This is a full walkthrough of a beginner case — the same Theatre Royal investigation the in-game tutorial teaches. If you'd rather learn by doing, the game offers exactly that: a guided first case that walks you through this board move by move. This page is the written version, for reading on the train or for checking your reasoning afterward.
The Theatre Royal, a 5×5 scene. Five people were inside when the doors were sealed; one of them — the victim — is already placed on the board, center stage. Your job: place the other four using their testimonies, one person per row and one per column, then accuse whoever ends up alone in a room with the victim.
Before placing anyone, read every testimony once. You're looking for the most restrictive statement — the one that pins a suspect to the fewest squares. Furniture clues are usually it: "I was sitting in the armchair" names exactly one square on the whole board, because there is exactly one armchair.
Place the armchair suspect first. This one move does more than fill a square: it consumes an entire row and an entire column. Every other suspect can be X-marked out of both. On a 5×5 board you've just eliminated nine squares with one deduction.
Now look for a suspect with two weaker statements — say, "I was in the first column" and "I was in the fourth row." Neither pins them alone, but together they intersect in exactly one square. This is the core Kludoku move: statements multiply. Place them, and again strike the row and column they consume.
A room clue like "I was in the dressing room" starts loose — the dressing room may cover several squares. But after two placements, most of those squares sit in used rows or columns. The dressing room witness often has exactly one legal square left by the time you get to them. If not, X-mark what's impossible and move on; the next placement will finish the job.
With three placed, the last suspect usually has a single legal square — one row and one column remain, and they name it. Place them, then look at the rooms: exactly one suspect shares a room with the victim, alone, with no one else in it. Tap Accuse. On this board it's the person on the stage — but on your board, let the logic tell you.
Every beginner case follows this arc: most-restrictive clue first → intersections → room squeezes → forced finish. No guessing is ever needed — every Kludoku case is generated and machine-verified to have exactly one solution. When you're comfortable, read the full techniques guide, then meet the accomplice.