Floor Plan Rules: Placing the Suspects
After the sudoku, you work out where everyone was at the moment in question. A handful of fixed rules makes that possible. Once you know them, you never have to guess.
Updated
The rules at a glance
- Each row and column holds exactly one person. To be precise: in every row and every column, exactly one square is occupied, either by a suspect or by the victim. All other squares stay empty.
- Every card is true. All statements refer to the moment the chapter asks about. If a card gives two clues, both apply.
- The square left free belongs to the victim. The last unoccupied row and column meet at the victim’s square. In the practice case, there’s a target instead of a victim: the missing key.
- Blocked furniture stays empty. Nobody can be on a stove or a plant, not even the victim.
- You’re looking for whoever was alone with the victim: the one suspect in the same room as the victim.
Reading the plan
Columns run A, B, C and so on from the left. Rows are numbered from the top. North is up. Thick lines are walls that divide the rooms. For the rules, outdoor areas such as a garden count as rooms too.
Some squares hold furniture. A person can occupy a seat such as a chair or a sofa, which means they were sitting. Anyone on bare floor was standing. Blocked furniture such as a stove or a plant is off limits.
Clue types
The suspects’ statements always use the same terms. Before a new clue type appears for the first time, the app explains it with the actual card on your floor plan. You can return to the explanation in the glossary later.
| On the card | What it means |
|---|---|
| “In the kitchen” | Anywhere in that room, standing on the floor or sitting on a seat. |
| “Not in the kitchen” | In any other room. |
| “Sat on a chair” | On a chair, not on any other seat such as the sofa. |
| “Stood” | On bare floor. Anyone on a seat was sitting. |
| “At a window” | On a square with a window along one of its sides. |
| “Not at a window” | On none of the squares right by a window. |
| “Next to a plant” | Right beside it, left, right, above or below, in the same room. Never diagonally, never through a wall. |
| “In a corner” | Two adjacent sides of the square lie along the boundaries of its room. Furniture doesn’t count as a boundary. |
| “By an outside wall” | Indoors at the edge of the plan, or sharing an edge with an outdoor area. |
| “In a room with a plant” | Anywhere in a room where a plant stands. |
| “In a room without a plant” | In a room where no plant stands. |
| “North of …” | Anywhere higher up on the plan than that person, in any column and any room. South, west and east work the same way in their direction. |
| “In the same room as …” | Anywhere in that person’s room. |
| “Alone” | No other suspect was in the same room. The victim doesn’t count. |
| “With one other person in the room” | Exactly two people. “With two others” means exactly three. The victim doesn’t count. |
| “No suspect was next to a plant” | No square directly beside a plant in the same room was occupied by a suspect. The same goes for “at a window”. |
| “There was at least one suspect in every room” | Applies to every room on the plan. No room is left without a suspect. |
A worked example
This small plan isn’t from the app, but it follows the same rules. It has four rooms: kitchen, hall, parlor and garden. The kitchen has a stove (blocked) and a chair, the parlor has a sofa, and the garden has a plant (blocked). The question: who was alone with the victim?
Example plan with four rooms. Columns A to D, rows 1 to 4. Kitchen: A1, B1, A2, B2. Hall: C1, D1, C2, D2. Parlor: A3, B3, C3, A4, B4. Garden: D3, C4, D4. Stove on A1 (blocked), chair on B2, plant on D3 (blocked), sofa on A4.
The three statements:
- Anna: “I sat in the kitchen.”
- Ben: “I stood in the hall.”
- Carla: “I sat on the sofa.”
- Anna sat in the kitchen. The only seat there is the chair on B2, so Anna is on B2. That fills row 2 and column B.
- Carla sat on the sofa, so she’s on A4. That fills row 4 and column A.
- Ben stood in the hall. Row 2 is taken, which leaves row 1: C1 or D1.
- The victim gets the last free row, row 3, and whichever column Ben leaves open. If Ben were on C1, the victim would be on D3, but the blocked plant is there. So Ben is on D1 and the victim is on C3.
- C3 is in the parlor, and the only other person in the parlor is Carla. She was alone with the victim.
Solved example plan: Anna on B2, Ben on D1, Carla on A4, the victim on C3. Columns A to D, rows 1 to 4. Kitchen: A1, B1, A2, B2. Hall: C1, D1, C2, D2. Parlor: A3, B3, C3, A4, B4. Garden: D3, C4, D4. Stove on A1 (blocked), chair on B2, plant on D3 (blocked), sofa on A4.
Here, the row-and-column rule decides where Ben stands. Every case has steps like this: a statement narrows things down, and the row-and-column rule eliminates the rest.
Flat view or 3D diorama
In the app, you can tilt the plan at any time to see a 3D model of the house. The rules stay the same. Use the Cross tool, or press and hold a square, to mark squares you’ve ruled out.
When you get stuck
Hints come in three steps: first they point out what to look at, then they explain the next step of reasoning, and finally they place a person on their square. If someone is in the wrong place, the first hint only tells you who.
To see how the sudoku fits into a case, read How a murder sudoku works. The rules for the number puzzle are on Sudoku rules. The easiest way to learn both is the practice case.
Frequently asked questions
Can a statement be a lie?
No. In Sudocrime, every card is true and refers to the moment the chapter asks about. Nobody lies.
Does the victim count when a card says “alone”?
No. “Alone” means no other suspect was in the same room. The victim doesn’t count.
Do outdoor areas count as rooms?
Yes. For the rules, outdoor areas on the plan, such as a garden, count as rooms too.