Affiliate disclosure: This guide links to History Co-Author, an AI writing kit for narrative history. If you buy through those links, BookPublisherTools earns a commission at no extra cost to you. Puzzle Maker Pro is our own product. I bought History Co-Author (the front end and the History Genre Vault upsell) and read every file in those downloads (the plugins and course weren’t included). I haven’t tested its output or watched its course, so nothing below is a tested result.
Last checked: 4 October 2026.
Bible puzzle books for adults are one of the biggest corners of the puzzle shelf. Amazon’s autocomplete fills up with bible word search large print, bible cryptograms large print spiral bound, bible word search kjv, christian puzzle books for women, for men and for seniors. Big publishers are there too, with titles like The Everything Large-Print Bible Word Search Book and Brain Games Large Print Bible Word Search.
So the demand is real, and so is the competition. This guide covers how to make a Bible puzzle book that holds its own: the translation question most new publishers skip, the puzzle types that suit adult and senior solvers, and one way to stand out, which is pairing the puzzles with a short church-history story.
One honest note up front: you don’t need any AI writing tool to make a Bible word search book. A list of names from the book of Genesis doesn’t need research software. The History Co-Author part of this guide only matters if you also want to write a narrative book, such as a church-history story or a missionary’s life, and pair puzzles with it. I’ll keep those two jobs separate.
Step 1: Choose one translation, and check you may quote it
Every verse in your book should come from one named translation, copied exactly. Mixing translations confuses readers and makes permissions harder.
Then check whether you may use that translation in a book you sell. This isn’t legal advice, but here’s the general picture:
- King James Version (KJV): public domain in the United States, so you can quote it freely in a US book. In the United Kingdom it’s a different story: the KJV is under Crown rights administered by Cambridge University Press, so check before you sell there.
- World English Bible (WEB): a modern-English translation released into the public domain.
- Most modern translations (NIV, ESV, NKJV, NLT and others) are copyrighted. Their publishers allow limited quotation under conditions set out on their permissions pages, often a verse count and a required notice. A whole book of verse cryptograms may need written permission. Read the publisher’s terms for the exact translation and edition before you build the book.
Whatever you choose, print the translation name on the copyright page and next to each verse, for example “Psalm 119:105 (KJV)”. Readers who care about translations will look for it.
Step 2: Pick puzzle types adult solvers enjoy
Here’s how the main types fit a Bible puzzle book. All of them are Puzzle Maker Pro types on sale now.
Large-print word searches
The backbone of the category. Group the lists by book (Genesis, Exodus, the Gospels), by theme (parables, miracles, women of the Bible, places Paul visited) or by church history (the Reformation, early church fathers). Standard Word Search reads a plain list, one word per line, and a #TITLE: line sets each puzzle’s title. Its hidden-message option can spell a short phrase through the leftover letters, which makes a nice finish (“GOD IS LOVE”).
Verse cryptograms
Bible cryptograms are their own search term, and they’re a great use of a translation you may quote. Easy Cryptograms encodes each verse with a letter swap and can add a description row above it, which is where the reference goes. The code can print as letters or as numbers (A=1), with a key table under the puzzle for working out each letter.
One buyer of a Bible cryptogram book wrote: “I am not familiar with cryptograms and don’t know how to do them and there was no answer section.” Two lessons in one review: add a short how-to-solve page at the front, and always include an answer key. Getting started with Easy Cryptograms covers the module itself.
These samples were made with our own script for this article. They aren’t Puzzle Maker Pro or History Co-Author output.
Clue puzzles about people and places
For variety, add puzzles with clues:
- Secret Word Column: one answer per row, each with a clue, and a hidden word runs down a column. Make the hidden word the theme, such as BETHLEHEM or PENTECOST.
- Secret Word Criss Cross: a real intersecting crossword with Across and Down clues, plus an optional secret phrase. This covers the bible crossword puzzle books for adults searches. Clues go in the word list as
Word: clue, for exampleNineveh: City Jonah was sent to warn. - Word Guess: some letters shown, the rest hidden, with an optional description line. It’s good for names of the books of the Bible.
Write clues from the text itself and check each one against your chosen translation. Clue wording varies between translations (Jonah’s city is the same everywhere, but many names and phrases are not).
Wordoku
If you want a number-style puzzle in the book, our page on Bible and faith-based puzzles covers Wordoku with faith words. I won’t repeat it here.
Step 3: Design for older eyes
Many Bible puzzle books are bought for parents and grandparents, so large print isn’t optional. Some practical rules:
- Large print means the whole book: puzzles, word lists, verse references and the answer key. Small answer keys are a common complaint.
- One puzzle per page, with room to write.
- Fewer, shorter words in large-print word searches, so the grid can use bigger letters.
- About spiral binding: buyers do search for spiral-bound Bible puzzle books, but KDP prints paperbacks and hardcovers. If spiral matters to your readers, you’d need a different printer.
