# How to Use the Spy Challenge Builder — User Guide | PuzzleBuilder > URL: https://puzzlebuilder.co/docs/how-to-use-the-spy-challenge-builder/ Step-by-step guide to creating a Spy Challenge game with PuzzleBuilder. Learn how to design secret agent missions, write coded clues, and publish an interactive online game with a live leaderboard. --- ## How to Use the Spy Challenge Builder This guide covers everything you need to build a Spy Challenge with PuzzleBuilder — choosing a game format, writing your missions, designing your cards, and getting them into your guests' hands. ### 1. Getting Started To create a Spy Challenge, you first need an occasion. An occasion is the container for your games — it can be a wedding, a birthday, a team offsite, or any other event. - Click + New Puzzle from your dashboard. - Choose an existing occasion or create a new one. - Select Spy Challenge as your game type. The builder opens automatically. The first time you open a new game, you'll be asked to choose a page size and orientation, and a default template is applied so you never start from a blank canvas. Both can be changed at any time. ### 2. The Builder Interface The Spy Challenge builder has three main areas: - Left panel: Four tabs — Challenge (your game format and missions), Size (page dimensions), Templates (ready-made card designs), and Layers (element list and new element tools). - Center canvas: A live preview of your card. The artboard inside the canvas represents the actual page — everything within its boundaries appears in your downloaded file. - Right panel (Style & Content): Controls for the currently selected element — text content, fonts, colors, alignment, size, rotation, and more. The top toolbar includes **Save** (with an input field to name your game), **Guide** (a link to this page), **Download**, and **Publish**. Below it are zoom controls, a **Fit** button, and toggles for **Hide Crop Marks** and **Hide Grid**. To move around the canvas, hold **Alt** and drag, or press the middle mouse button and drag. You can also zoom with your mouse wheel. #### On Mobile On mobile devices the side panels are hidden by default. Tap **Panel** at the top left to open the left panel and **Properties** at the top right to open Style & Content. Save, Guide, Download, and Publish sit under the **☰** menu button. A **Pan** toggle lets you drag the canvas with your finger; switch it off to select and move elements instead. ### 3. Choosing Your Game Format Open the **Challenge** tab in the left panel and pick one of two formats: - Secret Mission: Every player receives their own covert assignment to complete during the event — find out something about another guest, get someone to say a particular word, discover who did what. There is no single winner by default; players complete their own missions. - Find the Spy: One player is secretly assigned the spy role while everyone else tries to identify them. All the other cards look identical, so no one knows who received the spy card. You can switch formats while building. Your design stays in place, but the mission content is specific to each format, so review your missions after switching. ### 4. Writing Your Missions Missions are the content of your game. You can add them in three ways: manually, by pasting a list you already have, or by generating them with AI. #### Manual Entry In the **Challenge** tab you'll see a numbered list of missions. - Click + Add mission at the bottom of the list. - Type the mission text — for example, Find out which guest has visited the most countries. To remove a mission, click the **×** icon next to it. Missions can be edited at any time. #### Paste Your Content If your missions are already written elsewhere, click **or Paste your content** below the mission list. Paste your text in any format — numbered lists, bullet points, or plain lines — and click **Parse with AI**. A review screen lets you check the results, adjust the detected language, and edit or remove entries before clicking **Apply to Challenge**. #### Generate with AI Click **Generate with AI** at the top of the Challenge tab to have the assistant write your missions. **Step 1 — Preferences:** Choose a tone, a difficulty level, and how many missions you want. **Step 2 — Details:** Add context about your event — for example, _"A 40th birthday for a group of friends who have known each other since university."_ The more specific you are, the more personal the missions will be. Select the game language here too. **Step 3 — Review:** The AI produces a full set of missions. Edit any of them directly, use **Rephrase** to rewrite a single mission, click **Improve Phrasing** to rewrite them all, or click **New Set** for a completely different batch. When you're happy, click **Apply to Challenge**. #### Game Language At the bottom of the Challenge tab, the **Game Language** selector sets the default labels on your card and the language the AI writes in. Available languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Turkish, Dutch, Italian, and Portuguese. ### 5. Choosing a Page Size Click the **Size** tab to set your page dimensions. Sizes range from 5×7 in cards up to 30×42 in posters, with A5 through A0 also available. Switch between **Portrait** and **Landscape**, then click **Apply Page Size**. For mission cards handed to individual guests, 5×7 in or A5 works best. Larger formats are useful if you want a single briefing board at the entrance instead of individual cards. Changing the page size rescales your design automatically. You may want to fine-tune element positions afterward. ### 6. Applying a Template Click the **Templates** tab to browse ready-made card designs. Each template arrives fully laid out — background, framing, title styling, and the mission text block. Select a template and click **Apply Template**. A confirmation dialog appears first, because the current template's decorative elements (backgrounds, title text, frames, graphics) are replaced by the new template's, along with any customizations you made to them. Your