While many of us seek to make mystery an intentional habit, both as a challenge to keep our minds sharp, and an opportunity to work together on fun problems with friends and loved ones, sometimes life is just too busy. And we can’t always spare the brain power to dive into a long-running show, solve a 4-hour mystery box, sit for 2 1/2 hour movie, or invest in 10+ hours of a mystery video game.
So today I’m focusing on bite-sized mysteries: mysteries where you can invest small amounts of time and mental fortitude without losing all context, even if you can’t return to it for weeks or months.
Here are some great mystery options for you if you’ve got…
15 minutes…(or less)
If you’ve just got a few minutes, perhaps while you’re waiting for something, these quick mysteries should keep everyone entertained and off their phones! Some are even small enough to keep in a bag and pull out at a restaurant while you wait for your food.
Mystery, Mind, and Logic
The Mystery, Mind, and Logic series from University Games offers a number of bite-sized challenges for puzzle lovers. Grab their 30-Second Mysteries, Mystery Grams, Brain Teasers, or try their 20 Questions if you just want to give others a mystery.
Claredon’s Vintage cards
For super quick brain teasers, try their “One-Minute Mysteries” and “After-Dinner Riddles“. And while it doesn’t enhance the mystery, they die-cut their cards in the shape of vintage bottles to embrace the theming.
5-Minute Mystery
Ok, so the play time on this is actually 3 to 9 minutes per round, but it’s part of the “5-minute” series of games, so they kept the catchier title. But in under 10 minutes, you can solve a unique mystery co-operatively or solo.
Hunt a Killer puzzle book
This is a puzzle book with dozens of standalone puzzles, similar to the ones you solve during their boxed games, but unrelated to each other. If you’ve got a few minutes, open the book, grab a puzzle, and work through it together!
MicroMacro: Crime City
MicroMacro: Crime City series of games (3 in total) are perfect for filling gaps of time while you’re waiting for something at home. The pizza delivery driver, the rest of your mystery night participants, etc. Each case takes only a few minutes, but the giant map prevents this from being a game you can drag out at a restaurant.
The themes of murder and other crimes might mean it’s not a good fit for young children, so check out the sample case on the MicroMacro: Crime City website before you let your kids play. But the mysteries have varying levels of difficulty, and the artwork is absolutely delightful, making these the perfect mystery filler games. The first game in the series became an instant favorite in my house.
30 minutes…
If you’ve got more like 30-45 minutes, here are some mysteries you can invest a little more time into, while still greeting your food at the door or getting back in time for that after-lunch meeting.
Light in the Mist
Ok, so the overall game, including unlocking the full story driving the puzzles, will take you significantly longer. And you might struggle to remember where the story left off, if you only solve a puzzle here, a puzzle there. But if you’re just looking for a quick mystery experience, you can tackle individual puzzles at your leisure, and save up the story segments you unlock until you reach the very end. Not how the fine folks at Post Curious games intended people to play Light in the Mist, I’m sure. But if piecemeal is the only way you have time to experience this brilliant little puzzle game, its puzzles offer dozens of enjoyable and challenging ways to pass 30-45 minutes minutes.
Darkside Detective
I personally love an in-depth, pixel art, point-and-click mystery game. So when we started this game, only to learn it was a bunch of quick stand-alone mysteries in a fictional universe, I was initially disappointed. But playing the first couple of cases of this quirky and humorous delight changed my mind completely. Months later, we’re still picking our way through the cases of the Darkside Detective sequel, savoring each and trying not to reach the end. They’re perfect for Mystery Mondays when we have too many other obligations to devote an entire evening to a larger mystery.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Hosted by Alfred Hitchcock, this series presents standalone suspenseful and mysterious tales, often with a twist ending or moral lesson. And since each individual story stands entirely alone, the 25- to 30-minute episodes of this anthology mystery show are perfect bite-sized mystery fare when you’re short on time. (As of this posting, Alfred Hitchcock Presents is streaming on Peacock.)
Twilight Zone
Created by Rod Serling, each episode delves into science fiction, fantasy, and horror territories, often with a mysterious or unexpected twist. While not strictly a mystery show, many episodes offer enigmatic situations that characters need to navigate. And like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, invest 25-30 minutes for a single episode of Twilight Zone won’t leave you wondering where you left off if you don’t return for months. (As of this posting, the 1959 original Twilight Zone is streaming on Paramount+.)
1 hour…
Crime Zoom
Crime Zoom by Lucky Duck Games is a series of detective games for 1-6 players, and plays in about an hour. The crime scene is made up of cards that form one large picture. To investigate a trace, simply turn the card over and follow it. In the course of the investigation, you will visit various places, question suspects, gather evidence, and try to come to conclusions. For your hour of gameplay, you get a complete case and a satisfying investigation, without a huge box or an evening-long time investment.
UNDO
The UNDO series of standalone cases sees you jumping through time to undo a series of mistakes that led to someone’s death in an attempt to save the victim’s life. Each time period, ranging from the event’s distant past to minutes before the death to the immediate aftermath, reveals new insights about the victims and their own choices, and leave you with one of 3 choices to make. But you don’t know which the victim chose, so your choice might improve the situation, make it worse, or have no impact. At the end of the hour-long game, you total your earned points and then read the victim’s fate.
Hunt a Killer standalone boxes
While many Hunt A Killer boxes are simply repackaged mysteries originally delivered as part of their subscription service, they’ve also introduce a line of more affordable standalone mysteries. Of these “all-in-one games”, 3 of them offer a robust mystery with a playtime of 45-60: Death at the Dive Bar, Murder at the Motel, and Body on the Boardwalk. Although streamlined to fit into a shorter timeframe, the components, and challenge, still live up to the Hunt A Killer standard of quality, making them a perfect quick-hit mystery for taking a respite from a busy evening.
Whatever amount of time you can find in your schedule, there’s a mystery to fill it. And while we may strike to solve more long mysteries or binging a lengthy show, short mysteries can be just as rewarding.
