mystery-o-matic is a website that offers free murder mysteries for daily solving. It was created by two passionate individuals who share a deep love for mystery and a strong dedication to offering a unique experience to fellow detectives.

Unlike typical games, the daily mysteries on this website require deductive thinking, but they are designed to mirror the unpredictability of real-life scenarios, making them more challenging and varied in difficulty. Instead of following a predefined deduction path, each daily mystery is synthesized through random exploration, offering a refreshing twist compared to traditional deductive logic games.

The creators drew inspiration from popular games like Cluedo (naturally), Squidi's "Infinite Detective" and Murdle to shape the captivating world of mystery-o-matic. The code that automatically produces the daily puzzles, as well as the rest of the website is open-source! Images from suspects are from Freepik: [1], [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

The website is still in beta, therefore, rules, interface and design are subject to change! Please feel free to provide feedback here or in our subreddit.

If you enjoy the website and wish to support our work, you can donate cryptocurrency to: 0xd0FD96CD73762Fd081cf2269D79F359e4314629b

🌡️ Sleuth-o-meter

This section shows the different scoring levels that you can get after solving a daily mystery. To return to the game, simply click the 🧩 icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

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mystery-o-matic brings back the venerable sleuth-o-meter™ from Laura Bow's mysteries to keep track of your score:

Each clue revealed will decrease your score. Keep in mind that the website is still in beta, so this scoring system, the interface or design is subject to change. Please feel free to provide feedback here or in our subreddit.

This section provides helpful tips and tricks to solve the daily mystery. To return to the game, simply click the 🧩 icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

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The gang gathers around a dusty tome adorned with whimsical golden letters on the cover that read "mystery-o-matic".
"Why do they want us to read this?" Alice asks, blowing the dust off the cover.
Eddie starts coughing and pulls out his inhaler.
"Could you be more careful and considerate? Also, give me that!" he says, snatching the book from her.

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🕵️ Welcome Detective!

Our mission is to solve a daily murder mystery by uncovering who the killer is, which weapon was used, and when the crime occurred. It's up to you to piece together the puzzle by examining the following key elements:

• The suspects: A subset of Alice, Bob, Carol, Dave, or Frida could be involved in each mystery. Among them, one has become the unfortunate victim, while the others remain suspects.
• The location: each location can be connected with the others, allowing characters to move freely. For this tutorial, we’ll explore a chilling mystery set in an eerie Victorian mansion, where people has been mysteriously disappearing. The locations layout is variable, so it will change from case to case. For instance:
  
• The weapons: A variety of weapons, each hidden in different rooms around the location, could have been used in the crime. For instance:
• The hammer (🔨) in the bedroom (🛏️)
• The pistol (🔫) in the kitchen (🍲)
• The scissors (✂️) in the dining room (🪑)
• The timeline: The murder occurred within a specific time window (e.g., between 7:00 and 8:30). You’ll need to reconstruct the movements of the suspects and identify when the fatal blow was struck.
• The statements: Suspects declared what they remember and some evidence was found. You will need to carefully deduce and combine facts in order to uncover the truth.

🎓 Understanding clues and making basic deductions

In our murder mystery, characters move between rooms every 15 minutes, allowing us to track their locations over time through their statements.
For example, let's say we have the following clue:

From this clue, we can deduce:

• 🔎 Alice was in the kitchen at 10:15
• 🔎 Bob was in the kitchen at 10:15
• 🔎 Bob was alive at 10:15 (if he were the victim)
• 🔎 Alice was NOT in the kitchen at 10:00

Click on each deduction to strikethrough the text, which will help you focus on other clues. (Try it with the clues shown above next to the magnifying glass!).

Using the past four deductions, we can complete the clue table by adding either ✓ or ✗:

Once we finish with these, other deductions are popping up! These two new ones are based on the fact that characters cannot be in two places at the same time:

• 🔎 Alice was NOT in the bathroom at 10:15
• 🔎 Bob was NOT in the bathroom at 10:15

Let's add the missing ones:

An important question still remains: where was Alice at 10:00? The location graph also provides some clues:

When a suspect announces leaving or arriving at a room, they can only move to a directly connected room. Since the kitchen is linked to both the dining room and the bedroom, we can't determine Alice's exact location before 10:00.

However, we can draw the following deduction:

🔎 Alice was NOT in the bathroom at 10:00

Using this information, we can complete the clue table:

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"Hmm, aha, aha..." Eddie nods as he skims through the pages.

"So? What is it?" Carol asks, unimpressed.
"No idea, but look! Our names are in here. All of our names."
“Pff, way to make yourself feel important, Eddie!” snaps Carol, looking over his shoulder. “Your name isn’t there. Not even mine! Only Alice and Bob are used as examples to understand this stupid game.”

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Other types of clues do not indicate clearly where each character is, but they can still be useful. For instance:

With this clue, we can draw the following deductions:

🔎 Alice was NOT in the kitchen at 9:00

🔎 Someone, except Alice, was in the kitchen at 9:00

It can be tempting to try to guess Alice location, but it unclear from this kind of clues, as we cannot deduce how near or far she was from the location graph.

