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Tonight's case

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Tonight's case

The questioning room

Tonight's case plays here with JavaScript on. Every case file also reads without it on its own page, listed in the season calendar below.

Mystery

The Night Desk

Rain on the window, a lamp on the desk and a new case file every night. Question the suspects, work the board, and name who did it, how and where.

The Night Desk is a daily detective game set in Port Merrow, a rain-soaked harbor town in the 1920s. Every night at midnight a new case lands on your desk: a ferry office robbed of its takings, a reel of film stolen from the projection box, a letter forged on the newspaper's own typewriter. The case file sets out what happened and who was there. You question the suspects across the desk by tapping a topic or typing your own question, and every telling answer adds a clue card to your notebook. On the deduction board you rule out who could not have been where, and who could not have held what, until only one story is left. Then you file your accusation: who did it, how and where. Chief Inspector Grane gives you three tries, and from the second he tells you which part of your story does not hold. Every case is checked by a solver to have exactly one answer that the questions can prove. Season 1, The Wet Season, runs thirty nights, with a rival reporter from the third case on, a thread that ties the season together, and a Sunday cold case each week with five witnesses.

The case file

Case 1: The Ferry Office Takings

It plays in the room above. Its own page has the case file to read in full and, from the next night, the solution.

Open the case page

A new case opens every night at midnight, your time.

Solve cases to rise from Constable to Chief Inspector. Your rank is kept on this device.

Season 1: The Wet Season

Thirty nights, one case each, from October 26. Miss a night and the case waits for you: there is no streak to lose. Past cases stay open to play.

  1. Case 1 · Mon October 26 The Ferry Office Takings Case file
  2. Case 2 · Tue October 27 The Picture House Reel Case file
  3. Case 3 · Wed October 28 The Gazette Proofs Case file
  4. Case 4 · Thu October 29 The Last Ferry to Saltholm Case file
  5. Case 5 · Fri October 30 The Pawnbroker's Pearls Case file
  6. Case 6 · Sat October 31 The Kittiwake Tea Caddy Case file
  7. Case 7 · Sun November 1 The Keeper's Logbook Sunday cold case
  8. Case 8 · Mon November 2 The Chandlery Cashbox Case file
  9. Case 9 · Tue November 3 The Customs House Seal Case file
  10. Case 10 · Wed November 4 The Harbor Board Minutes Case file
  11. Case 11 · Thu November 5 The Night Tram Case file
  12. Case 12 · Fri November 6 The Regatta Cup Case file
  13. Case 13 · Sat November 7 The Lantern Society Raffle Case file
  14. Case 14 · Sun November 8 The Salt Ledger Sunday cold case
  15. Case 15 · Mon November 9 The Organ Loft Case file
  16. Case 16 · Tue November 10 The Ferry Ticket Case file
  17. Case 17 · Wed November 11 The Fog Signal Rounds Case file
  18. Case 18 · Thu November 12 The Fishmarket Scales Case file
  19. Case 19 · Fri November 13 The Gazette Darkroom Case file
  20. Case 20 · Sat November 14 The Hotel Safe Case file
  21. Case 21 · Sun November 15 The Drowned Bell Sunday cold case
  22. Case 22 · Mon November 16 The Telegram from Saltholm Case file
  23. Case 23 · Tue November 17 The Coal Barge Schedule Case file
  24. Case 24 · Wed November 18 The Pier Pavilion Takings Case file
  25. Case 25 · Thu November 19 The Mayor's Portrait Case file
  26. Case 26 · Fri November 20 The Harbormaster's Strongroom Case file
  27. Case 27 · Sat November 21 The Lease of Fogbell Point Case file
  28. Case 28 · Sun November 22 The Heron's First Nest Sunday cold case
  29. Case 29 · Mon November 23 The Last Tide Tables Case file
  30. Case 30 · Tue November 24 The Heron Unmasked Case file

How to play

  1. Open tonight's case and read the case file: what happened, who was there, the places and the means.
  2. Press Start questioning, tap a suspect, then tap a topic to ask them about it. Every new question counts; asking again is free.
  3. An answer that tells you something adds a clue card to the notebook, with the key words highlighted.
  4. Open the Board. Tap a square once to rule it out and twice to confirm it, and tap a clue card to light the squares it is about.
  5. When only one story fits, open Accuse, pick who, how and where, and file it. You have three tries, and from the second Grane names the parts that are wrong.
  6. A sharp solve is right on the first try within the case's par of questions. Solves and sharp solves raise your rank.

New to deduction boards? Read how to solve a Night Desk case, with a small case worked through square by square. Every case so far is listed in the Season 1 archive.

What's in Season 1

  • 30 hand-written cases in Season 1, one each night at midnight your time, with a write-up of the logic once you solve or the next day.
  • Every case is checked by a solver: exactly one answer fits, and the case file alone never gives it away.
  • Ask with topic buttons or type your own question; nothing on the board fills itself in, so the deduction is yours.
  • Six kinds of case: alibi webs, locked rooms, forged documents to examine, timelines, two-suspect misdirection and Sunday cold cases.
  • Ranks from Constable to Chief Inspector, a calendar of the season with no streak to lose, and a spoiler-free share card.

Season 2

The Wet Season ends on its thirtieth night with a three-part finale. Season 2 of The Night Desk opens on December 7, with new cases and a new thread through Port Merrow. Your rank carries over.

Also in Port Merrow

Down on the waterfront, the late kitchen stays open after the desk lamp goes off. Night Kitchen is a cooking card game set in the same harbor town: draft ingredients and techniques to cook a five-course service for the regulars, with a new menu every night at midnight.

Questions

When does a new case open?

At midnight on your own device's clock, every night of the season. Each case page also says the night it opens, and past cases stay open to play.

What does The Night Desk save?

On this device only: the questions you asked in each case (as topics, never your typed words), your board marks, your accusations and your results. If saved data cannot be read, it is kept aside and a fresh save starts.

What happens to a question I type?

The game first matches your words to a topic on your own device. Only a question it cannot place is sent to CozyWorld's server, which removes email addresses, phone numbers and links, then an AI model from Anthropic picks one of the topics or none. Every answer is written by hand, so the AI never writes what a suspect says, and CozyWorld does not save what you type.

Related games

Genre
Mystery
Session
10-15 minutes a case
Devices
Desktop, Tablet, Mobile
Made by
CozyWorld
Updated
2026-10-31