Murdle: A Board Game
Last updated: 30 August 2026
What this page is. A plain-English reference for the Murdle board game, the boxed version of G. T. Karber's logic puzzle. Here you will find the verified UK price, the player count, the age rating and the playing time. There is also a full contents list, plus a straight answer on whether it is replayable. Every figure below was checked on 30 August 2026, against Goliath Games' own UK listing and four UK retailers.
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What the Murdle board game actually is
Murdle began in 2022 as a free daily online murder mystery built on a logic grid. The American author G. T. Karber writes it. It then became a book series, and the books did remarkably well here. Volume one was Britain's best-selling book over Christmas 2023. Then, in May 2024, it took Overall Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. Karber calls the appeal "a puzzle with stakes". That is a fair summary of why a logic grid works better with a body in it.
Goliath Games then licensed it and published Murdle: A Board Game, subtitled The Case of the Cover-Up. Crucially, this is not a book with a board glued to it. Instead, it takes the same deduction grid and hands each player a different slice of the evidence. The puzzle therefore becomes a race rather than a solitary sit-down.
How the game works
Every game hides one answer: a suspect, a weapon and a location. Four of each sit on the board, which gives sixty-four possible combinations before anyone touches a card. This edition uses the books' regular cast. The suspects are Comrade Champagne, Lady Violet, Silverton the Legend and Numerologist Night. Meanwhile the weapons run to a ghost detector, an angry moose, a bag of sand and an impossible triangle. The locations are the Freeway, the Madding Mountains, Midnight Studios and Castle Eminence.
Each detective sits behind a privacy screen with their own evidence folder. On your turn you gather clues. Then you mark the grid with tick and cross tokens to rule suspects in or out. Because the others hold information you do not, you have to trade some of it. However, anything you hand over helps them as much as it helps you. So the real game is deciding what to give away, and when. Finally, when you think you have it, you drop an accusation token and commit.
Murdle board game specification
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Players | 2 to 4 |
| Age | 12 and up |
| Playing time | 20 to 40 minutes |
| Publisher | Goliath Games, distributed in the UK by Vivid Goliath |
| Based on | Murdle by G. T. Karber |
| Price | £11 at Amazon and Argos, £20 at John Lewis, checked 30 August 2026 |
| Barcode | 8720077315297 |
What is in the box
The box holds one logic game board, a pad of 100 note sheets and four evidence folders. Then there are sixteen tabbed evidence cards, sixteen Murdle cards and twelve discovery cards. Finally you get forty-eight tokens, twelve ticks and thirty-six crosses, plus three accusation tokens, four privacy screens and the instructions.
The Amazon listing title still reads "For 1+ Players Ages 14+". That is copy carried over from the American edition. The box itself, and Goliath's own UK spec sheet, both say two to four players and twelve and up. Trust the box, and ignore the listing.
Is it replayable, or a one-shot?
It is replayable. Nothing is torn, sealed or destroyed, so there is no legacy element here at all. Instead, the sixteen evidence cards and sixteen Murdle cards shuffle into a fresh solution each time. That is why Goliath's own listing promises a different mystery every play.
The only consumable is the note pad. Each player uses one sheet per game, so 100 goes a long way. In short, a group of four gets twenty-five evenings out of the pad before anyone photocopies anything.
Price and where to buy
Prices move about on this one, so it pays to look twice. All four of these were checked on 30 August 2026.
| Retailer | Price |
|---|---|
| Amazon | £11.00 |
| Argos | £11.00 |
| Waterstones | £19.99 |
| John Lewis | £20.00 |
In other words, the recommended price sits around twenty pounds, and the volume retailers are currently running it at just over half that. Eleven pounds buys a board, a hundred note sheets and four screens. That is a lot of cardboard for the money.
Murdle board game FAQs
How many players does the Murdle board game need?
Two to four, according to the box and to Goliath's UK spec. It plays perfectly well with two, though the bluffing over what to share is better with a fuller table.
What age is Murdle suitable for?
Twelve and up. That said, the reading is light and the logic matches the newspaper puzzle. So a younger child who likes sudoku will usually keep up, with a bit of help.
How long does a game of Murdle take?
Goliath quotes 20 to 40 minutes. First games sit at the longer end while everyone learns the grid, and later ones move quickly.
Is the Murdle board game replayable?
Yes. The cards shuffle into a new solution every game. Nothing is used up except the note sheets, and there are 100 of those.
Do I need the Murdle books to play?
No. The game is self-contained, and it explains the grid from scratch. Fans of the books will recognise the suspects, but that is a bonus rather than a requirement.
How much does the Murdle board game cost in the UK?
Around £20 at recommended price, and £11 at Amazon and Argos when we checked on 30 August 2026. Waterstones and John Lewis were both holding the higher figure.
Is Murdle the same as the free online game?
No, although they share a designer and a logic. The daily puzzle at murdle.com is a mystery you solve alone. The board game, by contrast, splits the evidence between players and turns it into a race.
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- Audible: crime fiction to listen to once the accusations are done.
Prices and product details change. Everything on this page was checked on 30 August 2026 against Goliath Games' UK listing and the retailers named.
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