Configuring PMWall Contest Mode

Updated Today · 4 min readIntermediate

Contest mode hides winning cells inside the mosaic grid. The guest whose photo lands on one wins. PMWall detects the win live, the printed label can carry a winner badge, and the Virtual Mosaic celebrates the tile online.

It turns a mosaic from something guests watch into something they have a stake in.

How a Win Works

You pick the winning cells in advance, in the Cloud template, by shuffling.
During the event, the first photo placed on a winning cell wins.
PMWall reports the win, and can badge that tile's printed label.
The Virtual Mosaic highlights the tile and fires a celebration.

Winners are drawn at configuration time, not during the event, so the outcome is set before doors open and no one can influence which cells win.

Configure everything from the Contest tab of the PMWall template in Foto Master Cloud.

Enable the Contest

Enable contest mode -- Off by default. Everything below appears once it is on.

Pick the Winning Cells

Number of winners -- How many cells should win.
Shuffle -- Draws that many random cells from the grid, without repeats.
Show/Hide winning tiles -- Reveals or conceals the winning cells in the preview grid while you work.
Winning tiles preview -- The grid, with the drawn cells marked.
A column and row table lists each winning cell, with a control to remove any one of them.

Cells are recorded as column and row positions, matching the C12/R4 labels used on printed tiles.

Tip: Keep Show/Hide winning tiles hidden when a client or guest can see your screen. The whole mechanic depends on nobody knowing which cells win.

PMWall will not start a contest event with no winning tiles. If you enable the contest and skip the shuffle, the mosaic refuses to start and tells you to shuffle the winning tiles in the Cloud template.

If you change Columns or Rows after shuffling, cells that no longer fit inside the grid are pruned and the editor warns you. Re-shuffle after any grid change.

Lock a Win Once Claimed

Freeze winning tiles once claimed -- On by default.

With this on, the first photo to land on a winning cell locks it. That tile is never replaced, so the wall, the printed tile, and the announced winner all stay in agreement for the rest of the event.

Turn it off only if you deliberately want a later replacement to transfer the win to a new photo. On any event where you announce winners as they happen, leave it on.

Deleting the photo on a winning cell reverts that cell to pending, and the next photo to land there wins instead.

Badge the Printed Label

Winner badge on the printed label -- Off by default.
Badge text -- Default WINNER!, up to 40 characters.

The badge is applied to the printed label only. The saved tile image is never modified, so the wall preview and the high-resolution export stay clean.

When the badge prints, a bottom-positioned C/R wall-position label automatically shifts above it so the two never overlap.

Celebrate in the Virtual Mosaic

Highlight winning tiles -- On by default. Claimed winners get a persistent gold highlight in every viewing mode.
Confetti when a winning tile is claimed -- On by default. Fires once per win.
Winner badge text -- Default Winner!, up to 40 characters. Shown on the tile's trophy badge.

These are separate from the printed badge text, so the on-screen wording and the printed wording can differ.

Confetti respects the viewer's reduced-motion preference when that option is enabled under the Virtual Mosaic animation settings.

Before the Event

Confirm Columns and Rows are final, then shuffle.
Confirm the number of winners matches what the client has agreed to award.
Confirm prizes and the announcement process with the client.
Sync the event in PMWall and start a short test run to confirm the mosaic starts cleanly.
Decide who announces winners and how they will see them.

Avoid changing the winner list late in a running contest. Re-marking winners can unlock a cell that has already been won, which puts the wall and any announcement you have already made out of step.