Long-distance calls run out of news. A shared case file gives you something to do together for an evening, with a real goal and a lot to talk about, even when you are in different cities or time zones.
Most games for long-distance couples and friends are either quizzes or watch parties. Quizzes run out; watch parties are passive. A case file is something you build together. Each of you reads the evidence, finds things the other missed and argues for a theory. The call stops being about catching up and becomes about who killed the tavern owner, which is a surprisingly good way to spend two hours with someone you miss.
Inside any case, one person opens a room with Play with friends. The other joins with a short code on their own phone or laptop, wherever they are. You each read the file on your own screen, so nobody has to share a screen or read aloud for an hour. You can see which documents the other person has already opened, which is useful when one of you says "read the third witness statement" and the other can see you have not. At the end you each vote in secret and the host reveals both answers together.
Start together: open the room, read the reopening memo out loud and agree what you are trying to prove.
Split up: mute for forty minutes. Each of you takes half the folders and writes down every time, name and place. Leaving the call open with the camera on feels like studying together in a library.
Brief each other: unmute and swap findings. Facts first, theories second.
Argue: this is the good part. Each of you names your main suspect and the two documents that support it.
Vote: secret vote, then the reveal. There is one accusation per case and it closes the case, right or wrong, so if you still disagree, keep talking until you agree, or save the vote for your next call.
If your evenings do not overlap, do not force a live session. Progress saves in the browser on each device, so you can read separately during the week and meet on the weekend for the argument and the vote. Some long-distance couples treat it like a shared book: each reads a few folders on their own schedule and leaves notes for the other in their messages.
Begin with the free case, Last Call at the Bluebird, which needs no account. It is a good test of whether the two of you enjoy the format. After that, Dead Air is a strong long-distance case: the show at its center had callers and listeners spread along a whole coast, so a group spread across several cities feels at home in it.
A regular case night gives a long-distance relationship a fixed point to look forward to. Only the host needs Premium to open a room with every case and voice chat: $19.99 a week, $39.99 a month or $69.99 for a full year, which works out to about the price of one coffee a month for a standing date.
Keep a shared document with your timeline. When one of you adds a time, the other sees it immediately. By the end of a few cases, you will have a strangely detailed record of your evenings apart.
Distance often means uneven schedules. If one person has more free time, let them do a first read of the whole file during the week and leave a short summary, facts only, in your chat. The busier partner reads the summary and the three documents it points to. When you meet on the call, the busier partner plays fresh eyes and the other plays the investigator who knows the file. It keeps the evening balanced without anyone falling behind.