15-Puzzle Generator โ Make a Photo Puzzle and Share It
The 15-Puzzle Generator turns any photo into a sliding-tile puzzle. Upload an image, give it a title, choose a display mode, and the generator produces a shareable link that anyone can open and play โ no account required on their end. You need a Google account to save puzzles; your guests just need the URL.
How It Works
- Sign in with your Google account. The generator stores your photos so the puzzle link stays live.
- Upload a photo. JPEG and PNG are supported. The image is cropped and divided into a 4ร4 grid of 15 tiles plus one blank.
- Scramble to preview how the puzzle looks in its shuffled starting state.
- Choose a display mode โ Tiles or Reveal โ then click Save.
- Copy the link and share it anywhere. Recipients open the puzzle directly with no sign-in prompt.
Tiles Mode vs. Reveal Mode
Tiles mode shows the full photo divided into grid tiles from the first move. Players can see all 15 image fragments scrambled across the board. The challenge is spatial: reassemble the picture by sliding tiles into the empty space. This is the classic photo-puzzle experience.
Reveal mode starts with all tiles face-down. As you slide a tile into the blank space, that tile flips to show its fragment of the photo. The image is gradually revealed through the act of solving โ you finish the puzzle and see the complete picture for the first time. Good for photos where the subject is meant to be a surprise.
Tips for Good Puzzles
- Use images with strong visual structure. Photos with clear subjects, distinct colours per region, or obvious geometry are easiest to reassemble. Abstract or uniform textures are brutal โ great for hard puzzles.
- Square crops work best. The generator fits your image into a square 4ร4 grid. Landscape or portrait photos will be letterboxed or cropped; centering your subject helps.
- High contrast between tiles helps. If adjacent tiles look too similar, solvers have no visual anchor. A face, a horizon line, or a geometric shape at the centre of the image gives players something to orient around.
- Reveal mode pairs well with surprising photos. A landmark, a group photo, or a recognisable illustration lands well as a reveal โ the puzzle has a payoff moment.
About the 15-Puzzle
The 15-puzzle โ also called the sliding puzzle or Gem Puzzle โ was invented in the 1870s and became one of the first mass-market mechanical puzzles. A 4ร4 grid holds 15 numbered tiles and one blank space. Tiles slide horizontally or vertically into the blank. The goal is to restore them to sequential order.
Not every starting configuration is solvable: exactly half of all scrambled states can reach the solved position. The generator always produces a solvable scramble. Optimal solution length (fewest moves) for a random solvable 15-puzzle averages around 52 moves; hard instances require over 80.