Mystery · Large print

Case File No. 9: The Blue Ribbon Quilt

County fair mystery game: at the 1960 Maplewood Fair the best quilt in the hall won the blue ribbon with no maker’s name on it, only a note. Nobody is in trouble. The exhibitors’ book has 2,000 names; 13 clues, taken one at a time, strike out every name but one.

See price on Etsy

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 ribbon with nowhere to go, and a head judge who wants to give it to the right hands

At the table

You read the first clue aloud: “The quilter had stall 10 or higher.” Pencils move down the exhibitors’ book and someone calls the count: 1,224 still standing. An hour later, one name is left.

Please do not ask.

How the clues work

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

“The quilter had stall 10 or higher”: strike out everyone at stalls 1 to 9.
“The quilter’s last name contains the letter E”: Bennett stays, Clark is struck out.
“The quilter’s first name does not end with a vowel”: Frank stays, Edna is struck out.

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 exhibitors’ book, Detective’s Log, Team Sheet
Large Print edition (zip, Letter 42 and A4 40 pages)the same case, its own 12-clue chain over 800 exhibitors, 16 pt
Quick Case edition (zip, Letter 26 and A4 25 pages)the 800-exhibitor 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 exhibitors’ book (“Check: clue 1 leaves 33 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: Quilting circles, church fellowship hours, summer evenings, book clubs and family tables. No crime at all: a quilt, a note and a ribbon that wants a name.