The fun new puzzle in 2½ dimensions
SpinShuffle is a puzzle made of a rectangular grid of numbered or lettered tiles. The objective is to arrange the tiles in order.The tiles are attached to wheels. You move tiles by spinning one wheel at a time. When a wheel spins, the attached tiles swap places with each other.There are two puzzle flavours:
Number puzzles, where you arrange the numbers in order from top to bottom and left to right, and return all the tiles to the yellow colour.
Word puzzles, where you arrange the letters to make rows of words reading across from left to right. Half the challenge is figuring out the words!
If you enjoy Sudoku, Wordle, Rubik's Cube, or even the venerable 15 puzzle then SpinShuffle is for you. Try a quick ‘achievable-but-challenging’ brain workout every day.
Next step: learn how to play
Want to go further? Take the Daily Challenge.
NEW: Free personalized greetings! Send someone a SpinShuffle puzzle containing a hidden Happy Birthday message.
How to play
Objective
SpinShuffle is a puzzle made of a rectangular grid of numbered tiles. The objective is to arrange the tiles in order.The tiles are attached to wheels. You move tiles by spinning one wheel at a time. When a wheel spins, the attached tiles swap places with each other.
The app creates a puzzle by making a small number of random spins, called the par score (the number of spins depends on your chosen difficulty level). To solve the puzzle you must reverse the computer’s spins. In other words, the goal is to solve the puzzle without using more than the ‘par’ number of spins.There are two puzzle flavours: Numbers and Words. Each flavour has its own characteristics, but we can start by looking at the common features that they share.
To complete the puzzle the tiles must be arranged in order.
For Number puzzles you arrange the numbers in order from top to bottom and left to right (and in colour-switching games there must be no pink tiles).
For Word puzzles you arrange the letters to make rows of words reading across from left to right (the vertical letter sequences are irrelevant).
How to play
To spin a wheel, you touch one of its attached tiles and make a small swipe gesture (see the illustrations):
To spin a horizontal wheel, swipe left or right.
To spin a vertical wheel, swipe up or down.
Each tile controls at most one horizontal wheel and one vertical wheel. When you touch a tile, that tile turns blue and the horizontal and vertical tiles on its associated wheel(s) are also highlighted. These are the tiles that will move when you swipe.The basic rule is that you should touch the tile that is closest to the centre of the wheel (the ‘hub’). However, things can get a bit complicated:
Notice in the above example that two wheels (the orange one of length three and the green one of length five) both have their hub on the 9 tile. Since the tile can only be associated with a single wheel, the rule is that it always controls the smaller wheel. So when we touch the 9 tile (see the left illustration) we see that the orange wheel will spin. To spin the green wheel in this example we touch the topmost tile (the 1), which is not attached to any other vertical wheel.
Finding the right tile
There can be up to four wheels in a row or column. When a row or column becomes cluttered with wheels, there might be just one tile that drives a particular wheel and the association might not be obvious. Sometimes the easiest way to find the associated tile for a wheel is simply to touch each of the tiles in turn and observe the highlighted tiles. This tells you which tiles will spin when you swipe the touched tile.
Undo and Replay
The most frequently used button in SpinShuffle is the Undo button in the bottom left corner of the screen. This button, along with Redo, allows you to change your mind. You can also undo your last spin by repeating it.Replay mode allows you to review your progress. Tap the Replay button to enter replay mode. The display will reset to show the original layout (before any moves were made). Use the player control buttons at the bottom of the screen to step through the moves you have made so far.
Replay mode is useful when you feel that you have gone wrong somewhere but you’re not sure where. When you’ve finished reviewing, press the Stop button (the square button in the bottom right corner) to return to play mode.
Rotating the board
You can reposition the board by dragging up/down/left/right with two fingers on the screen:
TextClip art designed by macrovector
How to play number puzzles
Number puzzles are all about untangling the puzzle's fiendish scrambling of tiles.
