Games like Murdoku: 8 alternatives for when you finish the book
Murdoku has a problem its readers know well: it ends. Eighty cases feel like plenty until you have spent three weeks solving two a night. And when you close the book, what you want isn’t “another puzzle” — it is exactly that feeling of placing the last person and seeing who was left alone with the victim.
This list is for that. It runs from most similar to least, and for each one we say what it shares with Murdoku and where it differs. One honest warning up front: one of the options, Culpable, is ours. We say so where it comes up and let you compare.
1. The other Murdoku volumes
The obvious one first. Volume 2: Back in Time is, for anyone coming from the first book, the natural continuation: the same mechanics, eighty new cases spread across five eras (the Middle Ages, the Wild West, the golden age of piracy, the Stone Age and ancient Egypt), and a difficulty curve that doesn’t start over from zero. Volume 3: Around the World does the same across every continent, Antarctica included, from 27 October 2026 (what we know so far). If what you want is more of the same, here it is, with the same drawback as always: it ends too.
Murdoku Volume 2: Back in Time
80 murder mystery logic puzzlesSee it on Amazon →
Murdoku Volume 3: Around the World
80 more, on every continentSee it on Amazon →
Like Murdoku: everything. Different: nothing, except the cases are new.
2. Culpable (web and Android, free)
A crime sudoku with the same rules as Murdoku (one person per row and column, furniture you can or can’t be on, and the murderer is whoever is left alone with the victim), played on screen, with the illustrated floor plan and the statements beside it. The cases are generated by an engine that checks each one has exactly one solution, so there are no errata and they never run out: pick a difficulty and play. There is a daily case that is the same for everyone, with a leaderboard, streaks and weekly leagues, and a hint system that explains the next logical step instead of giving the answer.
It is ours, so we say it plainly: if you like competing or want endless cases, this is what we built for that. It is at culpable.cat and on Google Play, with no ads. The interface is in English, Spanish and Catalan.
Like Murdoku: the rules and the feeling of solving. Different: it’s digital, unlimited, with a difficulty of your choosing and daily competition. No paper.
3. Murdle, by G. T. Karber
The other publishing phenomenon of the genre. Murdle is also murders solved by logic, but the mechanism is different: instead of a floor plan and a row-and-column grid, it uses the classic logic grid (suspect × weapon × location) where you mark crosses and ticks until only one combination is left. It has more story than Murdoku (a recurring detective, humour, a thread between cases) and less geometry.
Murdle: Volume 1
100 elementary to impossible mysteries · G. T. KarberSee it on Amazon →
Like Murdoku: crime + pure deduction, book format, short cases. Different: the tool is the logic grid, not the plan. If what you liked most in Murdoku was the map, Murdle will feel different; if you liked the “it can only be one”, you’ll love it.
4. Murdle Junior (for playing with children)
If someone aged eight to twelve has watched you solve cases and wants a go, Murdle Junior is the door in: the same logic-grid cases with fewer suspects, more direct clues and a comic-book tone. It is the easiest way for the game to spread from one person to the whole family.
Like Murdoku: deduction by elimination, one case per page. Different: made to read and solve with children.
5. Logic grid puzzles (the “Einstein” puzzles)
Before Murdle and Murdoku there was the classic “five houses of five colours, five owners, five pets… who owns the fish?”. There are whole books of these, and it is the same mental muscle (crossing constraints until only one possibility remains) without the crime layer.
Like Murdoku: deduction by elimination. Different: no story and no plan; naked logic. Ideal for training the techniques of the hard cases.
6. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective (board game)
A change of register: not a closed logic puzzle but open investigation. You get a case, a map of London, a directory and a newspaper, and you decide whom to visit and in what order; at the end you answer the questions and compare with Holmes’s solution. It is slow, cooperative, and each case is a whole evening.
Like Murdoku: solving a crime with your head. Different: everything else. It’s for when you want to investigate rather than deduce.
7. Cluedo (Clue)
The grandfather of them all. Deduction by elimination (who, with what, where), but with dice, questioning the other players, and a share of luck that Murdoku doesn’t have. Still the best way to play this as a family.
Cluedo Grab & Go
The travel editionSee it on Amazon →
Like Murdoku: the suspect–weapon–place structure and the elimination. Different: it’s competitive, social, and has chance.
8. Escape room boxes (Exit, Unlock, Deckscape)
If what you like about Murdoku is the “click” when everything fits, escape room boxes give you that in another form: chained riddles, with objects and codes, to solve in an hour or two with someone else. Many have crime plots.
Like Murdoku: the pleasure of solving. Different: they are varied riddles, not a system; you play them once.
Which one to pick
| If what you want is… | Try |
|---|---|
| More Murdoku, as is | Back in Time, Around the World |
| Endless cases and competition | Culpable |
| Another book with the same spirit | Murdle |
| Playing with children | Murdle Junior, Cluedo |
| Training pure logic | Logic grid puzzles |
| An evening with other people | Sherlock Holmes, escape boxes |
And if you got here because you are in the hard half of the book rather than because you finished it, the seven tips for the hard cases may serve you better.