People’s Exhibit X · A Daily True Crime Word Puzzle

How It Works

One Case A Day, Three Steps

Everyone gets the same case on the same day, so you can compare results with friends without spoiling a thing.

A New Real Case Every Morning

At 7 AM Eastern a new case opens. Six exhibits of evidence, hardest first, point to one answer: a person, a place or a thing.
Each Wrong Guess Reveals A Stronger Clue

Type your answer. A wrong guess locks in any letters you placed correctly and opens the next, easier exhibit. Solve it with as few exhibits as you can.
Read The Full Story When You Solve It

Solve it and the file is stamped Case Closed. Run out of exhibits and it goes cold. Either way, you get the full story of the real case.

Sample Case

Try A Sample Case

This sample is the case behind our seal, not a daily case. Read Exhibit A, then open the rest one at a time. Every exhibit you open is one you would have spent.

Written under the same editorial standards as every daily case: the clues are about the investigation, not the act.

Sample · Not Today’s Case

Case File

Sample

Category: Homicide
Era: 1890s
Year: Hidden until Exhibit C

Exhibit A

The investigator who read the mark had spent the previous year building a filing system that no court had yet relied on.

Exhibit BOpen

A man close to the family was accused first and held for questioning until the physical evidence pointed somewhere else entirely.

Exhibit C · Year 1892Open

Inspector Eduardo Álvarez cut the section of door frame bearing a single mark and carried it back to the station.

Exhibit DOpen

Necochea, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. A small coastal town, a police bureau in La Plata, and a new science called dactyloscopy.

Exhibit EOpen

Juan Vucetich compared the mark with a print taken from the accused, found a match, and the Rojas case was closed with a confession.

Exhibit FOpen

Widely cited as the first criminal case solved by a bloody thumbprint left at the scene. The method is now in every detective’s kit.

The answer is a thing 11 letters

Reveal The Answer

Case Closed

In 1892, Juan Vucetich matched a bloody fingerprint to close the Rojas case, the first fingerprint identification in criminal history. Our seal is that mark.

Our Standards

Real Cases, Handled With Care

Every case is real, sourced from the historical record and fact-checked before it runs. These are the rules every case is held to.

Editorial Standards

Our published editorial standards are binding on every case:

Clues are about the investigation, not the act.
No graphic or suffering detail. Victims are people, not props.
No ranking of offenders as if violence were an achievement.
Mass-casualty attacks are excluded as a category.
Recent cases with families in fresh grief wait.

For Ages 16 And Up

People’s Exhibit X is for ages 16 and up because it covers real criminal cases, including violence and other mature themes. Our editorial standards avoid graphic depictions and treat victims with respect.

Privacy

We never sell or share personal data, and we collect only what keeps your streak working. This page loads no scripts and sets no cookies.

Curated and fact-checked by the PEX editorial team, operated by criminologists.

Where To Play

On The Web Now, iPhone And iPad Next

Every player gets the same case at the same moment: 7 AM Eastern. Play free in any browser today; the iPhone and iPad app is on the way, and your account and streak will carry over to it.

iPhone And iPad

One native app for iPhone and iPad, with optional daily reminders you choose to turn on. It won’t ask for permissions the first time you open it.

Coming Soon To iPhone And iPad

Web

Play in any modern browser, no install required. Your progress and streak follow your account.

Play Now

Android

An Android app is on the way. Until then, the web version plays in any Android browser.

Coming Soon To Android

Clearance

What Clearance Gets You

Today’s case is free for everyone, every day. Clearance adds:

Free

Today’s Case, Every Day

The daily case is free for everyone. No subscription needed.

With Clearance

Every Past Case

Every player can replay the last 3 days. Clearance opens every past case in the archive, to binge at your own pace.
Streak Protection

Your streak never breaks. A missed day is covered automatically, with nothing to manage.

Clearance Pricing

Best Value · Save 44%

Annual Clearance

$19.99/yr

Just $1.67 a month, billed yearly

Monthly

$2.99/mo

$2.99/mo · $35.88/yr

Clearance goes on sale soon. No free trial. You pay when you subscribe, and your plan renews until you cancel.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

How often is there a new case?

A new real case opens every day at 7 AM Eastern, and today’s case is always free.

How do I play?

Read the exhibits, six pieces of evidence with the hardest first, then type the answer: a person, a place or a thing. A wrong guess locks in any correct letters and opens the next exhibit.

How long does a case take?

A few minutes. It’s hard by design, so some days take longer.

Is it gory?

No. The clues are about the investigation, not the act. We leave out graphic detail and treat victims with respect, under our editorial standards.

Do I have to pay?

No. Today’s case is always free. Clearance is an optional subscription for every past case in the archive and streak protection.

What if I get stuck?

Reveal a Letter locks in one correct letter once per case without spending an exhibit. It becomes unavailable when only one letter remains. Next Exhibit opens the next clue and spends one of your six exhibits.

How do streaks work?

Play every day to build a streak. Streak protection is a Clearance benefit: with Clearance, a missed day never breaks your streak.

What do the squares in a shared result mean?

A shared result shows how many clues you needed, never the answer, so it can’t spoil the case. A black square marks a clue you spent; a white square marks a clue you did not need. Fewer black squares is a sharper solve, and a cold case shows all six spent.

What is Clearance?

Clearance is the optional subscription. Today’s case is always free; Clearance adds every past case in the archive and streak protection.

Why is People’s Exhibit X for ages 16 and up?

People’s Exhibit X is for ages 16 and up because it covers real criminal cases, including violence and other mature themes. Our editorial standards avoid graphic depictions and treat victims with respect.

Who makes People’s Exhibit X?

People’s Exhibit X is curated and fact-checked by the PEX editorial team, operated by criminologists. PEX is an app in the Inkwell General Store app family.