle that revolves around answering questions within a puzzle grid. It helps you get new characters hints by finding other words that intersect with the word that you are working on.

The real-time crossword puzzle generator at Puzzel.org is awesome and gives a sweet taste of how easy it can be to build your own puzzles.

Find the crossword puzzle maker and all of the info about its features here:

<a href='/en/features/create-crossword'>Go to the crossword puzzle maker</a>

2: Crossword puzzle generator

A different type of word puzzle is the 'Word scramble'. This presents the player with jumbled words that need their characters to be put back in the right order.

With different kinds of helper methods, you can make this as difficult as you like. The generator is your best friend and does all of the scrambling work here, you only have to insert your words! :-)

Find the Word Scramble puzzle maker and all of the info about its features here:

<a href='/en/features/create-word-scramble'>Go to the Word Scramble puzzle maker</a>

3: Word scramble generator

The less-known word puzzle but definitely just as fun puzzle type, is the Acrostic puzzle. The generator requires you to enter the same input as with the crossword puzzle, except you need a 'skeleton' word here as well. A hidden solution that binds the other words together.

This word puzzle has a nice clean interface and has the bonus of an integrated hidden solution which is always nice to discover as a puzzle player.

Find the Acrostic puzzle maker and all of the info about its features here:

<a href='/en/features/create-acrostic'>Go to the Acrostic puzzle maker</a>

4: Acrostic puzzle generator

Generate all sorts of word puzzles via the different types of online word puzzle generators

Puzzel.org

Features and solutions for every puzzle idea

Answer controls

Canvas LMS integration

Code Puzzle Maker

Customizable puzzles

Embed puzzles into your website

Math puzzles

Organizing your puzzles

Picture Puzzle Maker

Puzzle plays

Solving Puzzles in Teams

Tracking puzzle results

Custom completion message

Word puzzle generator