How to play
Every case is a closed puzzle, written in full before anything else: the killer, the timeline, every suspect's secrets and the clues that expose them. Nothing is improvised and nothing is random, so every case can be solved by logic alone.
Question the suspects
Each suspect gives you a first statement. Then ask them anything, in your own words: where they were, what they thought of the victim, who they suspect, what they are afraid of. Typos and chat-speak are fine, and two or three suggested questions are always there if you are stuck. Most suspects are hiding something, and most of their secrets are not murder.
Present evidence
Nobody cracks because you asked twice. When you find the piece of evidence that contradicts someone's story, show it to them. What they admit becomes testimony, which you can show to someone else.
Search, and build the timeline
Search each location for clues. The timeline fills in as you go; hollow markers are claims you have reason to doubt.
Each level plays differently
Harder cases don't just have more suspects. They ask more of you.
- Easy. Search a place in one go, show suspects the evidence, and pick your answers from a list when you accuse. A good first case.
- Medium. Places are examined one thing at a time, and some things only catch your eye once you know what you're looking for. Any piece of evidence can be looked at more closely later, when it may mean more. Your accusation is a sentence to complete, and each blank only offers what you've actually found; back every claim with the evidence that proves it.
- Hard and expert. Everything in medium, plus two more skills. Connect two clues when they belong together, to make a deduction you can use. Catch a lie by pinning something a suspect claimed against the evidence that breaks it. Wrong connections and wrong accusations of lying cost time, and after the first three, a little score, so think before you try.
Three cases are free with an account, one at each of the first three levels, so you can try them all before you join.
Against the clock, or at leisure
In timed mode every question and search spends story time, and when the police arrive you must accuse. At your leisure, there is no deadline.
The accusation and your score
Name the culprit, the motive, the method and the time, with your proof: on easy cases your strongest pieces of evidence, on harder ones the evidence behind each claim (proof only counts for a claim you got right). Accuracy is out of 100, then multiplied by difficulty (easy ×1, medium ×2, hard ×3, expert ×4). Finishing within the case's par time adds up to 20%. Each hint takes off 5%. Guessing at connections or lies costs a little after the first three wrong tries. A second attempt scores half, and later ones a quarter.