Word Search++ — User Guide

Quick Start

  1. Open /puzzles/wordsearch.
  2. Click the Category button and pick a theme (Animals, Countries, Programming, Space, Food, or Random).
  3. Click the Grid Size button and enter a number (5–200). 20×20 is a good starting point.
  4. Click Generate.
  5. Find words by clicking and dragging across letters on the grid, then click the word in the word list to confirm.

Controls

Control What it does
Category Dropdown to choose a word theme. Random pulls from a 130K-word dictionary pool.
Grid Size Opens a modal to set the grid dimensions (e.g. 20 for 20×20). Any value from 5 to 200.
Generate Creates a new puzzle with the selected category and size.
Clear Selection Deselects any highlighted letters on the grid.
Reveal Hints Toggles the arrow direction indicators next to each word in the list.
Reveal All Marks every word as found (stops the timer).
Word list Click any unfound word to confirm your current selection matches it.

How to play

Selecting letters

Hold down the mouse button on the grid and drag across a line of letters. The selection snaps to straight lines — horizontal, vertical, or 45° diagonal. The selected cells are highlighted in blue.

Confirming a word

When you have a line of letters highlighted, click the word you think it spells in the Words to find list. If the selection matches the word (in either direction), the word turns green on the grid and gets a strikethrough in the list.

You can select letters in either direction — the game checks both left-to-right and right-to-left.

Direction hints

Words can be hidden in any of 8 directions: → ↓ ← ↑ ↘ ↙ ↗ ↖. If you're stuck, click Reveal Hints to show an arrow badge next to each word indicating its direction on the grid.

Timer

A timer starts automatically when you Generate a puzzle. It appears in the control bar and updates every second. When you find all words, a completion dialog shows your total elapsed time. Click Reveal All if you want to give up — the timer stops and all words are shown.

Tips

  • Start with larger words — they're easier to spot and give you a foothold on the grid.
  • Use direction hints if you're stuck — knowing which direction a word runs makes a huge difference.
  • Smaller grids (10–15) are quicker and good for learning. Larger grids (40+) have more words and take longer.
  • Random mode generates a fresh word set each time from 130K possibilities — you'll never see the same puzzle twice.
  • The grid scrolls if it's taller than your screen, so you can still play on large grids.

Compared to a basic word search:

  • Themed word categories with curated lists
  • Random mode with a 130K-word dictionary
  • Custom grid size from 5×5 up to 200×200
  • Completion timer with a summary dialog
  • Direction hints that you can toggle on/off
  • Theme-aware colours that match your Bootswatch selection
  • Touch support for mobile and tablet