$0
Gone by Morning · 75 min
- A full case, not a demo: packet, archive, records, one interview, a verdict.
- Every mechanic, including the one that makes the paper talk.
- No card. One tap to start.
Mangrove County Cold Case Initiative · Civilian Review
Somebody closed this file in six days.
You get the paper. The county is still online. The people who were there will sit down with you — and they will lie. Find the two documents that cannot both be true.
Open the free case75 minutes · no card · one tap to start
The world is investigable
A searchable thirty-year newspaper archive, county records, a community directory from 2009. You research and cross-reference. Nobody hands you a clue.
Suspects talk back
Live interviews with six people who hold their story until you put the right paper in front of them. Bluff badly and they harden.
Built for a table
One purchase seats six. Shared corkboard, red string, evidence dealt out so nobody holds the whole picture, and a vote that names the dissenters.
How a case goes
Six steps, in order. The sheet on your desk tells you which one you are on.
- 01 · paper
Print the file
A real evidence folder: reports on the Sheriff’s form stock, a ledger on green-bar paper, a water-stained planner. Letter or A4. Or read it on screen — it zooms to 4×.
- 02 · the scan
Find the first thread
One document in the packet was never meant to be read by you. Push the scan harder than a photocopier could and it gives something up.
- 03 · archive
Read the town
The Halcyon Gazette, digitised back to 1995. Search a name, then read around the story. Two of the keys to this case are in the small print nobody reads.
- 04 · records
Cross the county
Boats, companies and people all leave paperwork. The records portal is slow and ugly and complete, and it clears suspects as often as it condemns them.
- 05 · interviews
Sit down with them
Six people from 1997 agreed to talk. They deflect, they lie, they harden when you bluff — and they crack when you put the right paper in front of them.
- 06 · verdict
File the verdict
Who, why, and three things you can cite. Okafor reads what you cite, not what you believe. Five endings; four of them are wrong in a way you will remember.
Three ways in
Start free. Pay when you want the next file.
$14.99
Still Water · 2h 40m · yours forever
- The printable file, Letter or A4, sixteen documents on their own paper.
- Full archive, records and people pages. Six interviews, as many turns as you like.
- One Squad Room, six seats, forever.
- Five endings. Two failed verdicts earn an hour of thinking.
$12.99 / month
A new case every month
- One case credit a month; credits keep for three months.
- $12.99 on anything in the back catalogue.
- Day-one access to each release.
- Live Case mode: evidence arrives over five mornings, with the post.
- Cancel any time. Everything you opened stays yours.
Rated 16+ · aftermath of violence, non-graphic · alcohol. Every case is a work of fiction. Refunds within seven days if you have opened less than a quarter of the file.
Bought the boxed edition? The sealed card inside is your account — enter the code and the case opens. Refunds within seven days if you have opened less than a quarter of the file, no questions.
Questions
Do I need to sign up to look?+
No. This page is the whole pitch. Sign-in is one tap with Google or a six-digit code emailed to you — no password, ever — and only happens when you open a case.
How long is a case?+
The free case is about an hour and a quarter. A full case is two and a half to three hours: an evening, not a project. The archive holds far more than you need, and reading all of it is where the best players spend their time.
Can I play with friends?+
One purchase opens a Squad Room seating six, around one table or remote. A shared corkboard with red string, evidence dealt out so nobody holds the whole file, and a vote on the verdict that names the dissenters. Friends need only a free account.
What if I get stuck?+
Call Sunny — a retired crime reporter who knows where everything is buried and will not hand you the shovel. She nudges, then points, then says it plainly, with an eight-minute coffee break between each.
I bought the boxed edition. Where do I go?+
There is a sealed card inside the folder with a code on it. Enter it and the case opens — the card is your account.
Is any of this real?+
None of it. Mangrove County, its towns, its newspaper and everyone in it are invented. Cases are built from patterns of crime, never from a real case or a real family.
What is the content rating?+
16+. Cases deal with the aftermath of violence through documents, never graphically, and with alcohol. Never sexual violence, never harm to children.