# Puzzle

> Players drag shuffled items into the correct order — timelines, steps and rankings — and score points for a perfect order.

Source: https://engageslide.com/knowledge-base/quiz-games/puzzle · EngageSlide Help Center · Quiz & Game Slides

## What is Puzzle?

A **Puzzle** slide is a quiz question where the answer is an **order**. You list the items in the right order; each player gets them shuffled on their phone and drags them into the order they think is correct. Only a perfect order scores, and with the speed bonus on, faster perfect answers score more. At the reveal the items slide into the right order on the big screen next to a count of correct and incorrect answers. Use it for timelines (_Put these inventions in order_), process steps (_What are the steps of first aid?_), sizes and rankings, or any sequence your audience should remember.

Video tutorial: [Puzzle — video tutorial](https://youtu.be/JWhRx8X0c0M)

Presenter creates the slide → Click Present → Share code / QR → Audience enters code → Respond & submit → Real-time results

## Create a Puzzle slide

1. On **Home**, click + Create new presentation (or add a slide to an existing one).
2. In **Choose Slide Type**, pick **Puzzle**. You can also type it into Search slide types….
3. The slide is created and the right panel opens on the **Content** tab.

## Set up the content

1. Type your question in **Enter your question or title**, for example Put these planets in order from the Sun. Say clearly what the order is — oldest first, smallest first, first step first.
2. Optionally click **Add description** for extra context, and **Add Question Image** for a picture. With an image, you can choose an **Image reveal** (**Original**, **3×3**, **5×5** or **8×8**) and **Reveal in order**.
3. Under **Options**, add the items **in the correct order**, top to bottom: for example Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars. Press Enter to add the next item, or click + Add option. You can add up to **6** items.
4. To change the correct order, drag an item by its handle on the left. There is no correct-answer tick on a Puzzle — the order of the list _is_ the answer.
5. Each item gets its own colour automatically; click the colour square to change it, or the picture icon to add an image to the item.
6. Under **Settings**, set the time and points (see below). The game shuffles the items for every player.

![The Puzzle editor — slide list, live screen with join code & QR, and the content panel](https://engageslide.com/images/kb/puzzle-editor.webp)

## Puzzle settings

- **More points for fast correct answers** — On by default. A perfect order submitted quickly scores close to **Max Point**; one submitted at the last second gets **Min Point**. Off: every perfect order gets the same points.
- **Seconds to answer** — How long players have to arrange and submit (45 seconds on a new slide). Dragging takes longer than tapping, so allow more time for 5–6 items.
- **Min Point / Max Point** — The points range for a perfect order — 0 and 100 on a new slide. With the speed bonus off there is a single **Point** field.
- **Quiz Audio (Optional)** — Upload an audio file to play during the countdown instead of the game music.
- **Clear result this slide** — Under **Actions**: deletes the answers to this question so you can play it again.

## Present & share the join code

1. Click **Present** in the top bar to put the slide on the big screen.
2. A **join code** and a **QR code** appear (e.g. `36Y56`).
3. Participants open the **Audience** app at **join.engageslide.com**, type the code and press **Enter** — or simply scan the QR.
4. When everyone has joined, the responses start flowing in live.

## How the audience responds

Players join with your code, pick an emoji and a **Nickname**, and wait in the lobby. When the question starts, the phone shows **Question X of Y** with the question for a 5-second countdown, then the items in a shuffled order with the hint _Drag to reorder the options_. Players drag each coloured item by its grip into place and press **Submit**; the button then reads **Submitted** and the phone says _You have answered, please wait for the result._ At the reveal they see a ✓ with the points they earned, or _Oh sorry, you answered incorrectly._

## View results

Press **Start Game** in the lobby. After the 5-second intro, the big screen shows the question and the items in a shuffled order, the countdown and a ✋ counter of how many players have answered. **End Quiz** stops the countdown early, and **Show Image** / **Hide Image** switches to the question image. When time is up, the items move into the correct order and two bars show how many players got the order right (✓) and wrong (✗). Points go straight to the leaderboard; a Leaderboard slide is added after the puzzle automatically when you create it.

> **Tip** — Four or five items is the sweet spot: enough to make players think, few enough to arrange on a phone in time. Avoid items that could reasonably go in two places — if two steps can happen in either order, players who know the topic will still be marked wrong.

## Ideas for Puzzle questions

- **History:** put these events in order — the printing press, the steam engine, the telephone, the internet.
- **Science:** order the stages of the water cycle, or the planets by size.
- **Training:** the steps of a safety procedure, a sales process or an escalation path.
- **Team meetings:** rank last quarter’s projects by number of customers reached, then discuss the surprises.

## Frequently asked questions

### Do players get points for a partly correct order?

No. Puzzle is all-or-nothing: only the exact correct order scores. Everything else counts as incorrect.

### How are points calculated?

A perfect order earns between Max Point and Min Point depending on how much time was left when it was submitted (with the speed bonus on), or Max Point every time (with it off).

### How many items can a Puzzle have?

Up to 6 items. Each item can have a text, a colour and an image.

### Does every player get the same shuffle?

No. Each phone shuffles the items on its own, so players can’t copy their neighbour’s screen.

### Can players change their order after submitting?

No. After **Submit** the answer is locked in, so players should check the order first.