Questions
FAQ
Short answers about the online murder mystery game: playing with friends, the puzzles, credits in CAD, refunds and privacy. If yours is not here, email us — one address, read by a person.
Playing together
Do we all see the same screen?
Everyone sees the same case, but each detective drives their own car: a chapter hands out one lead per detective and you see only your own, so at any moment you may be at a different place from your teammates. The map, the locker, the Case File, the notebook, the chat and the clock are shared.
How do we share what we find?
You do not have to: every paper anyone finds goes straight into that stop's folder and onto the board, and everyone is told when a lead is found or a door opens. A chapter's last lead needs what every detective brought back, so talk in the team chat about what your paper says.
Can I go to my teammate's location?
Yes, for free. Nobody's screen moves when a teammate drives; when you are ready, ride along to their stop.
What is the board?
A cork board the whole team shares. Every paper, face and lead has a pushpin; push it in and it lands on the board, where anyone can move it, write sticky notes beside it and run string between cards. Only whoever pinned a card can take it down. Leads and papers land there by themselves.
What does a team of three or four get that a pair does not?
More story. Every chapter hands out one lead per detective, and a team of three or four is asked a question only its size sees.
What if a teammate has to leave?
Anyone on the team can drive their lead. Nobody is locked out of a scene the team has reached.
Does a bigger team get an easier game?
No. Every case is built for all four team sizes; a bigger team has more to find in every chapter. Each team size has its own leaderboard, so you are only ranked against teams your size.
I have never played. Where do I start?
With the free training case: about fifteen minutes, and your first case opens with a short guided run inside the game.
Can more than four people play?
Yes. A Match runs extra teams of up to four side by side on the same case, at the case price per team, outside the buyer's three attempts. For a company or a group of 30 or more, see the teambuilding offer.
The puzzles
What kinds of puzzles are there?
Ciphers, riddles, maps, documents to cross-check, photographs, patterns and more, mixed differently in every case. Harder cases spread one puzzle's pieces across several scenes.
Do I need to know ciphers?
No. Every cipher in the game comes with its key somewhere in the evidence, and the method hint can add a link to a code-breaker site.
Can I use a decoder website?
Yes. Ask for the method hint on a cipher lead (one ride, once per lead) and it can include a link to one. The lead itself never says which method to use — working that out is the puzzle.
What is a detour?
A place the story sends you that turns out to be the wrong thread. Going back is free, but the ride there counted.
Does a wrong code cost anything?
One ride, the same as a wrong turn. Codes are checked on our servers, so there is nothing to find in the page.
Do we get hints?
Two kinds, both paid in rides, never credits: a method hint (how a lead is cracked; one ride, once per lead) and a nudge (which thread matters; three rides, three per attempt). Nothing is revealed on its own.
Accounts
How do I sign in?
Three ways: continue with Google, sign in with your email and password, or ask for a six-digit code by email. All three open the same account. You need to be 13 or older to hold an account.
What is a guest?
Someone who joins a team from an invite link without an account. Guests play the whole case with their team. A guest cannot buy credits, start a team or submit; the leader does that. Up to three guests can join one team.
Can a guest keep their results?
Yes. On the results page a guest can claim the account: add an email and it becomes a full account with that attempt attached, plus a one-time bonus of 5 credits. Unclaimed guest accounts expire.
How do I delete my account?
Account → Settings → Delete account. There is a 7-day cooling period: sign in again within seven days to cancel it. You can download a copy of your data as JSON from the same page before you go. After the seven days everything personal is removed; credits are not refunded.
Credits and packs
What is a credit worth?
1 credit is about $1 CAD — that is the rate of the smallest pack. Bigger packs give you more credits per dollar. Every price on the site shows the credits and the Canadian-dollar equivalent side by side.
Which currency am I charged in?
Canadian dollars, always. Outside Canada your card issuer converts the amount and may add a fee of its own. Tax is added at checkout where it applies.
Do credits expire?
No. Credits never expire. They also never turn into cash — they are spent on cases, on building a case, or on extra Match teams, and nowhere else.
