{"format":"murdoku-puzzle/1","id":"treehouse","version":1,"difficulty":"easy","level":3,"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 Treehouse","tagline":"A treehouse lodge in a beech forest · midsummer night · the owl was watching","author":"mathace","concept":"Murdoku – Manuel Garand (murdoku.com); unofficial fan-made case","created":"2026-09-29","story":"Deep in an old beech forest stands a tiny lodge: a wooden cabin in the crown of a giant tree, reached by a rope ladder, with a meadow on one side and a campsite on the other. On midsummer night the guests and the two members of staff ate by lantern light, the carpenter dozed in the hammock and the tame owl on its perch watched over the treetop. Vito, an investor who wanted to buy the forest and fell it for timber, went down to the campsite after supper. He was found there, beside the tent. Everyone describes where they were – 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 owl, the tree, the lantern, the patches of wildflowers, the chest, the rope ladder, the tent and the wheelbarrow) cannot be occupied; the hammock, the bench and the deckchair can.","The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area."],"special":[]},"roleNames":{"guest":"guest","staff":"staff","victim":"victim"},"personGroups":[{"id":"guests","name":"Guests","persons":["A","B","C","V"]},{"id":"staff","name":"The staff","persons":["D","E"]}],"map":{"groups":[],"gaps":[],"areas":[{"id":"Meadow","cells":[[1,1],[2,1],[3,1],[4,1],[5,1],[5,2],[6,1],[6,2],[6,3]],"fill":"#e2eecf","pattern":"marble","labelAt":[4,1],"name":"Meadow"},{"id":"Campsite","cells":[[1,6],[2,6],[3,6],[4,6],[5,5],[5,6],[6,4],[6,5],[6,6]],"fill":"#ece5cf","pattern":"marble","labelAt":[5,6],"name":"Campsite"},{"id":"Treetop","cells":[[1,2],[1,3],[1,4],[1,5],[2,2],[2,5],[3,2],[3,5],[4,2],[4,3],[4,5]],"fill":"#cfe3c3","pattern":"marble","labelAt":[2,2],"name":"Treetop"},{"id":"Treehouse","cells":[[2,3],[2,4],[3,3],[3,4]],"fill":"#e6d2b0","pattern":"planks","labelAt":[2,4],"name":"Treehouse"},{"id":"Trunk","cells":[[4,4],[5,3],[5,4]],"fill":"#cdb89a","pattern":"boards","labelAt":[5,4],"name":"Trunk"}],"objectTypes":{"bench":{"occupiable":true,"name":"bench","icon":""},"deckchair":{"occupiable":true,"name":"deckchair","icon":""},"hammock":{"occupiable":true,"name":"hammock","icon":""},"chest":{"occupiable":false,"name":"chest","icon":""},"flowers":{"occupiable":false,"name":"patch of wildflowers","icon":""},"ladder":{"occupiable":false,"name":"rope ladder","icon":""},"lantern":{"occupiable":false,"name":"lantern","icon":""},"owl":{"occupiable":false,"name":"owl","icon":""},"tent":{"occupiable":false,"name":"tent","icon":""},"tree":{"occupiable":false,"name":"tree","icon":""},"wheelbarrow":{"occupiable":false,"name":"wheelbarrow","icon":""}},"wallTypes":{},"objects":[{"cell":[1,3],"type":"owl"},{"cell":[1,6],"type":"tree"},{"cell":[2,3],"type":"hammock"},{"cell":[2,5],"type":"lantern"},{"cell":[3,1],"type":"flowers"},{"cell":[3,2],"type":"bench"},{"cell":[3,4],"type":"chest"},{"cell":[4,4],"type":"ladder"},{"cell":[4,6],"type":"tent"},{"cell":[6,3],"type":"wheelbarrow"},{"cell":[6,5],"type":"deckchair"},{"cell":[6,6],"type":"flowers"}],"wallFeatures":[],"extras":[],"cellSize":46},"persons":[{"id":"A","name":"Ada","gender":"F","role":"guest","color":"#c62828","avatar":{"bg":"#e65100","skin":"#f6d8c0","hair":"#5a3a22","style":"bob","shirt":"#f4efe6","necklace":true},"clue":"She was not beside the lantern.","job":"a honeymooner","avatarSvg":"","solverRole":"guest","constraints":[{"type":"not_beside","obj":"lantern"}]},{"id":"B","name":"Beau","gender":"M","role":"guest","color":"#2e7d32","avatar":{"bg":"#1565c0","skin":"#e7b98f","hair":"#3a2a1c","style":"short","shirt":"#c62828","beard":true,"glasses":true},"clue":"He