The victim
Walter Hollins
Dairy farmer, 63
A case
Hollins Farm
A dairy farm at the end of a narrow lane, and a gate left open.
Wellbeck, rural England · Thursday 9 April 1926
Language: English
The place
Hollins Farm sits above Wellbeck where the lane gives out. A yard between the house and the barn, a parlour with its lights on, an office with a door onto the yard whose latch does not hold. Beyond the gate, the lane climbs to the road. You will come to know every door.
- Place
- Rural England
- Date
- Thursday 9 April 1926
- Mood
- Cold, isolated, uneasy
- Playtime
- ~ 60–90 minutes
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Players, suggested
- 1–8
The case
Thursday, 9 April 1926. A bright, cold spring morning with a wind across the yard. Walter Hollins is selling up at the end of the month; the auctioneer has come at ten to list the stock and machinery. At eleven the herdsman opens the office door. Three people were at the farm. One of them will not tell you the truth.
Hosting needs a sign-in. Players never sign in.
Opens the game lobby. Put the host screen on the biggest screen in the room; players join from their phones with the game code.
The cast
Who was there
Ruth Hollins
Dairy farmer
“At home all morning; it is her home.”
Colin Marsh
Auctioneer and valuer, Marsh & Rowe
“Came about ten to list the stock and machinery for the dispersal sale on the thirtieth.”
Dan Pryce
Herdsman
“Working: the milking done, feeding the calves and washing down the parlour.”
You may question any of them. They remember what they told you.
Explore / Investigate / Solve
What you will do
Question
Pick a suspect on your phone, hold the button and ask — or type it —, as often as the table needs. The suspect answers aloud on the big screen, in a voice of their own.
Compare
Every answer is spoken in turn and kept on the big screen under its question. Set one against another.
Accuse
When the table agrees, the host names the one who did it. Name the killer and the reveal follows; name the wrong one and the case closes unsolved.
From the file
What was found
Hosting notes
What you need
- One screen everyone can see — a TV, a laptop, or a shared call.
- A phone each, on the same game code.
- About an hour. Longer if you argue.
- Sound on. The narrator speaks.
Good to know
- Plays well with 3–5. Solo is a quiet, harder game.
- Content: a death, period attitudes, no gore. Suitable for 12 and up.
- In English and Russian.
Three suspects. One answer.
Hosting needs a sign-in. Players never sign in.