Tile colour switching
Once you get to the harder levels, number puzzles have an extra wrinkle that word puzzles do not: tile colour switching.When a puzzle has tile colour switching, the tiles take on two colours: pink and yellow. When a wheel spins, each tile on that wheel swaps its colour: yellow tiles turn pink and pink tiles turn yellow.To solve a puzzle you must return all tiles to the yellow colour. If any tile is pink then the puzzle is not solved, even if all the tiles are in the correct position.Some wheels have an even number of tiles (usually four or six) and others have an odd number of tiles (usually three, five or seven). When an odd-numbered wheel spins, the centre tile does not move (but it does change colour in colour-switching games). Spinning a wheel twice in succession completely reverses the effect of the spin (both colour and tile position).
Strategy
One strategic idea is to focus on a particular tile that is severely out of place and consider what moves would be needed to get it to its correct location. Applying these moves might carry other tiles to their correct locations and make the board easier to contemplate.Sometimes you find that the tiles are all in the correct order by a pair of tiles is pink (and therefore the puzzle is not solved). This is usually a sign that you have found the correct wheel spins, but you have applied them in the wrong order.
How to play word puzzles
Word puzzles are twice the challenge. Not only do you have to put the tiles in the right order - you have to figure out what the right order is! You can use hints to help you if you can't figure out the words.
Word puzzles are generated randomly from a dictionary of common English words. There is one word per row in the puzzle grid. The words are all the same length (four, five or six letters). The words are read across the rows - the vertical letter sequences don't mean anything.
The puzzle shown above is made from four five-letter words: AMONG, MATCH, TERMS and STORE. These words are unknown to you when you start the game.
Hints
Word puzzles offer two levels of hint. When you press the Hint button (the lightbulb icon), the 'partial' hint is revealed. This shows you half the letters of the solution (the revealed letters are chosen at random).If you're still stuck after seeing the partial hint you can go back to the hint window and tap 'More' to reveal the 'full' hint. This will show you all the words.Try to solve the puzzle without using hints. If you solve without hints (and without using more than the 'par' number of moves), you get a Gold award. If you make use of the partial hint you get a Silver award. If you use the full hint you get a Bronze award.
The screenshots above show the partial hint and full hint for a game.
Strategy
Watch out for red herrings!Look again at the Hint images above. Notice that the third row of the game grid already contains the word PORT. But the hint shows that the solution word is PART.Especially in four-letter games, it is common for a real word that is not actually part of the solution to appear by chance. This can fool you, because trying to use that word in your solution will probably prevent you from making valid words on the other rows of the grid. So if you get stuck, consider the possibility that the true solution uses a different word.
The SpinShuffle dictionary
There are dictionaries for four, five and six letter words. The longer words are used in the higher difficulty levels. The dictionaries contain common English words. They do not contain proper nouns (such as person or company names).The SpinShuffle app will accept your solution as long as it recognizes a word from its dictionary on every row (even if the words are different from its original selection). If you manage to construct a solution using an obscure word that is not in the dictionary then unfortunately it won't be accepted.The dictionary does not contain profane words. SpinShuffle is a family game!
Walkthrough
Privacy Policy
What information do you collect?
SpinShuffle does not collect any personal information.How do you use the information?
SpinShuffle does not store any personal information. It stores local data to record the games that you play and the settings that you choose.What information do you share?
I do not share any information with anyone.
Daily Challenge
The Daily Challenge is a specially curated word puzzle (from the "hard" difficulty level). There is a new challenge puzzle each day.To start the challenge puzzle for the current day, go to the main menu page and press the Daily Challenge button. The game proceeds in the usual way.You can play the past challenge puzzles as well. Press the calendar button at the bottom of the main menu page to open the Daily Challenge calendar. Press the calendar square for a day to start the challenge puzzle for that day. You can select any day from January 1, 2023 up to the present day.The calendar summarizes your results. Games that you have completed are marked with a gold, silver or bronze circle. Games that you have started and abandoned are marked with a pink circle. You can resume any abandoned game at any time by pressing the calendar square for that day.Pressing the calendar square for a completed game will show your result (time taken, hints used, etc) for that game.Everyone sees the same challenge puzzle for a given day, so you can compete against your friends. See who can get a gold award in the shortest time.
Personalized Animations
Free! Send someone a personalized birthday greeting.
