Cold Ledger Games

What's changed

Every Cold Ledger game is kept in editions, and every edition is written up here: the day it came out and what a host or a player will find different, newest first. No spoilers: nothing here says which clue changed, who did it, or why a document matters.

The Orpheum File

Season 1 · a cold case for one or two detectives

Third edition Current edition

A second playtester thanked, and later the case on your phone

  • The case itself is the same as the second edition. The credits now thank both of the people who playtested it.
  • From October 5, 2026, this edition also plays in the browser. The digital edition is the same case on a phone or a laptop, with nothing to print: the hints open one step at a time, and the sealed solution opens once you've committed your four answers.
Second edition

One of the four questions, asked more plainly

  • One question is reworded. Both of the first playtesters read it as asking something it didn't, so it now asks exactly what the case answers.
  • The credits thank a playtester.
First edition Launch

The Orpheum File opens

  • The first Cold Ledger case. A death at a small-town theater fifteen years ago, seventeen documents, four questions to answer, hints in steps and a sealed solution, for one evening at the kitchen table. Printable, on Etsy.

The Hundredth Episode

Season 1 · a murder mystery party for 8 to 20, where the host plays too

Second digital edition Current edition

Built for a big table: 16 to 20 at one game

  • From 13 players, the table works in groups. Everyone still plays their own character and casts their own vote. The room deals investigation groups of four or five from the headcount when the game starts (the host can keep one table instead), and the groups compare what they've found before the accusations. Each group can give itself a name.
  • 90 minutes at a big table. The reading before the night is shared out among the groups, so nobody has the whole case file to get through alone, and each group gives one report where every player used to make a claim.
  • Every statement stays on the record. After the on-the-record round every phone keeps every player's statement in writing, and the whole table shares one worksheet that every phone sees as it fills in.
  • Hints and a recap for the host. Seven hints, one step at a time, and a one-minute recap for a room that has lost the thread; none of them names anyone.
  • An easier start for characters 9 to 20. Their guides open with just what that player needs to play, and the rest of their character follows, to read whenever they like.
  • Nobody sits out by mistake. Before the game starts, the room tells the host who still has no character. With more than twenty, the host chooses: two complete games side by side, or guests 21 and up share a character, each with their own vote.
  • Players can move between rooms. A host running two games can move a guest from one room to the other before either starts, and the guest's phone follows.
  • The printable gets the groups, the hints and recap and the new character openings too, and its START HERE names this edition.
  • The case is the same: same clues, same killers.
First digital edition

The party on everyone's phones

  • The game runs from the host's phone. You start a room and send one link, and each guest's phone becomes their character. The room picks one of the four cases without telling you, runs the minute in the dark, hands out the sealed cards, opens the evidence on time, counts a secret vote and shows the reveal on every screen at once. It works in one room or on a video call, and in the 90-minute format too.
  • The printable is this edition too: the same characters, cases and evidence, on paper.
  • Improved since, within this edition. Every line read aloud was rewritten to sound like speech (October 10). The host's printing became safer, with the solution page printed and covered on its own first, and detective teams got verdict cards (October 14).
Printable edition Launch

The Hundredth Episode opens

  • A party for 8 to 20 in the town of The Orpheum File, fifteen years on. Twenty character guides, nineteen pieces of evidence and four sealed cases, each with a different killer. A picker chooses the case without the host ever seeing which, so the host plays as blind as the guests. About three hours. Printable, on Etsy.
  • From September 24, the 90-minute format is in the host materials, for a night with a fixed end time.

Accident, Drink Involved

Season 2 · a cold case for one or two detectives

First edition Current edition Launch

Accident, Drink Involved opens

  • Season 2's cold case. A death on a frozen lake ten winters ago, seventeen documents, four questions to answer, hints in steps and a sealed solution; about 60 to 90 minutes. Printable, or the digital edition in the browser, both from the first day.

The Tenth Winter

Season 2 · a murder mystery party for 8 to 20, where the host plays too

Second digital edition Current edition

Built for a big table: 16 to 20 at one game

  • From 13 players, the table works in groups. Everyone still plays their own character and casts their own vote. The room deals investigation groups of four or five from the headcount when the game starts (the host can keep one table instead), and the groups compare what they've found before the accusations. Each group can give itself a name.
  • 90 minutes at a big table. The reading before the night is shared out among the groups, so nobody has the whole case file to get through alone, and each group gives one report where every player used to make a claim.
  • Every statement stays on the record. After the on-the-record round every phone keeps every player's statement in writing, and the table's worksheets are shared, filled in from any phone and seen on all of them as they fill in.
  • An easier start for characters 9 to 20. Their guides open with just what that player needs to play, and the rest of their character follows, to read whenever they like.
  • Nobody sits out by mistake. Before the game starts, the room tells the host who still has no character, and every cast guest has their own guide, the evidence and a ballot. With more than twenty, the host chooses: two complete games side by side, or guests 21 and up share a character, each with their own vote.
  • Players can move between rooms. A host running two games can move a guest from one room to the other before either starts, and the guest's phone follows.
  • The printable gets the groups and the new character openings too, and its START HERE names this edition.
  • The case is the same: same clues, same killers.
First digital edition Launch

The Tenth Winter opens

  • Season 2's party game. A distillery's tenth year-end party at the founder's lake house. Four sealed versions, so the killer can change each time you play, and a host who plays as blind as the guests. About three hours, or 90 minutes.
  • Printable, or the digital edition on everyone's phones, both from the first day and both this edition. The host guide covers detective teams, and two complete games side by side for a big crowd.

About Three

Season 3 · a Christmas cold case for one or two detectives

First edition Current edition Launch

About Three opens

  • Season 3's cold case. A death the morning after a circle of old friends' gift swap, eleven Decembers ago: seventeen documents, four questions to answer, hints in steps and a sealed solution; about 60 to 90 minutes. Printable, or the digital edition in the browser, both from the first day.

Twenty-Two Gifts

Season 3 · a Christmas murder mystery party for 8 to 20, where the host plays too

First digital edition Current edition Launch

Twenty-Two Gifts opens

  • Season 3's party game. A white-elephant Christmas swap among old friends. Four sealed versions, so the killer can change each time you play, and a host who plays as blind as the guests. About three hours, or 90 minutes.
  • Printable, or the digital edition on everyone's phones, both from the first day and both this edition.

Getting the newest edition

The digital editions play the current edition: there is nothing to download again.

Bought a printable here? The download page in your purchase email serves the newest files. Bought it on Etsy? Etsy keeps the files from the day you bought them, so your order number opens the newest ones on our order check.

Reviews are kept by edition. A game's score counts the reviews of its current edition, and the reviews of each earlier edition stay on its page under that edition's name, with their own score.

Something not right with your files or your room? Reply to your purchase email, or message the Etsy shop, and we'll make it right.