A Christmas mystery
game for groups

Before you buy the longer night

What you are actually gathering for

Last Light Before Christmas is the first story on SolveNight. It is written for adults who are already in the same room: two to six people, one shared screen, and a phone each. The screen shows the town. The phones hold the private pieces. You talk. That is the whole trick, and it is enough to fill a sofa.

You do not need a friend who has studied the answers, a printer, a dedicated television app, or a drinking rule to make the puzzle legal. The organizer can pause. Hints live in the game. A wrong move does not dump the group out of the story. Nobody is scored against anyone else.

At a glance

• Players 2–6 adults, together in one room. The organizer can play too.
• Devices One computer for the shared view, a TV if you want one, and a phone per person. No downloads.
• Prologue Free. No buyer account. One complete beacon mission before anyone pays.
• Full story $9.99 for the whole group, not a ticket per phone.

Start with the free prologue

If this is the first time SolveNight will be on your television, start with the prologue. It is one complete beacon mission: six cooperative stations and a final signal, written for about five to eight minutes once everyone is in the room. Those minutes are a design target. Reading aloud, a hint, and the time you spend finding the HDMI cable will change them. There is no payment and no buyer account. Players pick a nickname and join with the room code, or with the ordinary QR code on the shared screen.

Pair the organizer’s phone before you mirror the computer. That private link can start the story, pause it, ask for a hint, and send the final signal. Friends only need the public join view. Put that tab on the TV and leave the organizer page in your hand. If the TV browser is fussy, use HDMI or the screen-mirroring setup you already trust. A laptop on the coffee table is a valid shared screen. You do not need a smart-TV app, a projector, or game controllers.

The how to play guide walks through that pairing, what to do when a phone drops off, and how hints work. Read it before guests arrive if your television setup is new. The Christmas escape room page is the longer description of the evening itself: what the shared screen shows, what stays on the phones, and how a group of two still has a part for everyone.

The complete story, for one group

The longer story is three chapters: the beacon, the midnight depot, and the Christmas gathering. New station types show up, the person you depend on changes, and there are two chapter breaks where you can refill a glass or argue about a symbol. The design target is about twenty to thirty minutes of play. It is not a promise that your particular friends will finish on that clock. There is no punishing countdown.

One person buys it for the group. It is not six separate checkouts. The price on this page is the same amount checkout charges for the story, before any tax the payment page adds. The hosted checkout shows the final total, including taxes, before you pay. Players still do not need accounts. The buyer signs in to open the paid room and to find the order again later.

The redemption is used when the paid room is created, not when you press Start. That room stays available for six hours from creation, including setup and breaks. Pausing the play timer does not extend those six hours. Inside the window you can reconnect and restart. Restarting clears chapter progress. It does not open a second room and it does not spend a second purchase. You have 365 days from confirmed payment to create that one room, so create it when people are actually on the sofa, not the week you buy it.

If a friend already has a code on the television, do not buy a second copy. Join the room from your own phone. One person, one phone, one set of clues. The public screen is not an extra player.

What the night feels like

The town’s Christmas beacon is dark. You can see a control. The instruction for it is on someone else’s phone. Your own note is useless until you read it to the person who can use it. The shared screen keeps those notes off the television, so nobody is stuck watching a quiz they cannot answer. You describe a small odd detail. Someone else says, wait, read that again. The station changes. That loop is the game.

There is no trivia round and no acting challenge. You are not asked to perform a character for the table. If your group likes comparing two versions of the same instruction and then laughing at the gap, this was written for that. Smaller groups hold more cards. A station’s instructions stay with a different person from the control, including when only two of you are playing. A full table of six just means each phone is lighter.

The organizer does not need the solution. Layered hints, pause, and the final-signal input are on the organizer phone. You do not need the author in a group chat to send the next beat. When you are done, the shared screen shows the town lit again. The free prologue ends after the beacon. The complete story continues through the depot and the gathering, with the same rule: say what you see, and let someone else hold the part you cannot.

A practical order for the evening

Open the free prologue on the computer that will face the room. Pair your phone in private. Then open the shared screen and, if you want the bigger picture, connect that computer to the TV. Ask everyone to join and enter a name. The short practice card is there so the first real station is not also the first time someone is holding the phone the right way up.

Play the prologue together. If the room, the Wi-Fi, and the talking all feel good, the buyer can get the complete story from this page and open it for the same group. If the television never quite cooperates, stop there. The prologue is a full little mission on its own, and it does not require the longer purchase. You can also come back another night within the license window, as long as you have not already created the paid room.

Phones need their own internet connection. They do not all have to share the television’s Wi-Fi. Keep the same browser if someone disconnects, and open the room again rather than clearing the browser’s data mid-game. Clearing it can forget that phone’s seat. The organizer page and the pairing link stay private. The QR code on the TV is the one friends should scan.

Still choosing the shape of the night, rather than this one story? The party games page puts SolveNight next to other low-prep ways to spend a Christmas evening with two to six adults. Some of those need less setup. This one is the option where the mystery is split across the phones on purpose.

When you are ready, play the prologue from the card above, or read the escape-room page if you want the evening described before you host. The price does not change between those pages. It is one group purchase for Last Light Before Christmas, and the free first mission stays free.