How Do I Test a Competition with Hidden Mode?
Last updated: November 10, 2026
Hidden mode lets you check a new Competition's competitors, scoring, and prizes before anyone else sees it. Only the competition creator and users with Competitions: All Access can see a hidden Competition -- participants won't be notified of the Competition or be able to view it.
Required permissions:
The Competitions: All Access or Competitions: Create Challenges permission is required to create a hidden Competition.
Create the Competition in Hidden Mode
Build the Competition as usual from Motivate --> Competitions --> New Competition.
Click on the Create drop-down button at the top of the page.
Choose Create Hidden Challenge, Create Hidden Competition, or Create Hidden Bracket. The Competition's card will show a Hidden Mode label.
What to Check
Competitors: Is it person-vs-person or Group-vs-Group as expected, and is everyone included who should be?
Scoring: Are all the metrics there, and do current scores look reasonable for this point in the Competition?
Prizes: Do threshold prizes still make sense given the current range of scores?
Participants' scores won't appear until the Competition start time passes. You can make a Hidden Competition public and make other configuration changes even after the start date and time have passed.