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Word search puzzles

Pro packv3.0.0-0WordNew

Word search, generated and played. Give the pack a list of words and a seed, and it lays them out, fills the grid and judges every line a player drags; the same seed always makes the same puzzle.

This is a Pro pack. Upgrade to Phaser Pro to use it in your games.See Phaser Pro →

Released October 21, 2026

Word search puzzles: a screenshot of its demo
A note about these graphics

Expansion packs don't come with graphics. This screenshot is one way of drawing what the pack does, made for its demo: none of the sprites, tiles or backgrounds in it are in the pack.

That's by design. A pack is a game's logic, mechanics and effects, and it works with whatever art you give it. Some packs draw effects, backdrops or 3D scenes of their own, but none carries a game's sprites.

So the look is yours. Make the art on phaser.io, bring your own, or let your agent draw it in code: the same pack can look like anything.

What it does

createWordSearch hides each word in a straight line across a grid of letters, longest words first. It chooses a direction first, evenly among those with room, then a place in it, preferring places where the word crosses another, so a crowded grid of long words does not end up with every word in a row. A word that does not fit is left out and named, rather than failing the puzzle. The free cells take a hidden message, if you give one, and then filler letters, by default drawn from the hidden words' own letters so the filler looks like the words. Any word the filler spells a second time by chance has its filler changed, so every word is in the grid exactly once.

Finding is the other half. snap keeps a drag on the nearest of the eight directions, inside the grid; spell says what a line reads for a preview; select accepts a line that covers an unfound word exactly, from either end, and refuses anything else with a reason. Found words carry their placement, so a game can draw its highlight; unfound ones never say where they are.

Words can be given as they should be listed: "Tyrannosaurus Rex" is hidden as TYRANNOSAURUSREX and listed as written. Every puzzle is a seed and a list of moves on the kernel history, so undo, hints, reveals and saves come with it.

Features

  • Seeded generation — the same words and seed always make the same puzzle.
  • Themed or random — a fixed list of words, or count words drawn from a pool such as a dictionary.
  • Direction presets — easy (right and down), medium (adding two diagonals) and hard (all eight), or your own list.
  • Crossing words — words share letters where they cross, which packs the grid; or keep them apart.
  • Filler letters — the words' own letters, a to z evenly, a set of letters or weights of your own.
  • No accidental duplicates — filler that spells a word again is changed.
  • Shaped grids — a mask of rows makes a heart, a diamond or a letter.
  • Hidden messages — the leftover cells spell a message in reading order.
  • Drag helpers — snap, lineBetween and spell for the drag, select for the judgement.
  • Hints, reveals, undo and saves — a word's first cell, a word shown as found, and the kernel history.

Good for

  • Themed puzzles for a museum, a lesson or a holiday, the same every time.
  • A new puzzle every game, from the english-words lexicon or any big list.
  • Young players, with easy right-and-down puzzles in a small grid.
  • Puzzle books and daily puzzles, where a seed reproduces each grid.
  • Shaped and message puzzles, a heart for a card or a message as the reward.

Make it yours

A puzzle takes its width and height (or a mask), its words or a pool with a count and lengths, its directions, whether words overlap, its fill and an optional message. The pack draws nothing, so the grid, highlights and word list are your own.

Two different puzzles from the same pack: a fixed fifteen-by-fifteen dinosaur puzzle on medium directions, the same for every player; and a new ten-by-ten puzzle every round, fourteen words drawn from the dictionary and hidden in all eight directions, with letters filled evenly from A to Z. A third is a heart-shaped puzzle whose leftover letters spell a message.

A quick look

A themed puzzle and a drag:

const puzzle = createWordSearch({ seed: 7, width: 15, height: 15, words: ['Stegosaurus', 'T. Rex', 'Triceratops'] });
const view = puzzle.observation();            // rows of letters, the words to find, progress
const end = puzzle.snap(start, pointerCell);  // keep a drag on one of the eight directions
puzzle.spell(start, end);                     // what the drag spells, for a preview
puzzle.select(start, end);                    // { ok: true, result } when it covers a word, either way round

Works with

  • letter-tiles — draws the grid, keeps a drag on a straight line and keeps each found word highlighted.
  • english-words — optional: its search results make the pool for a random puzzle.
  • typography — for the letters and the word list.
  • letter-grid — when words should be traced through touching letters rather than straight lines.

Good to know

  • It is the rules only: the game draws the grid and turns pointer positions into cells.
  • Letters are a to z; words with other characters are refused.
  • An over-full grid leaves words out rather than fail; check unplaced for a fixed list.
  • Filler can spell other words by chance; only the listed words are checked.
  • A hidden message fills the free cells in order, and filler follows it when there are more cells than letters.

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