missions and any elements you added yourself from the Layers tab are preserved exactly as they are. ### 7. Customizing Your Design Every element on the canvas can be customized. Click it on the canvas, or select it in the **Layers** tab, and the right panel shows its options. #### Editing Text Double-click any text element on the canvas to edit it directly, or use the text field in the **Style & Content** panel. You can change font family, weight, style, color, and alignment. #### Size, Rotation, Flip, and Alignment Every element shares the same core controls: - Align to Page: Snap the element to the Left, Center, Right, Top, Middle, or Bottom of the page. - Size: Set exact width and height, lock the aspect ratio, or click Reset Size. - Flip: Mirror the element horizontally or vertically. - Rotate: Enter an angle in degrees, or reset to 0°. You can also drag elements freely, resize them with the corner and edge handles, and rotate them with the control below a selected element. Hold **Shift** to select several elements at once — the right panel then shows **Align Elements** (relative to each other) and **Align to Page**. #### Adding New Elements At the bottom of the **Layers** tab, the **Add Element** section lets you add rectangles, triangles, circles, lines, and text boxes (up to 10 of each), plus your own images (JPEG, PNG, GIF, or WebP — up to 5 files, max 5 MB each). Template and game elements don't count toward these limits. #### Layer Order The **Layers** tab shows the stacking order of everything on the canvas. Elements at the top of the list appear in front. Drag and drop rows to reorder them. Each row has a remove icon for elements you added, a visibility toggle for hideable template elements, and a drag handle. ### 8. Crop Marks and Grid Lines Two display toggles sit in the top toolbar. **Hide/Show Crop Marks** shows the safe print area so you can trim accurately, and **Hide/Show Grid** shows a background grid to help you align elements. Both are display-only — neither appears in your downloaded file. ### 9. Saving and Downloading Click **Save** in the top toolbar to store your progress. Your game name appears in the input field next to it and can be changed at any time. Saving preserves your missions, game format, design, element positions, template, page size, and orientation. Your game stays in your account and can be reopened from your dashboard. Click **Download** to open the download dialog, which offers three options: - PNG Preview: A standard-resolution image for quick previews and sharing. - PNG High-Quality: A high-resolution image suitable for printing. - Print Ready PDF: A PDF optimized for professional print quality. The downloaded file shows exactly what's inside the artboard — crop marks and grid lines are not included. On the free plan you can download a watermarked, low-resolution PNG to see how your card looks. Paid packages remove the watermark and unlock the high-quality PNG and the print-ready PDF. #### Printing Tip If you're printing individual mission cards, print them one per page at 5×7 in and fold them, or place several per sheet in your printer settings and cut along the crop marks. Keep the cards face down when you hand them out so no one reads someone else's mission — this matters most in Find the Spy. ### 10. Publishing Your Game Online Click **Publish** in the top toolbar to open the publish dialog. Here you can: - Get a public link: A unique URL anyone can open to play your Spy Challenge in their browser. - Add password protection: Optionally set a password so only invited guests can join. - Enable scoring and leaderboard: Track each player's progress and rank them on a live leaderboard. - Show leaderboard to players: Choose whether players can see the rankings during the game. You can copy the public link, share it through any messaging app, and unpublish the game at any time. The publish dialog also includes **View Leaderboard**, where you can review scores or reset them — resetting is permanent and cannot be undone. Players don't need an account or any download. The game runs entirely in their browser on any device. Online publishing is available on paid packages. ### 11. Tips for a Great Spy Challenge - One mission per guest works best at weddings and parties, where the game runs in the background. For team building or classroom sessions, three to five missions per person gives you a round of about twenty minutes. - Keep missions achievable. A good mission can be completed in a single conversation. If it needs three separate steps, it will be abandoned. - Make them specific to your group. "Find out who has the longest commute" beats "talk to three people" every time. - Plan the reveal. The best part of both formats is the ending. Decide in advance when you'll gather everyone to compare missions or unmask the spy. - For Find the Spy, print extras. Guests arrive late and cards get lost — a few spares save the round. - Test the online version by opening your own link and playing through once before the event. ### Need Help? If you have any questions or run into issues while building your Spy Challenge, contact our support team through the [Support page](https://puzzlebuilder.co/support/?contact). #### All Documents - How to Use the Crossword Builder - How to Use the Word Search Builder - How to Use the Number Hunt Builder - How to Use the Photo Challenge Builder - How to Use the Bingo Challenge Builder - How to Use the Sudoku Builder - How to Use the Spy Challenge Builder - How to Use Online Play and Leaderboards - Printing Guide - How to Print Your Puzzles - How to Use the AI Clue Generator - The Complete Guide to Designing Print-Ready Puzzle Cards - How to Create Engaging Classroom Puzzles for Any Subject [← Back to Support](https://puzzlebuilder.co/support/) ### Ready to make your event unforgettable? Open the editor and build your first puzzle in minutes. You only pay when you're ready to download or publish — and every purchase is covered by a 14-day refund. 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