Puzzles viewers argue about in the comments
Show a room full of suspects, give the viewer a few seconds to remember it, then show what happened. Pick a setting and get a finished puzzle with the answer at the end.
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A catch-the-killer video is a puzzle the viewer plays with their eyes. It opens on one illustrated room seen from above, everyone in it busy: pouring a drink, fiddling with the thermostat, reaching for a coat. Then it holds, in silence while you scan every face. Then the same room a moment later, one person on the floor and everyone else reacting from exactly where they stood. The clue was in the first picture all along, so the comments fill with people arguing about who stood too close to the glass. You decide how many people are in the room (fewer is easier), whether the story runs on for more pictures, and whether the culprit is circled. A second mode, the alibi riddle, is narrated: each suspect says where they were, and one statement cannot be true. It suits puzzle channels that live on their comments.
What makes one of these work
- Everyone stays exactly where they were. The clue is what changed.
- Give the viewer just enough time to memorise the room.
- Hold the answer to the end, so they comment before they find out.
Openings that work
Example first lines. Use one as it is or write your own in the same shape.
- Catch the killer. Six guests, one drinks trolley, and only one of them never puts their glass down.
- A man was found in his greenhouse at dawn. Everyone in the house says they were somewhere else.
- Look at the room carefully. Somebody at this party already knows what is about to happen.
Start from an idea
Tap one. The script, voice, pictures and captions are made for you.
- A wedding reception at the cake table, the band packing up
A dozen reasons to move around a cake and a champagne tower, and a knife already lying on the table.
- A vineyard tasting room at harvest, glasses on every barrel
Glasses everywhere means the viewer has to track which one went where, which is the whole game.
- An airport lounge during a long delay, everyone on edge
Bags at feet, coffee cups, one person asleep across three seats: lots of hands near lots of things.
- A cooking class in a restaurant kitchen, every station busy
Knives, burners and shared ingredients put a possible weapon in plain sight at every station.
- A film set between takes, the lead alone by the snack table
Crew in black, a director with a script and a lead standing apart: roles the eye can read at a glance.
- A poker night in a back room, chips and whisky on the felt
Everyone sits still at one table, so the tell has to be a hand, a glass or a glance across it.
- A museum gala beside a dinosaur skeleton
Evening dress, waiters with trays and a giant skeleton in the middle give the room a strong centre to scan from.
- A remote research station in a blizzard: radio room, kitchen, generator shed
Pick the alibi riddle: separate rooms give everyone somewhere else to have been, and the snow can be the clue.
- A village fete on a summer afternoon, tea tent and tombola
Bright and ordinary on purpose: a cheerful scene makes the second picture land harder.
Questions
- Is it free?
- Yes. You get 3 free videos a month, no credit card. Paid plans start at $9/month for more videos and longer lengths.
- How many suspects should be in the room?
- Around six is the sweet spot. Below four there is nothing to search; above eight the drawing starts merging faces together and the answer stops being checkable, which is worse than an easy puzzle.
- Should the video reveal who did it?
- Your call. Left unsolved, nobody is named and the comments become the answer key. With the answer shown, the video ends on the first room again with the culprit ringed, which needs at least three pictures.
- Why does the second picture look exactly like the first?
- Because it is made from the first: the room is edited, not drawn again, so the people are held to the same clothes and the same spots. Drawn twice, the people would change and the puzzle would stop being fair.