was beside the bench. There was a woman in his area.","job":"a travel blogger","avatarSvg":"","solverRole":"guest","constraints":[{"type":"beside","obj":"bench"},{"type":"with_gender","gender":"F"}]},{"id":"C","name":"Clover","gender":"F","role":"guest","color":"#1565c0","avatar":{"bg":"#ad1457","skin":"#f0cdb0","hair":"#b7482c","style":"curly","shirt":"#7fc4d8","headband":"#2a8a6a"},"clue":"She was alone in her area.","job":"a yoga teacher","avatarSvg":"","solverRole":"guest","constraints":[{"type":"alone"}]},{"id":"D","name":"Duke","gender":"M","role":"staff","color":"#6a1b9a","avatar":{"bg":"#5d4037","skin":"#e4b998","hair":"#1c1a1a","style":"bald","shirt":"#6b8e23","beard":true},"clue":"He was lying in the hammock.","job":"the carpenter who built the treehouse","avatarSvg":"","solverRole":"staff","constraints":[{"type":"on","obj":"hammock"}]},{"id":"E","name":"Evie","gender":"F","role":"staff","color":"#e65100","avatar":{"bg":"#6a1b9a","skin":"#f3d3b5","hair":"#1c1a1a","style":"bun","shirt":"#f4efe6","apron":true},"clue":"She was beside a patch of wildflowers.","job":"the camp cook","avatarSvg":"","solverRole":"staff","constraints":[{"type":"beside","obj":"flowers"}]},{"id":"V","name":"Vito","gender":"M","role":"victim","color":"#1b1b1b","avatar":{"bg":"#5a2a2a","skin":"#d9a57a","hair":"#1c1a1a","style":"slick","shirt":"#2f3b4c","mustache":true,"mustacheColor":"#1c1a1a"},"clue":"The victim. He was found in the Campsite, beside the tent – alone with the murderer.","job":"an investor who wanted to fell the forest","avatarSvg":"","solverRole":"guest","constraints":[{"type":"area","areas":["Campsite"]},{"type":"beside","obj":"tent"}]}],"victim":"V","murderer":"E","solution":{"A":[1,4],"D":[2,3],"V":[3,6],"B":[4,2],"C":[5,1],"E":[6,5]},"walkthrough":[{"place":["D","B"],"cand":{"A":[[1,1],[1,4],[3,6],[5,1],[5,4],[5,5],[5,6],[6,1],[6,4],[6,5]],"C":[[1,1],[1,4],[1,5],[3,5],[3,6],[5,1],[5,4],[5,5],[5,6],[6,1],[6,4],[6,5]],"E":[[5,6],[6,5]]},"text":"Duke was lying in the hammock, and there is only one, at R2C3: Duke is at R2C3. Beau was beside the bench (R3C2, in the Treetop): at R2C2 or R4C2 – R3C3 belongs to the Treehouse, a different area. Row 2 is Duke's: Beau is at R4C2."},{"place":["A"],"cand":{"C":[[3,5],[3,6],[5,1],[5,5],[5,6],[6,1],[6,5]],"E":[[5,6],[6,5]]},"text":"There was a woman in Beau's area, the Treetop. Clover was alone, so it was not her; Evie was beside a patch of wildflowers, and those are in the Meadow and in the Campsite. So Ada was in the Treetop. Of its squares, rows 2 and 4 and columns 2 and 3 are taken, and R1C5 and R3C5 are beside the lantern: Ada is at R1C4."},{"place":["E","C"],"cand":{"V":[[3,6]]},"text":"Evie: of the squares beside the wildflowers (R2C1, R4C1, R5C6, R6C5), rows 2 and 4 are taken, so she is in the Campsite, at R5C6 or R6C5. Clover was alone in her area: not in the Treetop (Ada and Beau), not in the Treehouse (Duke), not in the Campsite (Evie), and the Trunk's free squares are in Duke's and Ada's columns. So she is in the Meadow, in row 5 or 6: R5C1 or R6C1. Rows 5 and 6 belong to Clover and Evie, so row 3 is the victim's. R3C1 is wildflowers, and at R3C5 he would have been in the Treetop with Ada and Beau – but exactly one person was with the victim. So the victim is at R3C6 and column 6 is his: Evie is at R6C5 (on the deckchair) and Clover at R5C1."},{"final":true,"text":"Case closed: the victim is at R3C6 – in the Campsite, beside the tent, just as his card says. Vito was alone there with the camp cook. Evie is the murderer!"}],"solver":{"rules":[],"occupiable":["bench","deckchair","hammock"]},"verification":{"tool":"tools/murdoku_solver.py","unique":true,"guessFree":true,"checked":"2026-09-29"}}