Murder sudoku—also called murdoku or detective sudoku—is a placement puzzle. Instead of filling a classic grid with numbers, you place suspects into rooms and use clues to determine exactly where everyone was.
The final arrangement reveals the crime: when the board is correct, the suspect connected to the victim's remaining position is the culprit.
Understand the grid rule
Each suspect can appear only once, and no two placed suspects may share the same row or column. That is the Sudoku-like constraint powering the puzzle.
Treat every row and column as a limited resource. Once a suspect occupies one, every other cell in that row and column becomes impossible for the remaining suspects.
Translate clues into placements
A clue may identify a room, row, column, object, or relative position. Start with the most specific evidence: exact locations and highly restricted areas create immediate confirmed and impossible cells.
Do not read clues as decorative story text. In a fair murder sudoku case, every statement is true and can be combined with the grid rule.
Use elimination repeatedly
After every confirmed placement, scan its row and column. Then revisit the other clues to see which possibilities have disappeared.
Progress often arrives as a chain: one suspect can occupy only one cell, which blocks a row, which forces another suspect into a different room.
Close the case in Mystery Grid
Mystery Grid provides possible, confirmed, and impossible markings so you can record your reasoning directly on the scene. Use hints when you want direction without abandoning the case.
When all placements match the evidence, the game resolves the final relationship and reveals the culprit. The satisfaction comes from knowing every step was earned by logic.
Put the guide into practice
Try it in Mystery Grid
Mystery Grid turns murder mysteries into fair, bite-sized logic puzzles. Read the clues, place each suspect, and reveal the culprit—no guessing, no gore, just deduction.
Common questions
FAQ
Do I need to know classic Sudoku?+
No. You only need the simple idea that a placed suspect cannot share a row or column with another placed suspect.
Is guessing ever required?+
No. Mystery Grid cases are designed with a single solution reachable through deduction.