A rainy evening in the city
For a table of eight at home, a kit is the format: six to twelve players plus a host who does not play, about three hours, $39.90 whatever the head count. Twenty minutes of silent reading, acts opened at set minutes, half an hour of negotiation, ballots, then the reveal read aloud.
If nobody wants to sit out as host, take a cooperative case file instead: no roles, no host, one to seven investigators, everyone against the documents. Both catalogues are on the murder mystery kits and detective case files pages.
A cabin weekend, and no signal
This is the one plan that needs preparation, because the host's guide and the solution live on the portal rather than in the PDF, and the portal needs a connection. Download the file and print everything in the city, and have the host open the portal before you leave, while there is still signal, to read the guide and note the schedule.
The reveal, and a case file's hints and solution, do need the portal at the moment you use them. If the cabin has no coverage at all, plan the evening for a weekend at home instead: it is not a limitation you can print your way around.
A cold case set in a mountain hotel
The Winter of '74 suits a cabin exactly: the Grand Hotel des Neves, 12 January 1974, Sylvie Berthaud, twenty-two, a seasonal worker who vanished, the file reopened in April 2024. Twelve exhibits, two and a half to three and a half hours, nineteen pages.
One cipher, whose key is computed from three wage slips, and two clocks that do not give the same time. It plays from one to seven investigators cooperatively, which is the right shape for a group that will not appoint a host on a Saturday away.
Printing on Letter before you go
The files are laid out for A4. On Letter, tick fit to page and print single-sided: the sheet shrinks about six percent and nothing is cut. At 100 percent on Letter the bottom line of each page is clipped, which on an exhibit can be the line carrying a time.
Colour renders the photographed documents better, black and white stays legible, and no deduction depends on a shade. Bring pencils, an eraser and scrap paper: the working sheets in a case file are made to be written on, and the cipher in The Winter of '74 is solved by hand.
Buying it, and the week it stays open
Prices are in US dollars, $39.90 for a kit and $39 for a case file, $49 for The Phantom Affair, and nothing is shipped. An email brings a personal code after payment and you download the file from the case file portal yourself.
The code waits indefinitely until you first use it, then stays valid one week from that first opening rather than from the purchase. For a weekend away, open it a day or two before so the whole week covers the trip, and note that four doors close together at expiry: the code entry, the page, the download and the answers.
Frequently asked questions
Can we play somewhere with no mobile signal?+
Print everything in advance and have the host read the guide on the portal before leaving. The reveal, and a case file's hints and solution, are served online at the moment you use them, so a place with no coverage at all is a real obstacle.
Which file suits a cabin weekend?+
The Winter of '74: a cold case at the Grand Hotel des Neves, 12 January 1974, twelve exhibits, one cipher computed from three wage slips, two and a half to three and a half hours, one to seven investigators and no host needed.
How do I print these on Letter paper?+
Tick fit to page and print single-sided. The A4 layout shrinks about six percent on Letter with nothing cut. Printing at 100 percent clips the bottom of every page, which can remove a line from an exhibit.
