New puzzle

Choose a difficulty, a theme and a size. Every puzzle has a brand new story and exactly one answer you can reach without guessing.

Difficulty
Theme
Size
Play style
More options

More clues make a puzzle easier, fewer make it harder.

Clue types

Saved puzzles

Your puzzles save automatically on this device. Start one and it will appear here.

    The story

    Talk to the cast

    Each character remembers one or more clues. Select a portrait to hear what they saw.

    The grid

    ruled out   confirmed  ยท  Click or tap a cell to cycle blank, X, O. Right-click or long-press to choose. Press ? for keys.

    Settings

    Mode
    Colors
    Pictures

    Character portraits

    Play
    Sound
    Voices
    AI pictures and voice

    With an OpenAI API key, each new story gets its own painted scene, and characters and the narrator speak in natural voices. Pictures and voices are made once per story and saved on this computer. The key stays on this computer. OpenAI charges your account for each picture and voice clip (roughly a few cents to 20 cents per picture). Without a key, the game uses its built-in art and your computer's own voices.

    AI pictures
    Where voices come from

    Kokoro voices download once from Hugging Face (about 90 MB) the first time the game opens, then stay on this computer. Each character gets a voice that suits their name. Nothing you play is sent anywhere.

    Get a free Google key at aistudio.google.com (Get API key). On Google's free tier, the story and clue text you send may be used to improve Google's products. The free tier has a daily limit; when it runs out, the game uses this computer's voices until the next day.

    How to play The Fantastical Logic Grid

    Captions are on. Use the CC button in the player to turn them off.

    Read the transcript

    Welcome to The Fantastical Logic Grid. Every puzzle is a brand new story, and you are the detective. Each puzzle is a logic grid wrapped in a story. The story sets up a mystery, the clues give you the facts, and the grid is where you work out the answer. Every story is written fresh for you and never repeated. And every puzzle has exactly one answer you can reach without guessing.

    Here's how to play. Start on the New puzzle screen and pick a difficulty. Basic and Easy are perfect for beginners. MENSA is for true masterminds. Next, choose a theme, like Mystery, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Sports or Pets. Or pick Surprise me. Then pick a size. More categories and more items make a bigger, harder grid. Full experience adds scenes, characters and sound. Silent mode keeps only the story, the grid, the clues and the answer key.

    Press Generate puzzle, and your story is written in a moment. Read the story first. It tells you who is involved, and it ends with the question you need to answer. Here, it's: who was holding the Silk Glove? You can also press Read the story aloud to hear it. Select a character's portrait to hear the clues they remember. Every clue is also in the clue list. On your first Easy puzzle, coach tips appear above the grid to guide your first moves.

    Now the grid. Each square is where two things meet, like a suspect and an age. Your job is to decide whether they go together. Click or tap a square once to mark an X. X means ruled out: these two don't go together. Tap again for an O. O means confirmed: these two are a match. Tap a third time to clear the square. Let's solve one together, starting with the simplest clue. Clue 7 says Greta is 35, so mark an O where Greta meets 35.

    Each suspect has exactly one age, and each age belongs to one suspect. So the rest of Greta's row and the rest of the 35 column are all X. Tip: turn on Auto-X in Settings and the game fills those in for you. Clue 3 says whoever held the Brass Key is not 35. That's an X where 35 meets Brass Key. Clue 1 says neither the 50-year-old nor the 45-year-old held the Fountain Pen. Two more X marks.

    Now combine clues. Clue 6 says the Fountain Pen holder is 50 or 40. Clue 1 already ruled out 50, so it must be 40. Mark the O, then rule out the rest of that row and column. Clue 2 says neither the Brass Key holder nor the Silk Glove holder is 50. Look along the 50 row. Only the Letter Opener is left, so that's an O. When only one square is left in a row or column, it must be the answer.

    The same idea finishes this section: the Brass Key goes with 45, and the Silk Glove with 35. A finished section glows. In the full experience, each finished section also reveals more of the scene. Now connect the sections. Greta is 35, and the 35-year-old held the Silk Glove. So Greta held the Silk Glove. That answers the story's question! Stuck? Press Hint. The first hint points you to a clue.

    Press Show more for the exact square, and then the full reasoning. You can even let it mark the square for you. Press Check at any time to see whether any of your marks are wrong. Made a mistake? Undo and Redo take back any move, as many times as you like. Prefer words to grids? List view lets you choose each match from a menu. The game also works fully by keyboard and with a screen reader.

    When you think you know, answer the questions under the clues, and press Check answers. Fill in the whole grid to close the case. Case closed! You get the story's ending, your time, and a suggestion for your next puzzle. Your progress saves automatically. Come back any time and pick up where you left off, from Saved puzzles. You can also print any puzzle, blank or with your marks, with the answer key on its own page.

    Press Help to see every keyboard shortcut. Play in light or dark colors, or in high contrast. And Silent mode is always there when you just want the puzzle. That's all you need: read the story, follow the clues, and mark your X's and O's. Welcome to The Fantastical Logic Grid. Happy sleuthing!

    A new version is ready

    Your saved puzzles and settings are kept. The game restarts when the update is installed.

    Welcome, detective!

    New to The Fantastical Logic Grid? A 5-minute narrated video shows how to play, with examples. It has captions.

    You can watch it any time from Help.

    How to play

    5 minutes, narrated, with captions and examples

    Read a clue, then mark the grid. X means two things do not go together. O means they do. Each row in a sub-grid has exactly one O. When the grid is full, answer the story questions.

    Select a character's portrait to hear the clues they remember. Each finished section of the grid reveals more of the scene. Want fewer distractions? Choose Silent mode on the New puzzle screen or in Settings to see only the story, the grid, the clues and the answer key.

    Keys

    Tab, Shift+TabMove between story, grid, clues and toolbar
    Arrow keysMove one cell
    Home, EndFirst or last cell in the row
    Ctrl+Home, Ctrl+EndFirst or last cell in the grid
    X or SpaceRule out
    O or EnterConfirm
    Delete, BackspaceClear the cell
    RDescribe the row
    Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Shift+ZUndo, redo
    H, CHint, check
    Ctrl+S, Ctrl+PSave, print
    ?This help
    EscClose a dialog or menu

    Single keys (X, O, H, C, R) can be turned off in Settings. On a Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl.