Rules of engagement
What we will not do
to anyone.
And what an analyst must not do to close a case. Block 01 is acknowledged once, before the first case, and applies from then on.
01 · Engagement
Every case is solved from your desk. That is the discipline.
Stay passiveUse what is openly published. No logins under false pretenses, no scraping behind consent walls, no circumventing access controls. If a technique would get a journalist sued, it is out of scope.
Contact no oneNever call, message, email or follow anyone in pursuit of a case — no businesses, no officials, no just-asking. Every case is solvable without a single human interaction.
Visit nothingLocations in cases are backdrops, not destinations. Do not travel to, enter, photograph or surveil any place because a case references it.
Target no oneThe case defines what you investigate. Real people who appear near a case — property owners, businesses, passers-by, photographers — are not part of it. No living person is ever a target.
Found something real?If you believe you have stumbled on a genuine matter of concern, stop and report it to us. Do not act on it, publish it, or investigate further.
Violations end the account. This is the one rule set without appeals.
02 · Play
AttemptsArc cases do not limit them. Submit as often as the work needs — an arc is a chain, and a case you cannot close takes the next case's opening lead with it. Nothing counts down.
Special casesThese stand outside the chain, so they are stricter: a fixed budget of attempts, stated in the header and counted down. Spent is spent. At Insane the budget is lifted again and every rejected submission costs 50 points instead — a flat charge, the same for the first as for the tenth, and it stands on the case screen before you submit rather than appearing after. Your rank is never touched by it. They still belong to the arc they appear in: they pay onto its board, they close with it, and the next arc brings its own.
HintsA hint costs no attempt. It costs points: the case pays out less toward the standings for every hint taken, and the deduction is shown before the hint opens. XP and your rank are untouched — trade standing for time when the trade is worth it.
Points and XPTwo currencies, two lifespans. Points are the score on the board and the money for hints — you go into every arc with the same 200 an analyst starts with, and what is left when the arc closes stays on that arc's board rather than travelling with you. Carrying a surplus forward would buy the next arc's hints with work nobody did there. XP is yours and never resets: it carries your rank from Initiate to Principal, and a rank that fell back at the end of an arc would be saying something about you rather than about the contest.
FindingsFields are defined per case and say exactly what they expect. Entries are checked leniently — case-insensitive, sensible spelling variants, documented tolerances for coordinates and dates. If your answer is right, formatting will not make it wrong.
ParkingA parked case holds its state. The elapsed clock does not.
ToolsAny public tool is fair game — search engines, maps, archives, registries, AI assistants. SPURIA tests judgment, not abstinence. What stays out of bounds is defined in 01.
Every case states its difficulty — Easy, Medium, Hard or Insane — and a special case states its attempt budget before you accept it. The demo has neither: unlimited attempts, free hints, nothing scored.
03 · Competition
StandingsScoped to the running arc. At arc end the board is archived — sealed, viewable, never wiped. Cases stay open after their arc closes; late solves earn XP but no standing.
One analyst, one accountNo shared accounts, no alternates.
No spoilers while openFindings, key sources and solution paths stay off public channels until a case closes. After close, the walkthrough is published on Field Notes — then it is all yours to discuss, write up and improve on.
Team playHappens in private. Organized public crowdsolving of an open case is treated as spoiling.
04 · Authenticity and disputes
What is realThe world, the tools, the techniques, the archives.
What is fictionThe story layer — names, documents, events under investigation. Cases are fictional or drawn from public history. No living person is ever a target.
Sources are pinnedEvery flag is verified against sources archived at authoring time. The open web drifts; the snapshot decides.
DisputesIf your rejected answer is defensible from a serious source, file a dispute from the case screen. We check it against the pinned sources — and against them only. Upheld disputes widen the accepted answers for everyone.