The Secret of Langton Manor

Around a dozen pages per episode, give or take one. Episode 1 is 13 pages. Everything is designed for plain A4 or US Letter paper on a normal home printer.

No. Every episode is designed to work in black and white. No puzzle depends on color, so a standard mono printer is fine.

They're best played in order. The story runs across all four and carries forward. But each episode opens with a recap, so if someone joins partway through, or you come back after a gap, you can pick up the thread without having played the earlier ones.

This is written for adults. We'd suggest 14 and up. There's no gore and no on-page violence, but it is a genuine horror story and some imagery is deliberately unsettling. The tone is gothic suggestion rather than shock horror, but it isn't a children's activity and we don't pretend otherwise.

Teenagers who like horror will be fine. Younger children can take part in a group if an adult reads the story sections and decides what to skip.

Yes, the companion checks your answers, gives graded hints when you're stuck, and tracks your progress. There's nothing to install from an app store: it runs in your browser on any phone, tablet or computer, and you can add it to your home screen like a normal app. More about the companion app →

One to two hours, depending on group size and how much you deliberate. You don't need to finish in one sitting: the app saves your progress, so you can pause and come back.

Yes. For a small gathering (2-4 players), one printed copy works well: everyone gathers around the table and plays through the chapter together. For a bigger party, print two copies and split into competing teams, so you can race to see who solves it first.