Hidden Games Crime Scene: Green Poison
Hidden Games Crime Scene: Green Poison Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Instructions
The aim of the game is to prove successful police work together as a team. You have to go through documents, draw clever conclusions and think outside the box.
The Following Missions Are Waiting For You
Solve the case of Walter Kramer's death in Westchester.
- Who caused the car accident?
- What's the secret behind HighFlower Inc.?
- Why did Eddy Barker get sick?
- Who is responsible for Walter Kramer's death, and how did it happen?
Before You Start
- Carefully study all documents!
- Hang up the poster.
- Take notes!
- Make sure that everyone has read every document!
- When you are finished, enter your solution here and listen to the finale.
If you are not in the United States and don't want to spend money on phone calls, you can call the phone numbers in the game for free online, using the game's free call service.
Hints
In certain parts of the game, you can ask for a hint if you get stuck. The designers decided against giving tips throughout the game, as this would have made it too easy.
If you're stuck, you should have a look at some of the materials whose significance you have so far not quite understood, and select the search term for that piece of evidence from the case website's hint index. Each piece of evidence has its own hint entry, and some entries offer a first hint, further hints, and a final hint, escalating in how much they give away.
Watch out — spoiler alarm: only look up a hint if you really can't continue the game without one — solving it yourself is only half as much fun with tips.
Starting the Game
Dear Private Detectives,
Start
To start the game, divide all of the documents among the players. Everyone should read through their documents silently, then share all of the information with the other players (or read it aloud, for instance).
Police Report
You should all look through the police report together, since it will give you some basic information on the case.
The Detective Poster
Hang up the poster and take notes on the different individuals.
What Now?
While you are gathering information from all of the players, several of the town's residents are going to start looking very suspicious. Write down any motives these people might have. Do they have alibis? Can you rule out any suspects? The more information you collect, the more people you will be able to rule out — until you finally piece together the whole story and can unmask the killer.
Tip
During the course of the game, it will really help you out to share documents among yourselves and read as many notes as you can. You should also put documents together if you think they belong together.
Case File Contents
The Green Poison envelope contains a large set of physical and digital evidence for your team to work through. Investigate each piece and cross-reference it against the others and against the detective poster:
- Letter from Betty Barker (with instructions on how to contact her during the investigation)
- Map of Westchester (marked with places Betty can visit for you)
- Police Report
- Detective Poster (for pinning up photos and writing notes on suspects)
- Newspaper (containing several articles, a horoscope, and classified ads)
- Medical report and blood test note
- Offer letter for $420,000 (a land-purchase offer)
- Calendar
- Interview with Walter Kramer
- Reviews (several customer reviews)
- Fax of a newspaper article
- Printout of a WhatsApp chat
- Jones & Donnell business card (a law firm, with a password-protected client-area website)
- Fraternity photo
- Photo of a kitchen
- Postcard
- Diamonds Resort website printout
- Sand sample and test strips (or, if these physical components are missing from your copy, a "Confirmation of test results" document with the same information, and a downloadable soil-analysis document)
- Printout of Walter Kramer's social media profile
- Login access to Walter Kramer's email account (online)
- Login access to Walter Kramer's cloud storage (online)
- Walter Kramer's voicemail box (accessible by phone or as an online recording)
- Screenshot of AgriTec SE's inbox
- Transaction receipt
- Hotel card
Some of these documents point you toward real websites, online accounts, and phone numbers that your team will need to visit or call as part of the investigation; others are meant to be read, compared, and pieced together entirely on paper. Betty Barker can also be sent, via the contact method described in her letter, to investigate specific locations — a field, a barn, and a bridge — and will report back what she finds.
Solving the Case
Once your team believes it has answered one, or all, of the four mission questions, go to the "Solutions" section of the case website (or the corresponding place indicated in your printed materials) to check your answer.
Each question is presented as a multiple-choice list of possible answers. Selecting the correct answer confirms that you got it right and explains the reasoning that ties the evidence together; selecting an incorrect answer tells you that you're on the wrong track and prompts your team to take another look at the evidence and discuss it further before trying again.
The case tracks your overall performance with a star rating as you work through the questions.
Once you have correctly identified the culprit and answered all of the mission questions, you can listen to the finale, in which the case is summarized and the full solution is explained.
Because the case can only be solved once, the game is intended to be played through a single time per envelope of materials.