Detective Case File Game for 1 to 4 Players | Black Sand
Cold Ink Casefiles · No. 001

Black Sand

A luxury golf entrepreneur, dead in his Costa Rica pool the night before the deal of his life. The police ruled it an accident. An anonymous tip reopened the file. You get what they had.

from $19 CAD · instant download, or printed & shipped in Canada
Black Sand case file cover
Watch the trailer

Everyone says it was an accident.

40+
Pieces of evidence
10
Photo-lab prints
3
Sealed packets
1–4
Players · age 16+
The facts

What you get when the file arrives.

Evidence · 40+

Original documents

Coroner's preliminary, toxicology, witness statements, security logs, recovered evidence. Bilingual official forms with real signatures, seals, and reference numbers.

Photographs · 10

Real 4×6 prints

Matte photo-lab prints. Crime scene, exhibits, suspect ID cards. The same photographs the investigators were working from.

Packets · 3

Sealed, opened in order

Kraft packets you break one at a time. Each one ends with the next objective and the next stack of evidence. A sealed Final Report waits at the end.

The case

Ruled an accident in nine days.

July 18, 2024. 06:42. Estate manager Daniela Mora found Ethan Vale face-down in the infinity pool at Villa Mirador. The body was cold. The local police came, looked, and called it an accidental drowning. The case closed in nine days.

Two months later, an anonymous tip reached the Office of the Prosecutor in Santa Cruz: the coroner's preliminary report had been quietly amended, and the original draft contradicted the official cause of death. The Organismo de Investigación Judicial reopened the file. They re-interviewed the housekeeper. They subpoenaed the hotel logs. They recovered a letter torn up and discarded in the study. They never closed it again.

You get the file.

Playa Negra, Costa Rica · 2024

Five suspects. One person who had already decided how that night would end.

A modern case file: official forms, forensic structures, photographs developed at the lab, signatures, seals. Forty-two pages of evidence, ten photographs, and the sealed Final Report.

How it plays

Three sealed packets. Three objectives. One truth.

Packet 1

Was it murder?

Read the coroner. Read the gate log. Read the witness statements. Name the two suspects with airtight alibis. When you have it, scan the QR or open the sealed Help envelope.

Packet 2

How is that possible?

The security gate logs no entry after 22:14. Someone got in anyway. Find out how, and name the loudest liar in the file. Loud lying and the murder are not always the same person.

Packet 3

Name the killer.

The expanded post-mortem. The recovered texts. An amended witness statement. The truth was in the file from the start. Three answers: name, how, motive.

Choose your edition

Print it tonight, or open the file ready-made.

Digital download

Print at home tonight

$19CAD · instant · anywhere in the world

The complete case as 6 numbered print-ready files: every document in packet order, the help cards, the photo pack, the last-resort Final Report, and a one-page Read This First. Plain paper and black and white are all it needs. The answer check and the recovered media are online, so no spoilers live in your printer tray.

Buy now · instant download
Printed & assembled

Arrives ready to open

$29.99CAD + shipping · ships within Canada only

We print the whole file on mixed real-world paper stocks, seal the three packets into kraft envelopes, and ship it assembled. Open the file, deal Packet 1, and the table goes quiet. International and US shipping are not available yet.

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Secure checkout · instant delivery on the digital file · or try a mini-case free first