🤥 True lies

Daily mysteries can be played in two modes depending if the killer can lie or not. In both of them the solution will be the same, but some of the clues will change.

Lying during a crime investigation is a serious business! The killer must be very careful since the rest of suspects will always tell the truth. During each daily mystery, the killer will only lie if it helps to cover their tracks during the time and place of the murder.

While identifying the killer using unreliable information is usually harder since we don't know if the statements are true or not. However the rest of the suspect will always tell the truth, making easier to spot any contradiction. Detecting a lie is easy: we need to look for a contradition in two statements. Let's see an example:

Once we spot a contradition, we know that exactly one of the following statements must be true:

🔎 Alice is the killer

🔎 Bob is the killer

Using deductions like these you are closer to catch the killer!

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“Why did they leave me out of the tutorial?” groaned Dave, crossing his arms in disgust. “I’m a much more interesting character than Bob, anyway!”
“And I can't wait to 'murder' you in the game” mutters Frida, unfazed.
“Guys, there's even a list of weapons in here!” whimpers Bob, who ended up with the book.
“Awesome,” says Frida coolly. “Can I take a look-see?”

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🔪 Finding the smoking gun

Following characters around is not enough. We need to figure out the murder weapon! Identifying the murder weapon is often one of the most challenging task in daily mysteries. Most of the players struggle to do it.

Basic technique: discarding by weapon types

Behold!, here's the list of weapons found in our daily mystery puzzle, classified by the type of wound they cause. Keep in mind you won't see all of them being used at once.

• Firearm/Projectile: Weapons that discharge bullets or launch projectiles: 🔫 gun
• Sharp Force: Weapons that cause injuries by cutting, stabbing or piercing: 🔪 knife, 🗡️ dagger, ✂️ scissors, 🪓 axe, 🪛 screwdriver
• Blunt Force: Weapons that cause injuries through impact: 🔨 hammer, 🔧 wrench, 🕯️ candelabrum

Among the initial clues, you'll find the name of the victim, the suspects' locations when you arrived, and where each weapon was found:

• The hammer (🔨) from the bedroom
• The rope (🪢) from the kitchen
• The scissors (✂️) from the dining room
• The pistol (🔫) from the bathroom

Keep in mind that weapons' location is randomized by the loop to confuse you and it holds no logical explanation.

How can this information be used to solve the murder mystery? Well, on occasion, you will come across a clue related to the wounds inflicted on the victim that will help you discard a certain kind of weapon. For example:

From this clue, we can deduce:

🔎 The killer didn't use any of the weapons from the “Sharp Force” group.

Armed with this deduction, we can discard a weapon in the following table. Just click on the weapon icon to cross it out:

Advanced technique: follow the killer

There is a more advanced technique to identify the weapon, or at least discard some of them faster. It works using the follow initial clue:

This statement, combined by suspecting who the killer and when it happened helps a lot to identify or discard weapons. Let's see an example:

In this case, if Alice is not the killer and the crime happened between 8:00 and 10:00, we can arrive the following deduction:

🔎 The killer didn't take the weapon from the kitchen.

Armed with this new deduction, we can discard another weapon in the following table. Just click on the weapon icon to cross it out:

By mastering these techniques and honing your deductive reasoning, you'll become a top detective. Happy sleuthing!

A group of friends stumbles upon an eerie abandoned mansion. Now confined within its sinister grasp, they find themselves thrust into a chilling series of murders. Each day brings a fresh enigma, with one of them as the unfortunate victim and the rest as suspects.

🤖 beep boop, a new mystery is up

Get ready to solve a fresh murder mystery! Your goal is to figure out who did it, when it happened, and what weapon was used.
Eddie, Alice and Carol are transported back in time to a castle in the Middle Ages! Help them solve this mystery checking out these initial clues:

🥾 Let the game begin!

Get ready to solve this puzzle! You'll get clues that slowly uncover the truth behind the murder. The daily puzzle can be solved in two modes. In the easy mode, everyone will be telling the truth. Optionally, the killer can sometimes lie if you want a harder challenge.

Each clue you read will affect your score. Think carefully as you search for evidence and question the suspects to solve the mystery. When you crack it, you'll get a rank from the wonderful sleuth-o-meter™.

Are you up for the challenge? Let's start investigating!

📔 Detective’s Journal & Clues

Use this table to keep track of your facts, clues and deductions. You can check the how to play section if you need it.

🤖 Answer is.. beep boop, correct!

The weight of evidence against the accused was immense, leaving no room for doubt. The loop is pleased.

Congratulations on cracking the case!, you solved today's mystery with sleuth-o-meter™ rank of

Optionally, you can use this local notebook to track down the story progression:

Come back tomorrow for another challenge.

🤖 Answer is.. beep boop, wrong!

You're confronted with a baffling puzzle filled with contradictory evidence. It's clear that either the suspect's identity, the timing of the crime, or even the weapon involved might be wrong, casting doubt on the investigation.

The loop is displeased and resets abruptly, leaving you without any clues for the day. You can return tomorrow for another challenge.