We’re incredibly proud to share that Ink & Clues has been named #1 Best Print & Play Game 2025 by the UKBG Review Circle.
The ranking was announced on January 22, 2026, placing Ink & Clues first among the community’s top print-and-play games of the year.
For us, the recognition is particularly meaningful because it celebrates the Ink & Clues collection as a whole rather than a single mystery. Our games are built around immersive investigations where players examine evidence, question suspects, uncover contradictions and ultimately try to solve the case themselves.
For anyone searching for a new print and play game, murder mystery or cold case to solve at home, here’s a closer look at the award – and the type of experience that earned Ink & Clues the #1 spot.
Best Print & Play Game 2025 – The Results
The UKBG Review Circle announced its Best Print & Play Game 2025 ranking on January 22, 2026.
The final ranking was:
- Ink & Clues
- Paw by Paw by Teetotum Game Studios
- Starfront Scouting Academy by Shiny Pigeon Games
- Vacations to Greek Islands by Teetotum Game Studios
- Hyperdrive Odyssey by Microdot Games
The ranking was voted on by members of the UKBG Review Circle, a community focused on reviewing and discussing tabletop and print-and-play games.
Taking the #1 position was a major milestone for Ink & Clues – particularly because the recognition was given to the collection rather than one individual case.
What Is a Print and Play Game?
A print and play game is exactly what the name suggests: a game that can be downloaded and printed at home.
Instead of ordering a physical game and waiting for it to arrive, players receive the game files digitally.
Depending on the game, you might need to print cards, boards, puzzles, documents or other components before playing.
For Ink & Clues, the format works particularly well because our games are built around criminal investigations.
Rather than requiring a traditional board, dice or playing pieces, the experience revolves around the case itself.
You receive the investigation.
Then you have to solve it.
Why Print and Play Works So Well for Murder Mystery Games
A murder investigation is almost perfectly suited to the print-and-play format.
Think about what you would expect to find in a case file:
Police reports, suspect interviews, witness statements, photographs, messages, maps, receipts, documents, evidence.
These are all things that naturally work as printable material.
Spread everything across the table and suddenly your dining room starts looking considerably less like a game night and considerably more like an investigation room.
The format also gives players freedom.
You can organise the evidence however you want.
Put two suspect interviews next to each other.
Build a timeline.
Write notes directly on printed documents.
Move photographs around.
Highlight contradictions.
Return to an old piece of evidence when a new discovery suddenly makes it relevant.
Instead of moving through a predetermined sequence of spaces on a board, you're investigating.
What Makes Ink & Clues Different?
Ink & Clues games are designed around one central idea:
You should feel like the investigator.
We don't want to simply tell you a mystery and periodically ask you to solve a puzzle.
Instead, you're given the information from the investigation and expected to work out what matters.
A suspect might claim to have been somewhere at a particular time.
Another document might quietly contradict that statement.
A photograph could contain something that initially seems insignificant.
A message might reveal a relationship nobody mentioned during questioning.
Individually, these details might mean very little.
Together, they can solve the case.
You Don't Play the Suspects – You Investigate Them
When people hear “murder mystery game”, they sometimes imagine a traditional murder mystery party.
Everyone receives a character.
Someone plays the victim's business partner.
Someone else becomes the suspicious neighbour.
One of the guests may secretly be the murderer.
Those games can be great fun, but Ink & Clues takes a different approach.
You don't play the suspects.
You investigate them.
Everyone can work together as an investigative team, examining the same evidence and trying to determine what really happened.
That means there's no need for one player to act as the host or secretly know the solution.
Everyone gets to solve the mystery.
From Download to Investigation
One of the biggest advantages of a printable murder mystery is how quickly you can get started.
There's no shipping.
No waiting for a package.
No complicated collection of pieces to assemble.
Choose a case, download the files and begin investigating.
You can print the murder mystery at home and spread the evidence across the table, or investigate digitally if you prefer.
That makes print-and-play mysteries particularly useful for spontaneous game nights.
