GAMES FOR GOOD COMPANY · Original print & play
R✦RRound & Revel

CASE FILE 01 · AN ORIGINAL PRINT-AND-PLAY MYSTERY

The Moonglass
Affair.

At Morrow House, the candles are low, the guests are gathered, and the collection’s most curious object has quietly disappeared.

A nonviolent mystery for a shared table. Follow four linked puzzles to discover who moved the Moonglass, when, and where it was hidden.

Open the play kit ↓
The Moonglass, by candlelightOriginal illustrated still life of a brass optical lens on a plum velvet plinth, with a candle, a sealed note and a tiny moth.
THE TABLE4–6 adults
THE FORMATCooperative
THE FEELCurious, not frightening
THE TIMING45–60 min estimate*

YOUR INVITATION

The last dinner
at Morrow House.

Tomorrow, the collection will be sold. Tonight, one small piece of it has vanished.

The Moonglass is a palm-sized optical lens that turns lamplight into tiny crescents. It has spent decades on a velvet stand in the display room. At the evening toast, the stand is empty.

The steward has collected the kitchen’s service notes, a door ledger, a folded message, and a conservatory plan. Your table becomes the inquiry team. Reconstruct the evening and follow the paper trail before the guests depart.

No one at your table is secretly the culprit.
You’re all on the same side.

The setting, guests, and mystery are fictional. There is no violence, horror, betrayal between players, or need to act out a role. It’s a short chain of deduction, letter decoding, and map reading.

THE SHAPE OF THE EVENING

Four envelopes.
One connected story.

  1. 01

    Reconstruct the dinner

    Put the courses in order. Their labels recover a time from the display-room clock.

  2. 02

    Find the right guest

    Use that time to select an entry in the door ledger. Connect its badge to a name.

  3. 03

    Read the folded note

    The badge supplies the key to a simple alphabet cipher. No cipher experience needed.

  4. 04

    Follow the final route

    Use the decoded starting point and paper map to identify one numbered transit case.

Complete the envelopes in order, A through D. Everything you need is printed in the kit. When you agree, make a final report with the time, guest’s full name, and case number. Then open the separate solution.

*The 45–60 minute play time is a planning estimate, not a measured playtest result. This prototype has had its puzzle logic checked, but has not yet been tested with a live group. Leave extra room in the evening.

BEFORE FRIENDS ARRIVE

A little preparation.
Nothing theatrical.

  • Print one player kit, single-sided, at 100% scale. The evidence is black-and-white friendly.
  • Cut the eight evidence cards on their outer borders. Pair A1 with A2, B1 with B2, C1 with C2, and D1 with D2.
  • Place each pair in a labeled envelope, or simply make four face-down piles. Do not seal anything that needs a real key.
  • Keep the host solution closed and separate. It includes graded hints and the ending. The player kit contains no answer key.
  • Put out pencils and scrap paper. Clear enough space for the map; drinks belong off to the side.

Give everyone a useful job

With four players, appoint a timeline reader, badge investigator, cipher reader, and map reader. These are starting responsibilities, not private clues: all evidence is shared and everyone can contribute throughout. With five, add a recorder; with six, add a checker who asks how each conclusion follows from the evidence. Rotate the lead reader between envelopes if that suits your table.

One player can also manage the envelopes without knowing the answers. For hints, open only the relevant hint in the digital host guide. Stop before the full solution if you want to keep playing.

READY WHEN YOU ARE

Your evening,
ready to print.

A–D

Player kit

Briefing, eight evidence cards, team roles, and final-report sheet. No solutions.

Print player kit / save as PDFRead / print the web version
KEY

Host guide SPOILERS

Setup checklist, gentle and stronger hints, full reasoning, and the story’s ending.

Open host-only page →

Open the player kit and host guide as web pages, then print them or choose Save as PDF in your browser’s print dialog. Keep the spoiler-filled host guide separate from the player materials. No signup or payment is needed to read these pages.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

A few good questions.

Can the host play too?

Yes. The host can prepare the player kit and play without reading the solution. Use the digital host page’s individual hints only when needed. The ending is in a separate, clearly labeled section.

Do we need costumes, acting, or hidden clues around the house?

No. Everyone is an investigator. The conservatory is a printed map, not a room you need to recreate. All evidence is on the cards; decorative props are optional and never part of the solution.

How accessible is the game?

Clues never rely on color, audio, speed, or small visual differences. Every badge is named in text and the map has coordinates. Read the cards aloud if helpful. The web version supports browser zoom and the map also has a text coordinate listing. There’s no penalty for hints or taking breaks.

Is this a competitive murder mystery?

No. It’s a cooperative, nonviolent stolen-object mystery, with four fictional suspects who are not played by your guests. If you want costumes, bluffing, or a full evening of character acting, this is a different format.

Can we play it again?

The clues and answer stay the same, so the deduction works best on a first play. Someone who knows the answer can host another group without spoiling it.

Has the game been playtested?

The underlying order puzzle, badge assignments, cipher, and route have been independently checked for a consistent, unique answer. A live table playtest is still needed to validate pacing and how the instructions land with first-time players.