The first case file, Static on Channel Nine, is completely free with no sign-up: 24 documents, six suspects, solo or in a room. Further cases are $9.99 each, or everything for $6.99 a week, $29.99 a year or $69.99 once for life. There is no free trial that turns into a charge.
No. Everything runs in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer. There are no downloads, no printing and no PDFs. The file opens like a real case folder and you read it on the screen.
No. There are no hints, no detective notes, no highlighted passages and no "look at document 12" prompts. Nothing in the file points at anything else. You get what the original investigators had and you find the contradictions yourself. That is the entire game.
Press Accuse and name the killer. You get one attempt. Whether you are right or wrong the case closes and the full solution file is added to the folder: killer, weapon, motive and the sequence of events, with every document that proves it.
Yes. Choose Create a room, share the six-letter code, and up to seven friends join from their own phones, so eight people in a room. Everyone reads the same file, sees which documents the others have opened, and votes in secret. The host reveals the votes and the case closes for the whole room at once.
No. If the host owns a case, everyone who joins the host's room plays that case free.
Two to three hours for one careful reader. Groups usually take about the same, because they argue. You can stop and come back; your place is saved.
No. Every case, person, town and document is fictional. The format, police reports, autopsy findings, phone records, is modelled on real case files so the paperwork reads the way it should, but nobody in these files ever existed.
Those are boxed games you wait for in the mail and open on a table. Cold Case Online is the same kind of document-based investigation, delivered instantly in your browser, at a fraction of the price, with a room mode so a group does not have to share one folder. We also do not include hint envelopes or guided steps; see the full comparison.
No. Case files and subscriptions are digital products with immediate access, so sales are final once the purchase completes. You can cancel a weekly or yearly subscription at any time from your account page and keep access until the end of the period you paid for. If something is broken and we cannot fix it, write to us.
Sign in, open your account and press Cancel subscription. The subscription stops renewing immediately; you keep access until the end of the current week or year. You can also manage cards and invoices from the same page.
Yes, on the device you are using, automatically and without an account. Sign in with an emailed link if you want progress and purchases to follow you across devices.
The files describe homicides in the language of police paperwork. There is no gore and no graphic imagery, but the subject matter is adult. We suggest 14 and up, and a parent reading along for younger teenagers.
Once you have accused, the solution is in the folder and the case is closed for that device. You can reopen the folder and reread everything, and you can host it as a room for friends who have not played.