The Daily Case
One shared case a day. It eases in on Monday and reaches Mastermind on Sunday. Share your stars and time without spoiling the answer.
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Lantern Bureau · Case file open
Alibust
Everyone has an alibi. Bust one.
Logic Mysteries
Read the clues, cross out the impossible and name the one story that still holds. A rookie detective, a dry-witted Inspector, 100 story cases and a new case every day.
Play now
Free in your browser. iPhone app coming soon.
For your eyes onlyA sealed note has reached your desk.
Memo No. 1
A note from the Inspector
“Welcome to the Lantern Bureau, rookie. Three desks, one kettle, and a lantern we never let go out. People will lie to you. So will the fog. Bring a pencil, a scarf and a grid. The grid never lies.”
Inspector Ottilie Grane, Lantern Bureau
- 10story chapters
- 100story cases
- 1guided training case
- 6languages
Exhibit A Try one
Bust this alibi.
A small training file from the Bureau archive. It plays exactly like the game: each square asks one question, do these two belong together?
Training file · Rookie
A body in the boathouse at dawn. Three suspects, three objects, three places. Everyone had exactly one of each, and nothing is shared.
- Ida Holm never touched the rusty anchor or the frozen herring.
- Whoever held the frozen herring was in the boathouse.
- Captain Bram never set foot in the boathouse.
- The silver teapot was nowhere near the jetty.
Tap a square: ✗, then ✓, then empty.
Stuck? A hint explains the next deduction instead of handing you the answer.
Who did it?
The story
Ten chapters. Ten places to get lost.
Follow Inspector Grane from a fog-bound harbor to a vault sealed for a hundred years. Ten cases in every chapter, and the tenth is always a boss.
Chapter 1
Fog over Brinewick
A fishing town where the fog rolls in every evening and the gossip never rolls out.
First lesson: the grid
Chapter 2
The Silver Heron
Three nights of velvet seats aboard a first-class train. Nobody sends the Bureau a gift without wanting something back.
New: dossier clues, either/or
Chapter 3
Masks of Velmara
Four hundred canals and one week every winter when the whole city wears a mask.
New: lying suspects
Chapter 4
Snowbound Stars
A mountaintop observatory in a blizzard. The road is buried and a comet is due on Friday.
New: motive, then arrival time
Chapter 5
Off the Map
An island with clipped hedges, a house full of ticking clocks and not one signpost.
New: five suspects
Chapter 6
Summer at the Marigold
Grane orders a holiday at a seaside grand hotel. It lasts until somebody screams upstairs.
Every trick so far, all at once
Chapter 7
The Brass Quarter
Gaslit lanes where every window ticks. Three doors this month were locked from the inside.
New: floor plans
Chapter 8
The Winter Circus
The Circus Borealis winters on a frozen lake. Across the ice, a steam organ stops mid-note.
Everything you've learned, on thin ice
Chapter 9
Lights, Camera, Silence
Halcyon Pictures: painted skies, plaster palaces and nobody saying a word on camera.
Every trick, one take
Chapter 10
The Vault Beneath
The Crown Mint's vault, sealed by clockwork for a hundred years, opens itself on Friday at midnight.
The last boss so far
New chapters reach the game without an app update.
Exhibit B Rulebook
Real captures from the web version.
One new trick at a time.
A guided training case gets you started. After that the story teaches a new kind of deduction every stretch, and everything you learn stays in play.
Chapter 1
The grid
Same or not the same. Cross out what can't be true until one story remains.
Chapter 2
Dossier clues and either/or
Clues start naming traits, like who is left-handed or has blue eyes, and two possibilities can hang on one “either”.
Chapter 3
Lying suspects
Each suspect makes a statement. The guilty one lies and everyone else tells the truth.
Chapter 4
Motive, then arrival time
A fourth column joins the grid: first a motive for each suspect, then who arrived when, one hour apart.
Chapter 5
Five suspects
Bigger cases from here on. Take your time: the logic never needs a guess.
Chapter 7
Floor plans
Rooms sit on a plan. “Next to each other” means they share a wall, so the architecture becomes evidence.
Chapter 7 onward
The building is evidence.
Rooms sit on a plan. Next to each other means they share a wall, so a door is a clue.
Every day
A new case every day. The same one for everyone.
Case Files
Never-repeating cases whenever you want one, at five difficulties, built on your device.
- Rookie
- Sleuth
- Detective
- Inspector
- Mastermind
The streak keeps you honest.
Any solved case counts. Every seventh day earns a shield, and you can hold two: a shield saves the streak when you miss a day.
- 3+1
- 7+2
- 14+3
- 30+5
- 50+5
- 100+10
- 200+10
- 365+20
Days on the streak, and the hints each milestone pays.
Exhibit C Your file
Your name on the Bureau's books.
Every solve earns XP: more for stars, harder cases, bosses and no hints. Your Detective Card keeps the record, and a case you leave half-way waits exactly where you left it.
- Rookie
- Constable
- Sleuth
- Detective
- Senior Detective
- Inspector
- Chief Inspector
- Bureau Legend
23 badges to earn, from First Case to Lie Detector, Full House and Night Owl.
Fair play
One answer. Proven.
Exactly one solution
All 100 story cases and the training case were checked by a separate program that shares no code with the game. It tries every possible arrangement, up to 1,728,000 for a single case, and passes it only if exactly one fits.
Every clue earns its place
The same checker removes each clue in turn. If the case still works without one, that clue doesn't ship.
Generated cases follow the same rule
The game's own solver builds each Daily Case and Case File on your device and keeps it only if it has one solution, needs every clue and can be solved by deduction.
Hints that teach
A hint points at the next deduction and says why it works: which clue settles a square, or which supposition ends in a contradiction.
Who pays for all this?
Free to play
Supported by ads. No full-screen ads for your first 10 solved cases, then at most one every three solved cases and never twice within six minutes. Never mid-case, never in training.
Optional extras
Watch an ad for 3 hints, buy a pack of 10, or remove ads for good with one purchase.
Detective Club
An optional monthly subscription: a bonus Mastermind case every day, unlimited hints and no ads. Cancel any time.
Now showing
One night at the Bureau.
Plays only when you press it. Sound on.
Questions On file
Asked and answered.
Is it free?
Yes. Alibust is free to play in your browser at alibust.com/play. The iPhone app will also be free to play, supported by ads, with optional purchases.
When is the iPhone app coming?
It isn't on the App Store yet. Until it is, the web version is the same game and it works today.
Can a case have two answers or force a guess?
No. Every case has exactly one solution, and you can reach it by deduction alone. Story cases are also proven by a separate checker.
Will I run out of cases?
Not soon. Beyond the 100 story cases there is a Daily Case and an endless supply of Case Files that never repeat for you. New chapters arrive without an app update.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no sign-up and no login. Your progress is saved on your device.
Which languages can I play in?
English, Türkçe, Español, Deutsch, Français and Português. Switch any time in Settings.
Did you alibust today?
Play nowPlays in any modern browser. The iPhone app is on its way.