Super Detective

How to play

The rules, how to read the clues and a case solved step by step, from the first clue to the killer.

The goal

Every Super Detective case is a murder in a closed place: a mountain lodge, a night train, a museum… You get the floor plan, with its rooms and furniture, the people who were there (the victim included) and a clue or two about each of them. Your job is to put everyone in their square and, at the end, point at the killer.

There is no guessing: with the clues and the three rules below, each person has exactly one possible place. Five new cases come out every Monday, from level 1, on a 4×4 plan, to level 5, on an 8×8 one.

The rules

One person per row and per column. A 5×5 plan holds five people, and every row and every column has exactly one. When you place someone, the rest of their row and column is ruled out, and the game crosses it out for you.

Mind the furniture. People stand on open floor or on a rug, or sit on a seat. Nobody can be on a table, a fireplace, a piano, a bed or any other piece of furniture.

The killer was alone with the victim. They were the only other person in the same room as the victim. Once everyone is in place, the game asks you to point them out.

How to read the clues

Every clue is true, and every clue is about where someone was:

“Was in the Bar”: in any square of that room. If it says they were not there, in any other.
“Was sitting on a chair”, “was standing on a rug”: in a square with that piece of furniture.
“Was next to the fireplace”: in a square that touches that piece of furniture along a side (diagonals do not count), inside the same room.
“Was somewhere above Chip”: in any row above Chip's, not necessarily the one right above. The same goes for below, left of and right of.
“Was in the row directly above Chip”: in the row right above. The same goes for columns.
“Was diagonally next to Chip”: in one of the squares that touch Chip's at a corner.
“Was alone in a room”, “Only one person was in the Library”, “Nobody was in the Kitchen”: they count the people in a room.
“Was in the top row”, “in the leftmost column”: on the edge of the plan.

A case solved: “The Last Lift”

This is the level 2 case of week 39 of 2026. Chip Worthington III, heir to the Worthington fortune, was found dead at Mount Grimsby Lodge at six in the morning, before the first lift, still wearing one ski boot. The pass is closed and the phones are dead: the killer is one of the four guests snowed in with him.

The plan of the case: five by five squares and four rooms. Top left, the Great Room, with a fur rug, a fireplace, two chairs and a piano. Top right, the Guest Suite, with another fur rug and a bed. Bottom left, the Bar, with two chairs and the bar counter. Bottom right, the Dining Room, with a table and two chairs. — The plan: 5×5 squares and four rooms. Squares with a dashed outline are open floor. People can be on the rugs and the chairs, but not on the fireplace, the piano, the bed, the table or the bar counter.

These are the five people, and what is known about each of them:

Chip Worthington III · the victim, heirWas in the Bar.
Maggie O'Rourke · chefWas somewhere below Chip.
Sven Lindqvist · Olympic hopefulWas in the Great Room.Was somewhere right of Chip.
Lady Winifred Pembroke · socialiteWas sitting on a chair.
Helga Brandt · ski instructorWas standing on a fur rug.

1. Helga, in the top row

Helga was standing on a fur rug. There are only two on the plan, and both are in the top row: one in the Great Room and one in the Guest Suite. We don't know yet which one is hers, but we do know something very useful: the top row is Helga's, so nobody else can be in it.

The plan with the top row highlighted and the two fur rugs marked with Helga's initial. — Helga's two possible places, noted with the game's notes (the pencil). Both are in the same row.

2. Sven, in the second row

Sven was in the Great Room. There are only four places to be in it: the open floor and the rug in the top row, and the two chairs in the second row. The top row is Helga's already, so Sven was sitting on one of the two chairs, and the second row is his.

The plan with the second row highlighted and the two chairs of the Great Room marked with Sven's initial. — Sven can only be on one of the two chairs of the Great Room.

3. Chip, in the third row

Chip, the victim, was in the Bar. The bottom row of the Bar is the bar counter, so Chip is in the third or the fourth row. Maggie was somewhere below Chip, so she cannot be in the third row: she has to be in the fourth or the fifth.

Then who takes the third row? Helga and Sven have theirs already, Maggie cannot, and Lady Winifred was sitting down, but there is not a single chair in the third row. Only Chip is left: he is in the third row, on one of the three squares of the Bar.

The plan with the third row highlighted and the three squares of the Bar in that row marked with Chip's initial. — Nobody else can be in the third row: it is Chip's.

4. Sven and Chip, in place

Sven was somewhere right of Chip. Sven is in the first or the second column, and if he were in the first, Chip could not be further left. So Sven is on the chair in the second column, and Chip, to his left, in the first one: the corner of the Bar. Once they are placed, the game crosses out the rest of their rows and columns.

Sven sitting on the right-hand chair of the Great Room and Chip in the corner of the Bar. The squares of their rows and columns are crossed out. — Two placed. The crosses mark where nobody can be any more.

5. Helga and Lady Winifred

The rug in the Great Room is in Sven's column, so Helga was on the one in the Guest Suite. Lady Winifred was sitting down. The chairs of the Great Room and the Bar are in Chip's column or in Sven's, and of the two chairs in the Dining Room, the left one is in Helga's column. Lady Winifred sat on the other.

Helga on the rug of the Guest Suite and Lady Winifred on the right-hand chair of the Dining Room. — Only one person to go.

6. Maggie, and the killer

Maggie has just one free square left that is not in anybody's row or column: the third one of the fourth row, in the Bar. With everyone in place, it is time to accuse. The killer was the only other person in the same room as the victim: Chip was in the Bar, and the only person there with him was Maggie O'Rourke, the chef. Case closed.

The solved plan, with the Bar lit and the rest in shadow: only Chip and Maggie are in the Bar. — Chip and Maggie, alone in the Bar. Maggie is the killer.

Tips for when you get stuck

Start with the tightest clues. The ones that leave few possible places, like a piece of furniture that appears only once or twice, or a small room, are usually the first step.
Look for rows and columns with a single candidate. If all of someone's possible places are in the same row, that row is theirs even before you know the square. And the other way round: if only one person can be in a row, that is where they are.
Read clues backwards. “Maggie was somewhere below Chip” also means that Chip was not in the very bottom row and Maggie was not in the top one.
The victim counts too. They take up their row and their column like anybody else.
Note and cross out. With the notes (the pencil) you mark each person's possible places, and a tap on an empty square crosses it out. When someone has a single place left, put them there.
Ask for a hint. If you are still stuck, a hint points you to the next deduction, at the cost of some time on your clock.

Who makes Super Detective

Super Detective is a personal project by Pablo (pabloku.dev). Five new cases come out every Monday, free and with no sign-up, and before they are published each one is checked to have a single solution that you can reach with logic alone. For anything at all, write to hello@pabloku.dev.

Play this week's cases