Summary: Arrow Maze puzzles are created in Puzzle Maker Pro by choosing a grid size, difficulty, and arrow style, then generating the puzzle with its matching solution. This guide walks through making your first one, titling it, and exporting print-ready and web-ready output.
Overview
An Arrow Maze puzzle is a grid where every cell already carries an arrow, and the solver’s job is to place the numbers 1 through N so each one’s arrow points down a straight line to the next number. This tutorial covers making one in Puzzle Maker Pro, from opening the module to exporting the puzzle and its solution. New to the puzzle itself? Read How Arrow Maze Puzzles Work first.
Required Modules
- Puzzle Maker Pro – Arrow Maze
- Lite makes Arrow Maze puzzles with the built-in arrow glyphs, static PNG/JPG/SVG/PDF output, and Instant Puzzle Books. Creative adds custom arrow images (a single rotated image or one image per direction) and arrow colour, plus Puzzle Book Studio Creative. Productivity adds Time Saver for batch creation and Puzzle Book Studio Productivity. Creative Interactive / Productivity Interactive add JSON web output, online gameplay, Interactive PDF, and Puzzle Slides — note that Time Saver comes from the Productivity tier itself, not from the Interactive add-on, so Creative Interactive does not include batch creation on its own. See Puzzle Maker Pro Editions Explained.
A free demo of the module is available, so you can try Arrow Maze before buying.
Preparation
Nothing is needed to make your first puzzle — no word lists or images. A 5×5 grid at Medium difficulty with 8 directions is the comfortable default and a good place to start. Puzzle Maker Pro generates every puzzle with its matching solution at the same time.
Choose the Grid Size and Difficulty
On the Settings tab, set the size and difficulty:
- Grid size — a square board from 3×3 up to 8×8 (default 5×5). The smallest sizes make gentle, fast-solving boards that are great for teaching the arrow rule; 8×8 is the largest, hardest board the deduction solver supports.
- Difficulty — Easy, Medium, Hard, or Expert. Harder settings print fewer clues, so the board is worked out from further apart pieces of information.
- Allow diagonal arrows (8 directions; unchecked = 4) — checked by default for the classic 8-direction Pijlendoolhof rule. Uncheck it to restrict arrows to North/South/East/West only, for an easier, more predictable board.
Set the Quantity
Use Quantity to choose how many puzzles to generate in one run — 1 to test a setting, or a larger number for a book. Every puzzle in a batch is unique.
Generate a Preview
Generate a preview to see the size, difficulty, and arrow density before committing to a full run. Adjust and preview again until it looks right.
Style It
On the Style tab, set the canvas colour, cell background, grid line, puzzle border, and number font — the same style controls shared across every module — plus one Arrow Maze-specific row: Arrow color, which recolours the built-in arrow glyphs (custom arrow images keep their own artist-chosen colour). Arrow color needs the Creative edition or higher.
Customize the Arrows (Creative)
On the Arrows tab, choose how the arrow itself is drawn:
- Built-in — the engine’s own vector arrow glyph. Available on every edition.
- Single image — supply one arrow image pointing up, and Puzzle Maker Pro rotates it automatically into all 8 directions.
- Per direction — supply up to eight separate images, one for each compass direction, for full artistic control.
Custom arrow images and the Arrow color style row need the Creative edition. Below Creative, a Test Creative options checkbox lets you preview either custom-image mode for free — the puzzle generates normally, but every output is watermarked, so it is for evaluation only, not for sale or use.
Create your own arrows with our free “Arrow Foundry“.
Set the Title
On the Titles tab, choose a Smart Title. Arrow Maze offers:
- Arrow Maze — e.g. “Arrow Maze”
- Arrow Maze Grid Size — e.g. “Arrow Maze 5×5”
- Custom — your own title text, used exactly as typed (this is the default, pre-filled with “Arrow Maze”)
The same three options are available for the puzzle Description (default: “Place 1..N so each cell’s arrow points at the next number.”). Smart Titles works the same way in every module — see the Smart Titles tutorial for how it works.
Export Your Puzzles
- Print / PDF — PNG, JPG, SVG, and PDF of the puzzle and solution, on every edition.
- JSON web output & online gameplay — with Creative Interactive or Productivity Interactive, export JSON (for the BookPublisherTools WordPress plugin) and HTML output for a self-contained playable web version; see How to Play Puzzles Online.
- Interactive PDF — fillable number cells over the blank cells, with Creative Interactive or Productivity Interactive.
- Puzzle Slides — an interactive PowerPoint version with a drag palette of numbers, also on Creative Interactive or Productivity Interactive.
- Time Saver — batch-create rows of different sizes and difficulties, on the Productivity edition (with or without the Interactive add-on); see How to Batch Create Puzzles with Time Saver. Time Saver also offers an Add Progression button that builds a ramp of rows across grid size, arrow directions, and difficulty in one step.
Outcome
You can now create Arrow Maze puzzles end to end — any grid size from 3×3 to 8×8, 4- or 8-direction arrows, built-in or custom art, one puzzle or a whole batch — titled, styled, and exported for print or the web.
FAQ
Which edition do I need to customize the arrow images or colour?
The Creative edition and above. Below Creative, the “Test Creative options” checkbox lets you preview custom arrow images and colour for free, but every output is watermarked.
Which edition unlocks online play, JSON, Interactive PDF, and Puzzle Slides?
The Interactive add-on — Creative Interactive or Productivity Interactive. Note that this is separate from Time Saver, which comes from the Productivity tier itself.
Do I need Productivity Interactive for batch creation, or does plain Productivity work?
Plain Productivity already includes Time Saver. Productivity Interactive adds the interactive output lanes on top of the same Productivity batch tier — you do not need the Interactive add-on just to batch-create puzzles.
What is the smallest and largest grid I can make?
3×3 up to 8×8. The smallest sizes are gentle, quick-solving boards good for demos or teaching the rule; 8×8 is the largest and hardest the solver supports.
Can I use my own arrow images?
Yes, with the Creative edition or above — either one image rotated automatically into all 8 directions, or a separate image for each of the 8 directions.
What output formats can I export?
PNG, JPG, SVG, and PDF on every edition. JSON, HTML (online play), Interactive PDF, and Puzzle Slides need the Interactive add-on (Creative Interactive or Productivity Interactive).