{"format":"murdoku-puzzle/1","id":"pettingzoo","version":1,"difficulty":"medium","level":5,"size":{"rows":6,"cols":6},"languages":["en","hu","de","fr","es","it","nl","pl","pt","ro","ca","cs","fi","vi","tr","el","ru","uk","ar","ko","ja","zh-Hans","zh-Hant"],"defaultLanguage":"en","title":"The Petting Zoo","tagline":"A little farm zoo at the edge of town · a sunny Saturday in May · the ponies were saddled","author":"mathace","concept":"Murdoku – Manuel Garand (murdoku.com); unofficial fan-made case","created":"2026-09-29","story":"A little farm zoo at the edge of a small town, on the first warm Saturday in May. Children fed the ducks, the hens strutted around their coop, the ponies stood saddled in the paddock and the hay barn smelled of summer. Viggo, who owned the zoo, had told his two keepers that morning that he was selling the land to a builder. At noon he was found on the picnic lawn, beside the bench. Everyone who was there gave a short statement – find the one who was alone with him.","rules":{"standard":["Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.","“Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (the trees, the signpost, the hen coop, the water, the flower bed and the wheelbarrow) cannot be occupied; the bench, the ponies and the hay bales can.","Directions refer to rows and columns, not to the same line: “exactly one row north of him was a woman” = the person in the row directly above is a woman, in any column.","The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area."],"special":[]},"roleNames":{"visitor":"visitor","keeper":"keeper","victim":"victim"},"personGroups":[{"id":"visitors","name":"Visitors","persons":["A","B","C"]},{"id":"keepers","name":"The keepers","persons":["D","E","V"]}],"map":{"groups":[],"gaps":[],"areas":[{"id":"Picnic Lawn","cells":[[1,1],[1,2],[1,3],[1,4],[2,1],[2,2],[3,1],[3,2],[4,2],[4,3],[5,3]],"fill":"#e0edcc","pattern":"marble","labelAt":[1,2],"name":"Picnic Lawn"},{"id":"Hen House","cells":[[1,5],[1,6],[2,6]],"fill":"#eadcc0","pattern":"planks","labelAt":[1,6],"name":"Hen House"},{"id":"Duck Pond","cells":[[2,3],[2,4],[2,5],[3,3],[3,4],[3,5],[4,4]],"fill":"#cfe3ee","labelAt":[3,5],"name":"Duck Pond"},{"id":"Pony Paddock","cells":[[3,6],[4,5],[4,6],[5,4],[5,5],[5,6],[6,5],[6,6]],"fill":"#e9e0c8","pattern":"marble","labelAt":[5,6],"name":"Pony Paddock"},{"id":"Hay Barn","cells":[[4,1],[5,1],[5,2],[6,1],[6,2],[6,3],[6,4]],"fill":"#eed9b0","pattern":"boards","labelAt":[6,2],"name":"Hay Barn"}],"objectTypes":{"bench":{"occupiable":true,"name":"bench","icon":""},"hay":{"occupiable":true,"name":"hay bale","icon":""},"horse":{"occupiable":true,"name":"pony","icon":""},"coop":{"occupiable":false,"name":"hen coop","icon":""},"flowers":{"occupiable":false,"name":"flower bed","icon":""},"signpost":{"occupiable":false,"name":"signpost","icon":"P"},"tree":{"occupiable":false,"name":"tree","icon":""},"water":{"occupiable":false,"name":"water","icon":""},"wheelbarrow":{"occupiable":false,"name":"wheelbarrow","icon":""}},"wallTypes":{},"objects":[{"cell":[1,1],"type":"tree"},{"cell":[1,3],"type":"signpost"},{"cell":[1,6],"type":"coop"},{"cell":[2,2],"type":"bench"},{"cell":[2,3],"type":"water"},{"cell":[2,4],"type":"water"},{"cell":[3,1],"type":"flowers"},{"cell":[3,3],"type":"water"},{"cell":[3,4],"type":"water"},{"cell":[3,6],"type":"horse"},{"cell":[4,1],"type":"hay"},{"cell":[5,2],"type":"wheelbarrow"},{"cell":[5,5],"type":"horse"},{"cell":[6,3],"type":"hay"},{"cell":[6,6],"type":"tree"}],"wallFeatures":[],"extras":[],"cellSize":46},"persons":[{"id":"A","name":"Annie","gender":"F","role":"visitor","color":"#c62828","avatar":{"bg":"#e65100","skin":"#f6d8c0","hair":"#7a4a2a","style":"bob","shirt":"#2e7d32","glasses":true},"clue":"She was beside a pony.","job":"a teacher on a class trip","avatarSvg":"","solverRole":"visitor","constraints":[{"type":"beside","obj":"horse"}]},{"id":"B","name":"Bodhi","gender":"M","role":"visitor","color":"#2e7d32","avatar":{"bg":"#1565c0","skin":"#d9a57a","hair":"#1c1a1a","style":"short","shirt":"#f2a53a","beard":true},"clue":"A hay bale was somewhere in his row.","job":"a