← Ages 8 to 12

Who Ate the Cookie?

Read the clue cards, fill in the logic grid, and work out which suspect was in which room, and when. Then catch the cookie thief!

Deduction
Logic grids
Careful reading
Teamwork

“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” Proverbs 25:2

Case in progress

Choose a case

Detectives

Ages 8 and 9 Ages 10 to 12

Options Sounds A tap for each mark, and a fanfare when the case is closed.

You’ll need

Sharp eyes and a detective’s brain
Paper and a pencil for each detective, if you play on paper

Who Ate the Cookie?

Each suspect was spotted once: in a different room, at a different time.

The suspects

The logic grid

✗ ✓ ✗ ✓

Clue cards

Who ate the cookie?

Who

Where

When

Case closed!

“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” Proverbs 25:2

How to play

Choose a case. Read the story and meet the suspects.
Each suspect was spotted once: in a different room, at a different time.
Read the clue cards. Tap a card when you’ve used it.
Fill in the grid. ✗ means “no” and ✓ means “yes”. Each row and column in a box has just one ✓.
When you know who was where, and when, read the crime card and make your accusation!

Detective tips

Start with the clues that tell you something for certain, like “Lily was in the garden.”
When you place a ✓, the rest of its row and column must be ✗. Tidy does that for you.
Link facts across the grid: if Grandpa was in the garden, and the garden visit was at 1 o’clock, then Grandpa was spotted at 1 o’clock.
Stuck? A hint points you to a clue to read again. There are 3 for each case.

Stars

Close a case for one star, get another for using no hints, and one more for being right first time.

Playing together

In teams around one screen: one detective reads the clues aloud, one marks the grid, and everyone else argues it out.
Each with paper: print the case file, so every detective has the clues and a blank grid. Make your accusations on the screen.
No printer? Read the clues from the screen and draw the grid on paper: suspects and times down the side, rooms and times across the top.

For mixed ages

Start younger detectives on the easy cases, with Tidy on. Older ones can try the hard cases with Tidy off.
Pair a reader with a non-reader: one reads each clue, the other finds it on the grid.

Keys on a computer

Arrow keys move around the grid. X marks ✗, V marks ✓, Space changes a box and Delete empties it.
1 to 8 tick off a clue card, and C the crime card. H for a hint, U to undo, Enter to accuse.