Large-print puzzle books for KDP covers type sizes and layout, and which puzzle families survive large print helps you choose types.
Step 4 (optional): Add a church-history story
Here’s where you can stand out from the big publishers. Instead of 100 unconnected puzzles, build the book around a story: the Reformation, the early church, a missionary’s journey, or a single day the Bible tells, walked through hour by hour. Each section opens with a short part of the story and follows with puzzles drawn from it.
You can also go further and write the story as its own book, with the puzzle book as a devotional companion.
Writing the story with History Co-Author’s Christian History kit
History Co-Author is a set of prompt files for writing narrative history in your own Claude or ChatGPT project. You need a paid AI plan, about $20 a month according to the vendor. The kit for this job, Christian History, is not in the front end. It’s one of six kits in the History Genre Vault upsell ($67, or $97 with plugins). The $17 front end (the vendor says $27 after 23:59 EST on Wednesday 7 October 2026) contains the general Narrative History kit only.
From reading the Christian History files, a few things fit a puzzle publisher well:
- One translation, locked. During setup you choose the one translation every verse is set from. Each verse goes into the research file copied exactly, with book, chapter and verse, and marked EXACT. That’s the same discipline your cryptograms need.
- A copyright-page notice. The kit records the translation’s quotation notice. At close-out it prints that notice with a count of how many verses the book quotes, which helps when a translation’s permission depends on verse count.
- The Hourbook preset, recommended for “a single day or episode the Bible tells”, walked hour by hour. That’s a natural shape for a seasonal or devotional companion.
- 11 narrator voices and a locked names file, so every person and place in your puzzles is spelled the way the story spells them.
One rule to know before you buy: the Christian History kit lets the AI fill in what scripture doesn’t say. That covers a named person’s thoughts, point of view, scenes and speech, as long as nothing contradicts scripture or the record, plus unnamed people it creates. The book explains this in its preface. If your readers want only what the text records, edit those passages or choose a stricter approach.
The usual limits apply. It’s AI drafting, and the vendor’s FAQ says it can’t promise zero errors. Check every verse against the printed translation and every historical fact against a source. Faith readers will notice a misquoted verse faster than almost any other error.
My History Co-Author review covers all seven kits and the upsells.
Step 5: Assemble the book
Puzzle Book Studio puts your puzzles into titled sections and builds the solutions section. A simple structure:
- Front matter: title page, copyright page with the translation notice, contents, and a how-to-solve page for each puzzle type.
- Sections by book of the Bible, theme or part of the story.
- Answer key at the back, large print, in the same order.
On editions: Puzzle Book Studio on Creative builds a book from one puzzle collection. A book with several collections needs Productivity, even when every puzzle is the same type, such as one word search collection per book of the Bible. Mixing word searches and cryptograms also needs Productivity. A single collection fits Creative. If you already own the Time Saver bundle or IPB Gold, you have Productivity-level Studio access already. A legacy per-module Time Saver licence gives that access only for its own module. See the editions page. Every paid edition lets you sell the books you make (commercial rights explained).
Step 6: Check before you publish
- Every verse matches your chosen translation exactly, including punctuation.
- Every reference is right (book, chapter, verse).
- Every clue is true to the text, not to memory.
- Answer keys are complete and readable.
- Permissions are in place for any copyrighted translation.
- AI disclosure: if AI wrote any text in the book, KDP asks you to disclose it. See its content guidelines.
Related guides
- How to make a history crossword puzzle book: writing clues you can trace to a source
- History word search books that teach: pairing short history notes with word searches
- How to write a history book with AI: the writing workflow, step by step
FAQ
Can I use the King James Version in a puzzle book?
In the United States, the KJV is public domain, so you can quote it in a book you sell there. In the United Kingdom it’s under Crown rights, so check the terms before selling there. This isn’t legal advice.
Can I use the NIV or ESV in a Bible cryptogram book?
Both are copyrighted. Their publishers allow limited quotation under set conditions, and a full book of verse puzzles may go beyond that. Check the publisher’s permissions page or ask for written permission.
What puzzles do adult Bible puzzle buyers like most?
Large-print word searches are the core, followed by verse cryptograms and crosswords. A how-to page and a clear answer key matter as much as the puzzles.
Do I need History Co-Author to make a Bible puzzle book?
No. For a straightforward Bible word search or cryptogram book, you don’t need it. It’s only useful if you also want to write a church-history story or narrative book to go with the puzzles. That needs the Christian History kit, which is in the Genre Vault upsell.
Is a Bible puzzle book a good KDP niche?
The demand is among the strongest on the puzzle shelf, and so is the competition. Accurate verses, large print done properly and a story behind the puzzles are how a new book can stand out. Nobody can promise sales. KDP also now limits new titles to two per book format each week (KDP Help: Create a Book), so one carefully researched book with a clear slant is a better use of a slot than several quick ones.
See History Co-Author’s current price and the Genre Vault (affiliate link)