PUBLIC BOAT RAMP · 08/12/06A case-by-case investigation game
The case is closed.
The truth isn’t.
Choose a case. Open its archive on your laptop. Call witnesses who talk back on your real phone. Test their stories, build the evidence chain, and put one name on the accusation.
The truth is authored and fixed. Every conversation is yours.
Active reviewCASE 001
PUBLIC BOAT RAMP · 08/12/06Conviction held for twenty years. The evidence did not.
INCOMING CALLUnknown witness
00:01THE GAME REACHES BEYOND THE SCREEN
- 01 Live voice calls
- 02 Real text messages
- 03 Evidence & email
- 04 Your final hearing
The case library
One desk. A growing shelf of investigations.
Chain of Custody is the game. Each case is a separate, fully authored investigation you can add to your library, open at your desk, and carry through to a final hearing.
A new case means a new town, new people, new evidence, and a new fixed truth. What carries forward is your role as the investigator—and the knowledge that every official story can be tested.
“Every file begins as someone else’s version of what happened.”— Investigator’s field note
How it plays
The investigation does not wait inside a dialogue box.
Set the hours you are available. Sit down at the case desk. Between sittings, witnesses reconsider, records arrive, and your phone may ring.
- 01
Receive the box
Open the original case archive. Read the reports, examine the evidence, and find the first fracture in the official story.
- 02
Question people
Call witnesses on your phone. Ask what you want. Withhold evidence, test recall, and listen for the detail that changes under pressure.
- 03
Build the chain
Pin documents, testimony, and contradictions to your board. A suspicion is not enough; your evidence has to survive scrutiny.
- 04
Commit
Name the person you believe is responsible and submit the chain that proves it. The hearing is final. Being wrong is still an ending.
The case desk
Evidence locker, contact ledger, call transcripts, working timeline, and a freeform investigation board built to feel like a tool—not a game menu.
The people in the case
Call and text characters through ordinary phone channels. What happened in one conversation carries into the next.
Live characters
Ask the question the writer never predicted.
There are no dialogue choices to select. Characters perform each conversation live, remember your history, and protect the things a human being would protect.
- Ask anything. Open questions, unexpected details, and direct accusations are all legitimate moves.
- Pressure has a cost. Push too early and a witness may stop answering. Earn trust and a different story can surface.
- Facts cannot drift. Character performance can surprise you. The authored case record cannot change.
The fair-play promise
The game will not move the truth to meet your theory.
The solution exists first
Every case is written backward from a fixed crime, timeline, and chain of proof. The mystery is never generated around the player.
The evidence is in the case
Every clue needed to reach the truth is available before the reveal. Red herrings have real explanations; your time is never discarded.
Your conclusion is yours
The game does not grade your private hunches. It judges the accusation and evidence you choose to carry into the final hearing.
The full experience
A mystery with room to breathe.
- Format
- Immersive investigation game
- Play time
- 5–6 hours across multiple sittings
- You need
- A laptop and a phone
- Case library
- Cases purchased individually
Case notes
Before you take the file.
Is Chain of Custody based on a real crime?
No. The cases, places, and characters are fictional. The investigative methods and evidence standards are grounded in real practice, but no real victim’s story is being turned into entertainment.
Are the characters controlled by AI?
Their live performances are generated, so they can answer questions you actually ask. The mystery is not generated: every fact, timeline, document, secret, and solution is authored and locked before the case ships.
Does the game really call my phone?
Yes. Voice calls and text messages happen on your real phone. During setup, you choose the days and hours when the case is allowed to reach you. Calls may be recorded and transcribed for gameplay, with disclosure and consent before play begins.
Is it a dialogue-tree game?
No. You decide what to ask, when to disclose evidence, and how hard to push. Characters remember what happened across calls and messages, and they respond according to what they know, believe, and want to conceal.
Can the solution change during play?
Never. The truth is fixed. You can miss it, misread it, or accuse the wrong person, but the game cannot move the answer to make your theory correct.
When can I play Case 001?
The River Deal is currently in private testing. Public release details will be posted here at chainofcustody.party when the case is ready to open.
Your next case
When the phone rings,
someone has decided to talk.
Case 001, The River Deal, is now in private testing. More investigations will follow.
Browse the case library