Fair Puzzles
The game's icon: a small floor plan with one round token in a room. Coming soon

Fair Puzzles: Mysteries

Read the clues. Place every person. Find who was alone with the victim.

A floor plan from the game: five rooms in soft colours with dark red walls, furniture icons in some squares, and five round tokens with people's initials, one in each row.
A finished board from the game. Each person has a row and a column to themselves, and only one of them shares a room with the victim.

A logic puzzle game by Sam Ashford. Each case is a small mystery on a floor plan, and every case has exactly one solution.

Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play

For iPhone and Android phones. Ten cases are free.

Get it on the App Store Get it on Google Play

How a case works

Each case is a floor plan divided into rooms and filled with furniture. A few people were there, and one of them is the victim. The clues tell you where they stood. Your job is to work out exactly where everyone was.

  1. One person in every row.

    Each row of the floor plan held exactly one person.

  2. Never two in a column.

    No column held more than one person. Some columns may be empty.

  3. Mind the furniture.

    People can stand or sit on seats, shown in green circles, but never on solid objects, shown in red octagons.

  4. The culprit was alone with the victim.

    The victim's room held exactly two people: the victim and the culprit.

  5. Use the clues.

    Every case has exactly one solution. You never need to guess.

A case in the game, The Stolen Snuffbox. At the top, the people to place. Below, a floor plan with rooms named Chapel, Library, Morning Room and Gallery. Then the labels Medium, The Split-Level, Theft and LIAR, and a numbered list of clues.
A liar case in play: the floor plan above, the clues below.
The How to Play screen. Rule 1, One person in every row, and rule 2, Never two in a column, each with a small diagram, then the start of rule 3, Mind the furniture.
How to Play explains the rules with small diagrams.

Select a picture to open it at full size.

Cases run from easy to expert, and the expert cases have up to seven suspects. In a liar case some clues are statements made by the suspects: everyone tells the truth except the culprit, whose statement is false.

You can mark the squares you have ruled out, undo and redo, and cross a clue off once you have used it. If you are stuck, a hint puts one person in the right place. There are three hints per case, and solving a case without them earns a star.

Six packs of 100 cases

Each pack has its own setting and its own crimes. The crimes are story only: the rules are the same in every case.

The game's home screen: a list of the six packs, each with its picture, its title, the number of cases solved and a progress bar.
The home screen: six packs, and your progress in each.
  • A dark country house with lit windows under a full moon.

    Manor Murders

    A country house in the 1920s.

    Murder, poisoning, theft, blackmail

  • A decorated Christmas tree in the snow, with presents beneath it.

    The Christmas Thief

    A snowy lodge at Christmas. Nobody is hurt.

    Theft, sabotage, pranks, missing items

  • A grand hotel on the seafront at dusk, under a crescent moon.

    The Belvedere Hotel

    A grand seafront hotel in the 1920s.

    Theft, murder, poisoning, blackmail

  • A steam train at night, trailing white steam.

    The Northern Star

    A 1930s sleeper express, played on plans of its carriages.

    Murder, theft, poisoning, blackmail

  • A museum with a columned front at night.

    The Hallam Museum

    A Victorian museum after closing time.

    Theft, forgery, sabotage, blackmail

  • A farm on a hill at dusk, with carved pumpkins in front.

    Pumpkin Hill

    A village Halloween fair on a hilltop farm. Nobody is hurt.

    Pranks, sabotage, missing items, theft

Every pack has 25 easy, 35 medium, 25 hard and 15 expert cases.

Ten cases of Manor Murders are free: its first six easy cases and its first four medium ones. After that you unlock a pack, or every pack at once, with a one-time purchase. There is no subscription.

Calm, and fair

Made for unhurried play, like a good puzzle book.

One solution, no guessing

Every case is generated and checked by code before it reaches you, and has exactly one solution. You never need to guess.

No ads, no accounts, no tracking

The game shows no ads, asks for no sign-in and collects no data. Your progress stays on your phone.

Works offline

Every case comes inside the app, so you can play without a connection. Only buying or restoring a pack needs one.

Pay once

Packs are one-time purchases, and “Unlock all packs” includes packs added in later updates. There is no subscription, and hints are not for sale.

In five languages

The whole game, stories and clues included, is in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and German. It follows your phone's language, and you can choose another in Settings.

  • English
  • Português
  • Español
  • Français
  • Deutsch
The game's Case solved! card. It reads: Ada Finch was the murderer, alone with Sir Rupert Vale in the Ballroom. Time: 00:01. Solved without hints. Below is a Done button.
The end of a case.

The books

Sam Ashford's puzzle books are large-format paperbacks, sold on Amazon.

Large print word search

Three seasonal books of 100 puzzles each. One puzzle to a page, a big 15 x 15 grid, clear letters, and every answer at the back.

  • Cover of Falling Leaves, Hidden Words: pumpkins on autumn hills under falling leaves, with a Large Print badge.

    Falling Leaves, Hidden Words

    Autumn: orchards, harvest markets and crackling fires.

    On Amazon now See it on Amazon
  • Cover of Falling Snow, Hidden Words: a cabin and pine trees in the snow, with a Large Print badge.

    Falling Snow, Hidden Words

    Winter: sledding hills, frozen ponds and the northern lights.

    Coming soon See it on Amazon
  • Cover of Christmas Lights, Hidden Words: a decorated Christmas tree in the snow, with a Large Print badge.

    Christmas Lights, Hidden Words

    Christmas: trimming the tree, baking and old carols.

    Coming soon See it on Amazon

Logic mysteries

The game on paper. Each book is one pack: 100 cases from easy to expert, one to a page (the largest take two), with the answers at the back. All five are on the way.

  • Manor Murders

    A country house, cut off by a storm.

    Coming soon See it on Amazon
  • Cover of Mysteries at the Belvedere: a grand hotel on the seafront at dusk, with a 100 Cases badge.

    Mysteries at the Belvedere

    A grand hotel on the seafront in the 1920s.

    Coming soon See it on Amazon
  • Cover of Mysteries on the Northern Star: a steam train crossing a viaduct under a bright star, with a 100 Cases badge.

    Mysteries on the Northern Star

    A 1930s sleeper express from London to the Scottish Highlands.

    Coming soon See it on Amazon
  • Cover of Mysteries at the Hallam Museum: a museum with a columned front under a full moon, with a 100 Cases badge.

    Mysteries at the Hallam Museum

    A Victorian museum after closing time.

    Coming soon See it on Amazon
  • Cover of Mischief at Pumpkin Hill: a farm on a hill at dusk with carved pumpkins, with a 100 Cases badge.

    Mischief at Pumpkin Hill

    A village Halloween fair where no one is ever hurt.

    Coming soon See it on Amazon

How it is made

Some of this work is done by code, some by AI and some by hand. Here is which.

PartMade byIn more words
The puzzles Code Every case is generated and checked by code, and every case has exactly one solution.
The story text AI, reviewed The story text of the game and of the mystery books is AI-generated and reviewed by the author.
The object icons AI, reviewed The small pictures of furniture and other objects on the floor plans are AI-generated and reviewed by the author.
Covers and pack pictures The author's code The book covers and the pack pictures are drawn by the author's own code. They are not AI-generated.
Word-search lists The author The word lists in the word-search books are written by the author. Code lays out the grids and checks them.