The first case, Last Call at the Bluebird, is completely free to play online, with no account. Every other case comes with Premium: $19.99 a week, $39.99 a month or $69.99 a year, for online play with up to 8 friends. PDFs are not included: each case PDF is sold separately for $14.99. See pricing.
No. Premium (weekly, monthly or yearly) is online play only: every case, alone or with up to 8 friends, with text and voice chat. PDFs are sold separately: buy a case PDF for $14.99 on the printable page; it does not include online play.
No. Everything runs in the browser on iPhone, Android, tablet or desktop. Nothing to install. If you prefer paper, every case, including the free one, also comes as a printable PDF.
No. That is the point. Boxed games ship a hint envelope; we do not. Every answer is supported by at least two documents, so if you are stuck, you have skipped something.
The case closes anyway. You see who the killer was, and the solution file explains which documents proved it. There is one accusation per case, so read everything before you make it.
Yes. Open a room with Play with friends inside any case: everyone joins from their own phone with a code, sees what the others have read, writes in the room chat, votes in secret, and the host reveals. Rooms whose host has Premium also have voice chat. Or use one screen and a notepad.
Yes, in any room whose host has Premium (weekly, monthly or yearly). Anyone in the room can tap Join voice and talk while reading, with nothing to install and no extra cost. Without Premium, the free case has text chat only, for up to 4 players. Voice is never recorded, and the microphone stays off until you join.
Yes. That is what rooms are for. One person opens a room inside a case and shares the code or link, and everyone joins from their own phone or laptop, wherever they are. You all read the same file, see who has read which document, talk in the group chat (and in voice chat when the host has Premium), vote in secret and see the solution at the same moment. No Zoom, Discord or app needed.
Up to 8 players in a room whose host has Premium, with text and voice chat. Up to 4 players in a room for the free case, with text chat. Friends who join a Premium host’s room do not need their own Premium. You can also play alone, or gather any number of people around one screen.
Each case is a real investigation, not a script: 27 to 30 documents, six suspects and one accusation. Players split the folders, argue over the timeline in the chat and reveal the killer together. The first case is free with no sign-up, so a group can try it tonight.
Two to three hours for a careful solo reader; a bit longer for a group. There is no timer and your progress is saved in the browser.
No. Every case is fiction. Names, places, businesses and events are invented. Document formats are modeled on real police, medical and commercial paperwork of the period for realism.
Same idea — a stack of realistic documents you cross-reference to find the killer — but it plays in the browser with nothing to ship, every player can read on their own phone, and it is stricter: no hint envelopes, no guided objectives, no companion app. There is a longer comparison on the blog: boxed case files vs. playing a case file online.
Recommended 14+. Cases involve violent death, alcohol, debt and adult relationships, described in police-report language rather than graphic detail.
Yes, on the device you are using, in the browser. Clearing site data resets it. Cases are best played once — you cannot un-know the answer.
You can re-read it, but a solved case stays solved on that device. The pleasure is in the first read.
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