Kuro the Word Detective — a Japanese mystery game
ことば探偵クロ (Kotoba Tantei Kuro) is a free, no-login detective story for Japanese
learners, inspired by puzzle-adventure and courtroom games. Kuro, a black cat detective,
speaks only Japanese; you play his assistant and move the story on by answering in
Japanese. Challenges include fill-in-the-blank lines (particles, conjugations, counters,
time), whole sentences to type (questions for suspects, polite thanks, humble apologies),
なぞなぞ riddles and kanji-building puzzles like 木 + 木 = 林, and cross-examinations
where you find the statement that contradicts the evidence and shout 異議あり.
Four chapters grow harder from JLPT N5 to N3: The Vanishing Melon Pan (particles, days
of the week, あります and います), The Stopped Clock Tower (telling time, て-form,
い-adjective past), The Moon Tea Bowl (keigo, 〜ている vs 〜てある, 〜てしまう) and
Kuro Arrested?! (hearsay そうだ, passive vs causative, 〜ておく, 申し訳ありません).
Type in romaji and it is converted to hiragana; kanji and kana spellings are both accepted.
As on the Stories page, tap any word for its reading and meaning and save it to your
flashcard deck, or tap a line to see the grammar it uses.