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.
mystery-o-matic features a new mystery each day, set in a specific location, where each suspect acts independently.
The clues provided require both spatial and temporal deductions to solve the case.
🎓 Understanding clues and making 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:
Tutorial Clue #1
Alice said: 'I saw Bob when I arrived in the kitchen at 10:15'
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
✗:
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:
"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.”
Other types of clues do not indicate clearly where each character is, but they can still be useful.
For instance:
Tutorial Clue #2
Alice said: "I heard someone cooking at 9:00"
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.
“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?”
🔪 Finding the smoking gun
Following characters around is not enough. We need to figure out the murder weapon!
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:
Tutorial Clue #3
Inspecting the body reveals no signs of stabbing
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:
By mastering these techniques and honing your deductive reasoning, you'll become a top detective. Happy sleuthing!