These animated gifs display a SpinShuffle puzzle that contains a hidden Happy Birthday message. As the puzzle is solved the message is revealed.There are over 300 personal names to choose from, but if your recipient's exact name is not available you can choose a generic name (such as "mate").
Personal Names
Aaron
Abbey
Abby
Adam
Aidan
Aiden
Aimee
Aisha
Alan
Alana
Alex
Alfie
Alice
Ali
Allan
Allen
Alyce
Amara
Amber
Amy
Angus
Anita
Anna
Anne
Ann
Aria
Ari
Arlo
Asher
Ava
Axel
Ayla
Barry
Beau
Bella
Ben
Billy
Blake
Bodhi
Brad
Brent
Brett
Brian
Brock
Bruce
Bryan
Bryce
Caleb
Carl
Carla
Carly
Carol
Casey
Cathy
Chad
Chase
Chief
Chloe
Cindy
Clara
Clare
Cleo
Clint
Cody
Colin
Corey
Craig
Daisy
Dale
Dan
Dane
Danny
Darcy
Daryl
David
Dawn
Dean
Debra
Denis
Diana
Diane
Don
Donna
Dylan
Ebony
Eden
Elena
Elias
Elise
Eliza
Eli
Ella
Ellen
Ellie
Elsie
Emily
Emma
Eric
Erin
Ethan
Evan
Eva
Eve
Evie
Ezra
Fay
Felix
Finn
Fiona
Flynn
Frank
Freya
Gail
Garry
Gary
Gavin
Gayle
Gemma
Glen
Glenn
Grace
Grant
Guy
Harry
Hazel
Heath
Heidi
Helen
Henry
Holly
Hugo
Ian
Irene
Isaac
Isla
Ivy
Jack
Jacob
Jade
Jaime
Jai
Jake
James
Jamie
Jane
Janet
Jan
Jared
Jason
Jaxon
Jay
Jean
Jemma
Jenna
Jenny
Jess
Jesse
Jett
Jill
Jim
Joan
Jodi
Jodie
Jody
Joe
Joel
John
Jon
Jorja
Joy
Jude
Julia
Julie
June
Jye
Kaia
Kai
Kane
Karen
Karl
Karla
Kate
Katie
Kaye
Kayla
Kay
Keira
Keith
Kelly
Kerry
Kevin
Kiara
Kim
Koa
Koby
Kurt
Kye
Kyle
Kylie
Lance
Lara
Larry
Laura
Layla
Leah
Lee
Leigh
Leon
Leo
Levi
Lexi
Liam
Libby
Lilly
Lily
Linda
Lisa
Liv
Livvy
Logan
Lola
Louis
Luca
Lucas
Lucia
Lucy
Luka
Luke
Luna
Lyla
Lynda
Lynn
Lynne
Maeve
Mack
Marc
Maree
Maria
Marie
Mark
Mary
Mason
Mateo
Max
Maya
Matt
Megan
Mia
Mike
Mila
Miles
Milla
Molly
Naomi
Nate
Neil
Nic
Nigel
Nixon
Noah
Noel
Nora
Olive
Oscar
Owen
Paige
Paris
Paul
Paula
Perry
Peta
Peter
Piper
Pippa
Poppy
Quinn
Ralph
Reece
Remi
Remy
Renae
Renee
Rhys
Ricky
Riley
River
Robin
Robyn
Roger
Roman
Rose
Rosie
Ross
Roy
Ruby
Russ
Ruth
Ryan
Ryder
Sadie
Sally
Sam
Sara
Sarah
Scott
Sean
Seth
Shane
Shaun
Simon
Skye
Sofia
Sonia
Sonny
Sonya
Sue
Susan
Susie
Suzie
Taj
Talia
Tammy
Tania
Tanya
Tara
Tayla
Tegan
Terry
Thea
Theo
Tiana
Tina
Toby
Todd
Tommy
Toni
Tony
Tori
Tracy
Trent
Troy
Tyler
Tyson
Vicki
Wade
Wayne
Wendy
Zac
Zahra
Zane
Zara
Zayn
Zoe
Zoey
Generic Names
Babe
Boss
Bro
Cuz
Dad
Dear
Dude
Honey
Love
Man
Mate
Mom
Mum
Pal
Sis
