How to make an investigation game

Suspects, testimonies, red herrings — and the reveal at the end. Here is how to build one, step by step.

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An investigation differs from a treasure hunt in what it leads to: not an object, but an answer — who did it, with what, and why. The player collects evidence station by station, and your job is to make every clue both understandable and misleading. A good investigation reads as obvious in hindsight and opaque in advance.

Five steps to build one

  1. 1

    Start at the end

    Decide who did it, why, and how, before writing a single clue. Working the other way around always shows: the evidence fails to point anywhere in particular.

  2. 2

    Give the player three suspects

    Two is a coin toss, five is unreadable. Each needs a motive and an opportunity, and at least one piece of evidence against them — otherwise the answer is obvious after the first station.

  3. 3

    Hand out exactly one decisive clue

    Put the one piece that fits only the culprit on the second-to-last station. Everything before that stays ambiguous: muddy shoes convict nobody, muddy shoes plus a running garden hose do.

  4. 4

    Explain your red herrings

    If someone turns out to have lied, give them their own reason — a secret gift, a borrowed car. An unexplained red herring feels like cheating; an explained one adds depth.

  5. 5

    Make the reveal a decision

    On the last station the player names the culprit through a multiple-choice or code-lock element. The full story unlocks only after the right answer.

A complete example: "Poison in the glass"

Five stations for a dinner or a party (adults)

Ádám collapses after the toast at his birthday dinner. Three suspects: Dóra, his wife, Gábor, his business partner, and Réka, his sister. Every station has a false lead pointing at someone else, and the decisive detail is already on the first screen. This case is also available as a ready-made template in the editor.

  1. 1.Dining table – info: the dinner, the three guests, and in passing: Dóra sat through the evening without make-up because of a migraine. Then a question: everyone drank from the same bottle, so where was the poison? Trap: the wine. Answer: the glass.
  2. 2.Glass cabinet – Ádám's glass had an "Á." label, and there is a "G." label in the bin, as if they had been swapped. Who was the poison meant for? Trap: Gábor. Decisive detail: the back of the "G." label has no glue, it was never stuck to a glass.
  3. 3.Hallway – three alibis, to the minute. Who lied? Réka says she was in the toilet, but the bathroom lock broke that afternoon.
  4. 4.Desk – a lawyer's letter about selling the family house, and Dóra's old love letters to Gábor. What is Réka's motive? Trap: jealousy. Answer: the house.
  5. 5.Kitchen – the reveal: a vial and a rubber glove with Dóra's lipstick in the bin. Trap: Dóra. Anyone who remembers she wore no make-up that night knows it was Réka.

For kids: who took the cake? (ages 8–12)

The birthday cake is gone. Three suspects: the older sibling, the neighbour and the dog. The culprit is the sibling, who carried it to grandma's to add candles as a surprise.

  1. 1.Kitchen – an empty tray, and a note on the fridge: "Don't open, surprise!"
  2. 2.Garden – paw prints to the gate. Trap: the dog, except it has been on a lead since morning.
  3. 3.Hallway – a bus ticket in a coat pocket: the neighbour was in town all afternoon, and she walked the dog.
  4. 4.The sibling's room – a pack of candles and a drawing for grandma.
  5. 5.Grandma's house – the reveal: name the culprit, and the cake appears with its candles lit.

What to watch for

  • Put a trap in every question: an answer that seems obvious but is wrong because of one detail. In the Question element you can add it as a nearly-right answer with its own hint ("Almost. Look at the back of the label."), while any other wrong answer gets a different hint.
  • Write the solution down for yourself before building the first station, and fit the clues to it.
  • Every clue should be interesting on its own — a dull station stays dull however important it is to the logic.
  • Avoid puzzles that need outside knowledge; an investigation should be solvable where it is played.
  • Test it with someone who does not know the story. Solved after two stations means too easy; unsolved at the end means too hard.
  • Always attach a hint to a code lock, referring to something one station earlier, so a stuck player is not a stopped game.
  • Turn on the ordered play: an investigation only works if the evidence arrives in the order you wrote it.

Build your own investigation

The first mystery is free with up to five stations — exactly what a complete investigation needs.

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