Unsolved Science is a Canadian company created by science communicator Mathieu Ranger. Unsolved Science sells story-focused cooperative mystery science games.

These are games that you buy on our website, receive in the mail, and complete in the comfort of your own home.

Unsolved Science is about two big ideas:

1. You don’t need a spoonful of sugar to make the science fun. Science IS fun. That’s doubly true if given the proper motivation such as a good mystery.
2. Interactive science content isn’t just for kids.

We want to create fun experiences that will have players scratching their heads, thinking critically, and feeling like a million bucks when they connect ideas together. That’s what science is all about. 

Our games are designed primarily for adults who like a good mystery, find science cool, and like to have a challenging experience with friends and family.

That isn’t to say that older kids — over 15 years old — can’t play. There’s no overly mature content in the game and the science in the game might complement the science they’re learning at school. Depending on their critical thinking skills, kids might need a bit of help from the adults in the room.

Unsolved Science games officially support 1–4 people. The more people present, the more brains working together. That said, you can definitely play with more than 4 people. Things might get a little crowded around the table though and you won’t have space on the Investigation board to stick achievement stickers for more than 4 people. Not a huge deal.

Yes! The person who has the physical game in their possession will get a URL in the Instructions linking to PDFs of all the important game documents. Share this URL with those who don’t have the physical game. With these documents, friends and family who are online can play with you to solve the mystery. They just won’t be able to do any of the physical experiments. The person who has the physical game will need to perform the experiments and share the results with the other online players.

Each game contains:

• An intro letter to set up the story and mystery
• Instructions
• A progress tracker
• A set of envelopes containing experimental results for you to analyze and actual items — such as tools, chemicals — you’ll need to complete experiments at home
• An investigation sheet where you write answers to questions
• Answer sheets
• Fun name tags
• Achievement stickers

For some experiments, you will need to make use of common items found in your kitchen such as drinking glasses and spoons.

You’ll also need an internet connection and computer or mobile device to access some content online.

You won’t ever, however, need to do Google searches to understand the science. All the science you need is presented to you in an easy-to-understand manner as part of a handy-dandy custom Unsolved Science search engine.

We currently have one game available for purchase: Case 01: The Object.

We put a lot of effort and thought into creating each game, testing to make sure that you get the biggest ‘Aha’ moments out of each mystery.

Stay tuned for more games to come. You can subscribe to be the first to learn when a new game becomes available or even give your opinion on what topic we should focus on next.

Our games are designed to be challenging to complete, but never unfair. The challenge is more about critical thinking and not about trying to remember something you learned in high school. And if you’re ever stuck, we provide you with a series of hints online. You can access subtle hints that won’t spoil anything. Or if you’re really stuck, we’ll provide you with the answer.

Science is important to us and so we don’t dumb anything down. BUT we also don’t assume that you’re a science expert or remember any science from school.

We ultimately want you to have fun with science, no matter what you know coming in. Therefore, each game includes all the science information you need to solve its mysteries.

The only assumption we make is that you’re a curious person and like a good mystery.

It takes about 1–3 hours to complete a game, depending on how many people you’re playing with. You can complete it all in one sitting or you can spread out the experience over many days. And there’s no time limit to complete.

Our games are meant to be completed once. When you complete a game, you’ve figured out the mystery.

Plus, each game comes with chemicals that will have been exhausted after your first playthrough.

That’s why we want to create more games for you to enjoy. Stay tuned! 

We currently endeavor to ship to anywhere in the world, except for the province of Quebec (Canada).

Each game comes with a checklist of included items. If anything is missing or damaged, email us at [email protected]. We’ll either send you a PDF of the missing text-based item(s) or if it’s a physical component of the game, we’ll expedite the missing component(s) to you.

If you change your mind or made a mistake, we’ll endeavour to refund your purchase if we haven’t shipped out the game yet.

Our games come with chemicals, however, each chemical is generally not harmful in the quantities provided. In fact, most of the chemicals provided are often used for cooking.

That said, it is important not to consume any of the chemicals or get any of the chemicals in one’s eyes. Appropriate safety labels and information are included as part of the game.

It’s definitely possible to bring the game into the classroom. Depending on the number of students in the class, you might need to purchase more than one copy of the game. We’re currently working on adapting the Unsolved Science game in a way that will help teachers better facilitate the game with their classroom (Grades 6 and up). If this is something that interests you, please let us know at [email protected].

The game is perfect for team building. Depending on the number of participants, you might need to purchase more than one copy of the game We’re currently working on adapting the Unsolved Science game for larger corporate groups either in person or via ZOOM. If this is something that interests you, please let us know at [email protected].