At 6 PM, you're wondering what to do tonight.
A little later, you're arguing about whether a fictional murder suspect's alibi is physically possible.
An improvement, we'd argue.
A Different Kind of Game Night
Traditional board games usually provide clearly defined rules and mechanics.
Take your turn.
Move your piece.
Play your card.
Score your points.
A case-file murder mystery works differently.
The challenge isn't necessarily understanding what you're allowed to do.
It's understanding what happened.
You read.
Compare.
Discuss.
Make notes.
Build theories.
Change those theories.
Accuse an innocent person with complete confidence.
Discover one tiny detail.
Change everything again.
That's what makes investigation games particularly well suited to couples and groups who want something more immersive than a traditional game night.
Perfect for Couples
You don't need a large group to investigate a murder.
A murder mystery game for two can turn an ordinary evening at home into an entire date-night activity.
Both players investigate the same case, but you'll rarely notice exactly the same things.
One person might immediately spot an inconsistency in the timeline.
The other remembers something suspicious from an interview.
Then the two pieces connect.
Because you're cooperating rather than competing, solving a case can also create a very different experience from playing a traditional two-player game.
There's only one opponent:
The mystery.
Great for Groups of Friends
The same format also works well with friends.
A group can divide the investigation naturally.
Someone starts constructing the timeline.
Someone examines photographs.
Someone reads the interviews.
Someone becomes irrationally suspicious of one particular character and refuses to let it go for the next two hours.
Eventually, everyone brings their discoveries together.
Because different people notice different details, discussing the case becomes an important part of solving it.
Made for True Crime and Mystery Fans
If you enjoy true crime documentaries, crime podcasts, detective fiction or unsolved cases, there's a fundamental difference between watching a mystery and playing one.
When you're watching a documentary, someone else has already conducted the investigation.
They decide which evidence to show you.
They explain which details matter.
Eventually, they tell you what happened.
A murder mystery game removes that safety net.
Here's the evidence.
Here are the suspects.
Now you decide.
Who is lying?
Which alibis can actually be verified?
What details don't fit?
And, ultimately:
Who committed the murder?
What Makes a Good Print and Play Mystery Game?
For us, a good mystery should never require a random guess.
The solution should be supported by the investigation.
That doesn't mean every clue needs to be obvious.
Quite the opposite.
Important information can be hidden among dozens of seemingly ordinary details.
There can be red herrings.
Suspects can lie.
People can hide secrets that have absolutely nothing to do with the murder.
But when the solution is finally revealed, you should be able to look back through the evidence and understand how you could have reached it.
The best reaction isn't:
“How were we supposed to know that?”
It's:
“It was right there the whole time.”
Play Digitally or Print the Entire Case
Although Ink & Clues games are designed as print-and-play experiences, printing isn't required.
You can also investigate digitally using a computer or tablet.
For groups, parts of the investigation can be displayed on a larger screen while players examine the evidence together.
But if you want the full case-file feeling, printing everything has its advantages.
There's something satisfying about having the investigation physically spread across the table.
Especially when you finally find the document everyone ignored an hour ago.
Why This Award Means So Much to Us
Ink & Clues began with a simple idea:
What if a murder mystery could feel less like playing a traditional game and more like receiving an actual case to investigate?
That idea became a collection of cases built around evidence, suspects, timelines, secrets and logical deduction.
Being named #1 Best Print & Play Game 2025 by the UKBG Review Circle is therefore particularly meaningful to us.
It's recognition of exactly the type of experience we've been trying to create.
Games where the players aren't simply following the story.
They're uncovering it.
Looking for an Award-Winning Print and Play Mystery?
If you'd like to see what earned Ink & Clues the #1 spot, you can take over one of our investigations yourself.
Choose a case.
Download it instantly.
Play digitally or print the evidence at home.
Investigate the suspects.
Find the contradictions.
Follow the evidence.
Then decide what really happened.
No board.
No dice.
No waiting for delivery.
Just an unsolved case – and everything you need to solve it.
