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MANGROVE COUNTYDetective case-file games, compared
Every case-file game hands you the answer key. This one makes you earn it.
Boxed kits are a booklet you read and check. Mangrove County is a county you investigate — a searchable archive, records you dig through, and AI-powered suspects you hold real conversations with — in the full cases you put them on the phone and hear them answer in their own voice. Ask anything you like; they change their story only when you put the right document in front of them. Watch one crack:
Open the free caseInterrogation Room · samplerecording
He answered what the documents actually said — not what you told him they said. No single exhibit is ever the whole answer.
You’ve played the boxed kits
You spread the paper on the table, read all of it, checked the answer at the back, and were done by the end of the night. A good evening — but the folder never opened again.
The catch was the format
A printed kit can’t change after it’s printed, and everyone shares one pile of paper. The “investigation” is really reading in order until you reach the solution someone already wrote down.
So we built the other thing
A world you research, people you interrogate and break, hints so nobody dead-ends, six seats on one purchase, and a county that keeps going — a new case every two weeks.
The comparison, in the open
Comparison last updated August 23, 2026Exhibit — comparison of case-file gamesFOR REVIEW
| Mangrove County | Unsolved Case Files | Hunt A Killer | Escape-room night | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price to start | Free first case, then $14.99 | ~$30 | ~$30/box or $165 / 6 mo (+ shipping) | ~$36 / person |
| Cost per player, per hour | ~$1.40 (4p) · ~$0.94 (6p) | ~$3.75 (one-time) | ~$3.75 (recurring) | ~$36 |
| Real AI conversations (voice calls included) | ✓ | fixed statements | physical props | — |
| A searchable world you research | ✓ | — | — | — |
| One purchase, up to 6 players, split evidence | ✓ | one kit, huddle | one box | pay per person |
| Get-unstuck hints (won’t dead-end) | ✓ | fixed clues | in-box | staff / clue |
| Updates + new content after you buy | Fixes + a new case every two weeks | printed, fixed | new boxes (each paid) | — |
| Physical props in hand | print-your-own (premium kit coming) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Per-player-per-hour is our list price divided by players and by a typical case length (~2h40m for us; boxed kits ~2h at 4 players; escape room ~1h). Competitor prices from each company’s current public pages, checked August 23, 2026. Names used for identification only.
Fair questions
“I don’t want to print stuff.”
You don’t have to. The whole case plays on screen — the packet, the archive, the records, the interrogations. Printing is optional: if your table likes paper, one button saves the released file as a PDF. A premium, pre-printed propkit edition is on the way for people who want the physical file done for them.
“AI suspects sound gimmicky.”
Watch the sample above. The suspects don’t make things up to sound clever — they answer what the documents you cite actually say, and no single locked item is ever the whole answer. It’s cross-examination with evidence, not a chatbot doing a voice.
“Is $14.99 a lot for a PDF?”
It isn’t a PDF. It’s a case: a printable file, a searchable 30-year newspaper archive, county records and people pages, live interrogations, hints, a graded verdict, and one Squad Room that seats six — on a single purchase. The first case is free, no card, so you can decide before you pay.
“We’re only two of us / we’re a group of six.”
Both work. Solo and two-player play straight through; a group of up to six shares one purchase in a Squad Room, where the evidence is split so nobody just watches over a shoulder. Same price either way.
Don’t take the table’s word for it. Open the file.
The free case is a full case — every mechanic, a real verdict — not a demo. 75 minutes, no card, one tap.
Open the free case