The rules
How to play
Everything the game enforces, in plain words. The game reminds you as you go.
Case Closed in sixty seconds
Case Closed is an online murder mystery game you play in a browser. A team of one to four detectives reads a briefing, follows leads across the fictional city of Port Merrow, reads the evidence and names the killer. A case is chapters: each hands out one lead per detective, and its last lead needs what everyone brought back, so you have to talk. Fewer wrong turns and better answers mean a higher place on the leaderboard. The first case is free.
Teams
One to four people. The leader buys the case, creates the team and shares a join code or link. Teammates need no account: up to three guests can sit at the table. Team size locks when the clock starts.
A bigger team gets more of the story: every chapter hands out one lead per detective. Each team size has its own leaderboard, so a team of four is only ranked against teams of four.
Chapters and cars
- Each chapter starts at one place the whole team goes to. That scene says what the team is trying to find out and hands out one lead per detective.
- Every detective sees their own lead only, and drives it in their own car. What 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.
- When you reach your stop, the chapter's last lead appears: it needs what everyone brought back. Nobody can run ahead: the next chapter opens only when the team gets there.
Nobody is dragged along when a teammate drives. When you are ready, ride along to their stop for free.
Your first case
Your first case opens with a short guided run: a few things you do in the game itself. It cannot be skipped the first time and can be replayed from Help.
The free training case is built for it — about fifteen minutes, one drive, one door, one confrontation.
The desk
On the left, a framed map with your ride strung stop to stop across it; tap it for the live map. On the right, a folder for every place you have been, with the scene, the people, the papers and the leads found there.
- Every lead and every paper lands on the team's board by itself; every face has a pushpin too. Pull a pin out to take a card off, push it back in to return it.
- The board is shared. Anyone can move a card; only whoever pinned it can take it down. Write sticky notes, run string between two cards, tidy by place.
Leads and drives
Every scene ends with leads, highlighted in the story. A lead is a small puzzle that points somewhere: a place in Port Merrow, or a code.
- A place lead is solved by driving there. Find the place on the map or in the Address Book and drive.
- A code lead is typed at the door it opens. There is no answer box on the lead itself.
Ciphers, riddles, maps, documents to cross-check, photographs, patterns and more. A lead shows you what you have and where it came from, never the method. Some leads are detours that send you the wrong way; the way back is free.
Doors
A locked door, a phone, a safe: it opens when you type the right code. Codes are checked on our servers. A wrong code costs one ride. A door one detective opens is open for the whole team.
Hints
- A method hint says how a lead is meant to be cracked, not the answer. One ride, once per lead. For a cipher it may include a link to a code-breaker.
- A nudge points at the thread that matters. Three rides each, three per attempt.
Nothing is revealed on its own. Hints cost rides, never credits.
Rides
A ride is a drive to a place you have not visited on this attempt. Every case has a par. Going back to a place you know is free; a detour and a wrong code count. Fewer wrong turns, higher score.
On a team, each car counts its own rides and the team's total is the sum. Riding along to a teammate's stop is free. A hint on a lead costs one ride.
The clock
Each case has a time limit of active play; the clock runs only while the team is in the case. The leader can pause, and paused time does not count. Only the leader pauses, resumes and submits.
An attempt also closes 30 days after it starts, shown in your local time. When either runs out, it is graded with the answers in the Case File.
Attempts
One purchase, three attempts. A started team is an attempt; a team still forming is not, and cancelling it costs nothing. Only attempt 1 goes on the leaderboard. Your account page lists every attempt and its results.
Scoring
Two parts: how close the answers in your Case File are, and how many rides you took against par. The board on every case door is per team size, first attempts only. The site-wide boards add monthly, all-time and "solved in full" rankings. Official and Creator cases have separate boards. Staff never appear.
Five or more
A team holds four. For a bigger group, start a Match: extra teams of up to four at the case price per team, racing side by side, outside your three attempts. For companies and groups of 30 or more, see the corporate offer.
Devices
Laptop-first: the map, the folders and the board side by side. Phones and tablets join from the same link with a layout that fits. No app to install.
Time zones
A team can be anywhere. Every clock in the game shows in each player's own local time, and the team's active time is the same for everyone.