What does a case cost?
An Official CaseClosed Game costs 30 credits (≈ $30 CAD); a Creator CaseClosed Game costs 5–20 credits (≈ $5–20 CAD), set by its creator. One purchase covers three attempts and a team of up to four. See Pricing.
How hard is a case?
The people who played it tell you. Every case door shows a difficulty out of 5 once five players have rated it on their results page; until then it reads Unrated. The training case is not rated.
Is anything free?
The training case: a short Official CaseClosed Game is free once for a new, non-guest account with no purchase yet. Writing a case brief and getting its synopsis are free too.
Subscriptions
What does a subscription include?
Both new Official CaseClosed Games every month, the whole Official back catalogue while you are subscribed, and bonus credits on top. The monthly plan is $30 CAD / month with 10 bonus credits a month; the annual plan is $200 CAD / year with 15 bonus credits a month. Creator CaseClosed Games are never included.
How are the annual plan's credits paid out?
15 credits a month, on the same day each month, for the year — not 180 at once.
What happens when I cancel?
Cancel any time from Account → Billing. You keep every case that was granted while you were subscribed, with whatever attempts remain. The back catalogue closes at the end of the period you paid for.
My renewal payment failed. What now?
You get 7 days of grace: access stays open while Stripe retries the card and you can update it from Billing. If the payment is still failing after seven days the subscription ends. Cases already granted stay yours.
Refunds
What is the refund policy?
No refunds, except where a documented bug or glitch prevented delivery or play — credits or a case that was not delivered, a case that could not be played, or a build that failed. Report it by email to info@playcaseclosed.ca and we review it case by case. Credits never expire, so an unspent balance is never lost. Your statutory consumer rights are unaffected. The full text is in the Refund Policy.
I bought the wrong case.
A purchased case is delivered the moment it is bought, so it is not refundable. Check the door — the players' difficulty, team sizes, the time limit — before you spend the credits.
Attempts
How many times can I play a case?
Three attempts per case. An attempt is a team the leader has started; a team that is still forming is not an attempt yet. Only your first attempt counts on the leaderboard.
Do Match teams use my attempts?
No. Extra Match teams are bought at full case price each and sit outside the buyer's three attempts.
What if the deadline passes?
Each attempt must finish within 30 days of starting (shown in your local time) and within the case's active time limit. When either runs out, the attempt closes and is graded with the answers in the Case File.
Creators
Can I make my own case?
Yes. Write a brief (up to three at a time, free), get a free synopsis, then pay once to build it — 60 credits (≈ $60 CAD). Publish it privately, by link, or in the Creator CaseClosed Games library at 5–20 credits. You must be 16 or older to publish.
What do I earn?
15 % of every copy sold, in credits. Credits are the whole reward: they are spendable in-game and never turn into cash. The monthly Community pick earns its creator 25 credits and the front door for a month. Everything else is on the Creators page.
The forum
How do I get into the forum?
Solve the Riddle of the Month. A right answer opens the forum for 60 days; a new riddle arrives every month. You get five tries a day.
Who can post?
Members 16 and older with forum access. Each case has its own spoiler space, open to anyone who has submitted that case. The Community Guidelines apply.
Privacy
What do you store about me?
Your account (email, alias, display name, avatar if you add one), your purchases and credit ledger, your teams, attempts, answers and scores, your team chat lines while the team exists, and forum posts if you write any. Nothing is sold. The Privacy Policy has the full list and your rights under PIPEDA.
Who processes my data?
Supabase (database and sign-in, hosted in the US East region, us-east-2), Stripe (payments — we never see your card number), Vercel (the website), Resend (email), Anthropic (the AI that writes cases and grades answers — it sees your answers, never your identity) and Hugging Face (case artwork). All are named in the Privacy Policy.
Contact
How do I reach a person?
Email info@playcaseclosed.ca. Bugs, refunds, account questions, corporate quotes, press — one address, read by a person. Include your alias and, for a case problem, the case name and the team.