Giggle Gaps was about words: what a noun is, what a verb does, and how the right (or very wrong) word changes a whole story. Our next game is about a different kind of thinking. It's called Sleuth Scouts, and it's a mystery game built on one of the oldest puzzle formats around: the logic grid.
Read the clues. Mark the grid. Crack the case.
Every case starts with a short, silly setup — a missing trophy, a mixed-up lunch order, a pet that wandered off — and a handful of clues. Kids work a grid of people and things, tapping a ✓ when a clue proves a match and an ✗ when it rules one out. When every row and column has exactly one ✓, the case is closed.
If you've ever seen an “Einstein's riddle” or a logic puzzle book, you know the format. What's different is who it's for. Sleuth Scouts is designed for kids roughly 6 to 12, so the clues use plain language, every name and object has a picture next to it, and nobody has to type anything.
- Cadet cases are 3×3 grids with just a few clues — small enough to solve with a parent reading the clues aloud.
- Scout cases are 4×4, the core of the game.
- Super Sleuth cases are the bigger, tougher ones for kids who want a real challenge.
No timers, no scores, no penalties
A few rules guided the design from day one. There's no clock. There's no score, no stars, and no leaderboard. A wrong mark doesn't cost you anything — the grid just doesn't resolve until it's right, and you can change your mind as many times as you like. The “Case Closed” screen is a celebration of what you figured out, not a grade.
That's deliberate. The whole point of a logic puzzle is the moment where two clues click together and suddenly you know something no clue actually said. Pressure gets in the way of that moment. Exploration makes room for it.
Why logic puzzles?
A logic grid quietly teaches a set of skills that are hard to teach directly: reading carefully (a “not” changes everything), keeping track of what you know versus what you're guessing, and being able to say why an answer is right. Those are the same habits a reader uses to back up a claim with evidence, and the same ones a math student uses to justify a solution.
And like Giggle Gaps, it's something you can do together. A younger kid can tap the grid while a grown-up reads clues aloud; an older kid can take a case solo and explain the solution afterward.
Free logic lesson plans for teachers
Giggle Gaps has a library of free printable language-arts lesson plans. Sleuth Scouts now has its own set: free printable logic and reasoning lessons for kindergarten through 12th grade. They stand on their own — no app required — and each one includes a printable worksheet, an answer key, differentiation ideas, and Common Core alignment.
- K–4: picture-clue puzzles, “not” clues, the one-✓-per-row rule, and tricky clue words like either/or and neither/nor.
- 5–8: three-category grids, ordering puzzles, evidence vs. inference vs. assumption, and if–then reasoning.
- 9–12: auditing a detective's report for logical fallacies, and a project where students design their own uniquely solvable mystery and write the proof.
Many of them include a drag-and-drop version for the classroom smartboard, too.
What's next
Sleuth Scouts is still early, and there's a lot more on the way: hints that point you at the right clue without giving away the answer, saved progress, and more cases. Further down the road, the two games will start talking to each other — imagine a mystery starring the characters from a story your kid wrote in Giggle Gaps.
For now, the cases are waiting. Go crack one.