Elmhurst — A Mystery in Ten Rooms

A drawing-room mystery

The house knows.
Do you?

One suspect. One instrument. One room. Three cards sealed away from the world. Gather your evidence before anyone dares to open the envelope.

Ground plan · Ten rooms

PLATE 01

Select a room on the plan or from the list to set your suggestion. The passages run corner to corner.

A room A secret passage The sealed Discovery Group

The envelope

SEALED

No case dealt yet. Seal one suspect, one instrument and one room inside the Discovery Group.

The on-device envelope is a game aid, not a cryptographic secret. Players with access to this browser can inspect its contents.

At the table

THE PARTY

Players (including you) Computer detectives

Deal a case to begin your investigation.

Deal to start. Computer seats take their own turns from their private hands; dice, movement, and room entry stay physical.

Test a theory

SUGGESTION

Who? With what? Where? Choose the room you're in Investigator making the suggestion

A suggestion can be disproved by the first other player, moving clockwise, who holds one of its cards.

The computer’s card is not written to the shared notepad automatically. The named investigator should keep private clues to themselves.

State your case

ACCUSATION

The suspect The instrument The room Investigator making the accusation

A wrong accusation cannot be taken back. Be certain before speaking.

Cards in circulation

PRIVATE HANDS

The remaining cards are dealt around the table. Human hands stay concealed until privately opened; computer detectives keep their hands hidden and reason from them. Mark cards in your hand on the notepad.

Deal a case to distribute the remaining cards among the players.

The suspects

08 PERSONS OF INTEREST

Eight people. Eight excellent reasons to keep one's counsel. Edit their names to fit your Elmhurst; they'll follow the evidence wherever it leads.

Edit the cast

The instruments

06 OBJECTS

Nothing here draws blood. That is rather the point.

The rooms

10 LOCATIONS

Two histories, one house. Rename any room; each set keeps its own edits.

Edit room names

Detective’s notepad

WORKING COPY

Tap a square once to rule something out; twice to mark it confirmed. Everything here is saved on this device.

Not in hand Confirmed Unmarked

How to play

READ BEFORE PROCEEDING

Remove one suspect card, one instrument card and one room card without looking. Seal them in the Discovery Group at the centre. That is the answer, and nobody is permitted to see it.
Deal the rest out evenly. Cards in your hand are things that did not happen. Mark them off at once.
Start on your coloured square. Roll, move through the corridors, and enter a room through a doorway.
In a room, make a suggestion naming a suspect, an instrument and the room you are standing in. The named suspect is moved there, consent not required.
Going clockwise, the first player holding any of the three cards shows you one, privately. If nobody can disprove you, that silence is worth more than any card.
Two secret passages run corner to corner, marked on the board by a small arrow in the corner of each room they serve. Nobody has ever explained why they exist.
When you are certain, accuse and open the envelope. Right, you win. Wrong, you stay on the board and are never allowed to speak again.
Optional computer detectives use only their own cards and private reveals to make suggestions, follow the same clockwise disproof order, and accuse only when no other hand can disprove their theory. Pass the device privately before opening a single-card response. Computer detectives do not roll or move.

Your active case, names, room set, player count and notepad are saved only on this device.

The house knows.Do you?