young father taking a rest","avatarSvg":"","solverRole":"visitor","constraints":[{"type":"row_has","obj":"hay"}]},{"id":"C","name":"Camilla","gender":"F","role":"visitor","color":"#1565c0","avatar":{"bg":"#ad1457","skin":"#f3d3b5","hair":"#d9b464","style":"long","shirt":"#7fc4d8","earrings":true},"clue":"She was in a corner of her area.","job":"a blogger photographing the hens","avatarSvg":"","solverRole":"visitor","constraints":[{"type":"corner_of_area"}]},{"id":"D","name":"Dunstan","gender":"M","role":"keeper","color":"#6a1b9a","avatar":{"bg":"#5d4037","skin":"#e4b998","hair":"#8a8278","style":"short","shirt":"#6b8e23","mustache":true,"mustacheColor":"#8a8278","cap":true},"clue":"He was beside a pony. Exactly one row north of him was a keeper.","job":"the pony keeper","avatarSvg":"","solverRole":"keeper","constraints":[{"type":"beside","obj":"horse"},{"type":"rel_any","dir":"N","exact":1,"role":"keeper"}]},{"id":"E","name":"Elsie","gender":"F","role":"keeper","color":"#e65100","avatar":{"bg":"#3f6a3a","skin":"#f6d8c0","hair":"#b7482c","style":"ponytail","shirt":"#5d4037","apron":true},"clue":"She was the southernmost person in her area.","job":"the keeper of the ducks and hens","avatarSvg":"","solverRole":"keeper","constraints":[{"type":"extreme_in_area","dir":"S"}]},{"id":"V","name":"Viggo","gender":"M","role":"victim","color":"#1b1b1b","avatar":{"bg":"#5a2a2a","skin":"#f1c8a5","hair":"#d9b464","style":"bald","shirt":"#264653","beard":true},"clue":"The victim. He was found on the Picnic Lawn, beside the bench – alone with the murderer.","job":"the owner of the petting zoo","avatarSvg":"","solverRole":"keeper","constraints":[{"type":"area","areas":["Picnic Lawn"]},{"type":"beside","obj":"bench"}]}],"victim":"V","murderer":"E","solution":{"C":[1,5],"V":[2,1],"E":[3,2],"D":[4,6],"A":[5,4],"B":[6,3]},"walkthrough":[{"place":[],"cand":{"A":[[5,4],[5,6]],"B":[[6,1],[6,2],[6,3]],"D":[[4,5],[4,6]]},"text":"Annie and Dunstan were both beside a pony. The ponies are at R3C6 and R5C5 in the Pony Paddock, and the squares beside them in the paddock are R4C5, R4C6, R5C4, R5C6 and R6C5 – all in rows 4–6. Bodhi had a hay bale in his row: row 4 or row 6. So Annie, Bodhi and Dunstan fill rows 4, 5 and 6 between them. Exactly one row north of Dunstan was a keeper – but in row 5 he would have Annie or Bodhi above him, and in row 6 Annie, both visitors. So Dunstan is in row 4 (R4C5 or R4C6), a keeper is in row 3, Annie is in row 5 (R5C4 or R5C6) and Bodhi in row 6. Camilla was in a corner of her area; outside rows 4–6 every corner square is in columns 4–6 (R1C4, R1C5, R2C5, R2C6, R3C5, R3C6). So Annie, Camilla and Dunstan fill columns 4–6, and Bodhi is at R6C1, R6C2 or R6C3."},{"place":["E"],"cand":{"A":[[5,4],[5,6]],"B":[[6,1],[6,3]],"C":[[1,5],[2,5],[2,6]],"D":[[4,5],[4,6]]},"text":"Elsie and the victim are left with rows 1–3 and columns 1–3. The free squares there are R1C2, R2C1, R2C2 and R3C2 – all on the Picnic Lawn. So the victim was on the Picnic Lawn, Elsie was there too, and nobody else could have been. The keeper in row 3 is Elsie or the victim (Camilla is a visitor), and the only free square of row 3 in these columns is R3C2. Elsie was the southernmost person on the Picnic Lawn, so she is the one in row 3: Elsie is at R3C2."},{"place":["A","C","D","B"],"cand":{"V":[[2,1]]},"text":"Camilla was not on the Picnic Lawn, and row 3 is Elsie's: she is at R1C5, R2C5 or R2C6 – in column 5 or 6, just like Dunstan. So Annie is at R5C4. The victim is on the Picnic Lawn in row 1 or 2, and columns 2 and 4 are taken: the only such square is R2C1. That leaves Camilla row 1: Camilla is at R1C5, in the corner of the Hen House, Dunstan at R4C6 and Bodhi at R6C3, on the hay bale."},{"final":true,"text":"Case closed: the last free square, R2C1, is the victim's – on the Picnic Lawn, beside the bench, just as his card says. Viggo was alone there with the keeper of the ducks and hens. Elsie is the murderer!"}],"solver":{"rules":[],"occupiable":["bench","hay","horse"]},"verification":{"tool":"tools/murdoku_solver.py","unique":true,"guessFree":true,"checked":"2026-09-29"}}