The unlock button was decorative
The old files ended with a section marked as locked. Technically nothing was locked: the text of the solution was already in the file, and scrolling was enough to reach it. Anyone leafing through the printout, or opening the PDF on a phone to check a page, could land on the answer. For a cooperative case that spoils the whole evening; for a kit it hands the culprit's name to the wrong player.
The case file portal fixes this at the root: the solution is not in the page until the server has sent it, and the server sends it only after the right answer, or after the safety exit.
Answers are checked on the server, not in the page
When you type the killer's name or the corrected time, the check happens on our side. Nothing in the page's code contains the accepted answers, so there is nothing to find by looking at the source. Wrong answers get a prompt that points back to the file; after three, the safety exit opens the solution anyway.
The same mechanism serves the murder mystery kits: the host enters the killer's name once the ballots are counted, and the reveal text appears to be read aloud.
A 13 MB picture dossier travels badly by email
The new kits and cases are picture dossiers, photographed documents at print resolution. A 50-page kit weighs around 13 MB. Attachments of that size are refused by a share of corporate mail servers and by some personal accounts, and a refused delivery is a customer without their file on the night.
So the PDF is composed once, stored, and served from the portal after the code is entered. The email stays small, carries only the code and the link, and always arrives.
What changed for people who bought before September 2026
Nothing was taken away. Files bought before the change are still yours, still printable, and their solution is still inside them where it always was. The change applies to the files delivered since: those are picture dossiers, and their solution lives on the portal.
The catalogue itself was rebuilt through 2026, so a kit or a case bought a year ago is not the same document as the one on sale today. If you played an older version and want the current one, it is a new purchase, and the murder mystery kits pages say how many pages each file now holds.
The short version: the older your file, the more of it was printed; the newer it is, the more of it waits online for the person running the game.
What players and hosts gain
Players get a table with nothing to hide: every page of the printout can be read by anyone, because the answer is elsewhere. Case file groups get hints in four levels that they open on purpose, instead of a solution they might see by accident. Hosts get a guide that is not a second PDF to keep face down all evening.
And the code that opens all this stays valid one week from its first use, which keeps one purchase from serving a chain of tables. The printable murder mystery kit page describes what you print and what stays online, product by product.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still read the solution offline?+
Once the final question is answered, the solution is displayed on the portal and can be printed from the browser. It is not in the PDF, so it cannot be read by accident from the printout.
What if we do not want to type an answer?+
After three wrong answers a safety exit opens the solution regardless. A customer who paid is never kept from it; the questions are a game gate, not a lock.
Was the old PDF solution really visible?+
Yes. The unlock button was a visual, and the text sat further down the same file. Anyone scrolling could reach it, which is why the solution moved to the portal.
