How to Host a Detective Date Night at Home: A Cold Case for Two

A detective date night is the quiet kind of murder mystery night: no guest list, no costumes, just one case file, two people and about 90 minutes. You read the documents together, argue about what they say, write your answers down, and only then find out who was right.

Accident, Drink Involved, the new Cold Ledger Games case file for one or two players, is out today, Friday, October 16, and this guide is built around an evening with it: when to start, how to share the reading, when to open a hint, and how to finish. What is in the file, in both editions, is covered in What Is in the New Cold Case File. Nothing here goes past the setup, so there are no spoilers.

Pick the Case

Start with Accident, Drink Involved. It is a true-crime podcast's research file on a death ruled an accident ten winters ago: seventeen documents and four answers to commit to, for ages 16 and up. Its content note: a death by drowning, and heavy drinking; no gore, no sexual assault.

It comes in two editions. The printable is four PDFs to print at home or read on screen; if you read on screen, keep the timeline worksheet on paper anyway, as the file suggests. The digital edition plays in the browser, and it suits a couch: send your link to the other player, and you both work the same copy, each from your own phone. The worksheet saves as you type, the hints open one tier at a time, and the sealed solution opens once your four answers are locked in.

Accident, Drink Involved is regularly $6.99 for either edition, and $5.59 in the Halloween sale from today, its launch day, through October 31.

For a second evening, The Orpheum File is the other Cold Ledger case for one or two: the same shape, a different case, printable or digital. Everything below works for either.

When to Start

Give it 90 clear minutes. The file's own estimate is 60 to 90, some players finish sooner, and there is no timer, but the end is the part not to rush: agreeing on four answers, then reading the solution together. Start once the table is cleared and every phone is face down, except the ones you're playing on.

If the evening is shorter, split it. START HERE calls two sittings a fine pace, and the digital edition keeps your place: stop any time and pick up where you left off.

Warm Up With the Free 90-Second Case

For a ten-minute warm-up, open the 90-Second Case, free in your browser. Each case is one screen: four exhibits, three statements, and one of them is lying, with ninety seconds on the clock from the moment the file opens. Play a case or two together, arguing out loud while the clock runs.

Share the First Read, Then Compare Notes

Share the reading aloud and argue: that is START HERE's advice for two. Divide the first read where START HERE splits two sittings: Exhibits A to H, then I to Q in Accident, Drink Involved. One of you reads the first half aloud, the other the second, and whoever is listening fills in the timeline worksheet with every time either of you meets.

Then compare notes. Go back through the file together, one document at a time with the worksheet open, and say out loud where two of them don't agree. Keep every document open to both of you all evening: printed, the pages sit between you; in the digital edition, each phone has the whole file. Neither of you owns a half.

When to Open a Hint

Each of the four objectives has three tiers of hints, one hint to a page in the printable, so you never see more than you ask for. In START HERE's words, "Tier 1 nudges, Tier 3 nearly answers."

Open one when you have both stalled on the same objective, or when you have argued the same point twice and neither of you can point to a document that settles it. Take the next tier for that objective only, read it together, and stop there.

A hint is still playing. The file says so plainly: using hints is playing correctly. Even the third tier only nearly answers, so the answer you write down is still yours. In the digital edition, agree before either of you taps: a hint opened on one phone shows up on the other, and each tier opens only after the one before it.

Commit Your Answers in Writing

Before anyone opens the sealed solution, write down all four answers. The printable's solution begins with a warning page for exactly this reason. It also keeps the evening honest: nobody gets to say they suspected it all along unless it is on paper.

If the two of you disagree, write down both sets and let the reveal settle it. The digital edition takes one set of four answers per copy, and whoever locks them in locks them for both phones, so agree first, or keep the second set on paper.

Score the Solve

The sealed solution ends with a scoring ladder. Read the solution aloud together, then place your written answers on the ladder before anyone starts explaining what they meant. Its ranks run from Juror up to Detective, with Archivist as a bonus, the same ranks The Orpheum File uses. In the digital edition, the rank you choose is saved for everyone on the link.

Playing It Solo

Accident, Drink Involved is for one or two, and alone the evening runs the same way with one change: nobody reads the other half to you. Read the whole file front to back with the worksheet beside you, and be your own second reader: before you open a hint, go back over the worksheet once. Commit your four answers in writing, then open the seal.

Where the Story Goes Next

Accident, Drink Involved can be played on its own. Its story continues on Monday, October 19, in The Tenth Winter, a murder mystery party game for 8 to 20 players, set at the same lake house ten winters later. The Tenth Winter can be played without the file, but if you mean to play both, play the file first: the party talks about that night. Our guide to both new games says what The Tenth Winter is and who it suits.

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