Mystery · Large print

Case File No. 5: The Pie With No Name

Thanksgiving mystery game: for twelve Thanksgivings a pumpkin pie with no name has appeared on the dessert table, and nobody has ever seen who brings it. Nobody is in trouble. The guest book has 2,000 names; 13 clues, taken one at a time, strike out every name but one.

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Instant PDF download on Etsy. You print it at home; nothing is mailed.

Players: 1 to 6, with a Team Sheet for groups
Time: about an hour at a table of four; 3 hours or more alone
You need: pencils and a ruler; no scissors, no app, no host
Print: US Letter and A4; black ink is enough
Print size: Standard sheet 10 pt; Large Print edition 16 pt
Also: No crime and no villain: a kindness nobody owned up to, and a dessert-table cook who wants to say thank you once

At the table

You read the first clue aloud: “The secret baker’s address does not end in the word Street.” Pencils move down the guest book and someone calls the count: 1,169 still standing. An hour later, one name is left.

For whoever needs it most.

How the clues work

Each clue rules people out, never in. Three from this case:

“The secret baker sat at table 10 or higher”: strike out everyone at tables 1 to 9.
“The secret baker’s first name contains the letter A”: Laura stays, Helen is struck out.
“The secret baker does not live on Elm Avenue, Orchard Road or River Road”: strike out those three streets, keep every other one.

Every reading rule (strictly fewer, through, double letter, share a letter) is spelled out on the How to Play page with an example, so there is nothing to argue about at the table.

What you get5 files

Standard edition, US Letter (51 pages) and A4 (47 pages)letter, story, how to play, 13 clues, the 2,000-name guest book, Detective’s Log, Team Sheet
Large Print edition (zip, Letter 43 and A4 39 pages)the same case, its own 12-clue chain over 800 guests, 16 pt
Quick Case edition (zip, Letter 26 and A4 25 pages)the 800-guest chain at 10 pt, one evening

Why it works

Exactly one name survives all 13 clues: checked by program twice, the second time on the finished PDF. Leave any one clue out and two or more names survive, so there is no guessing and no dead end. A count line is printed on every page of the guest book (“Check: clue 1 leaves 30 of the 48 names on this page”), and the Detective’s Log has check-points after clues 3, 6, 9 and 12, so a missed name shows up at once, without seeing the answer. The answer itself has been hiding in plain sight since page two; the Solution Pack says where.

Made for: Thanksgiving tables, potlucks, church fellowship halls, book clubs and the long hour between the turkey and the pie. No crime at all: a pie, a card, and a town that wants to say thank you.