How to Play Police Lineup: Clues, Height and Deduction
Police Lineup gives you a witness statement and a row of people, and asks one question: who matches every line? Because each case has exactly one answer and every clue is needed, it rewards careful, systematic thinking far more than guessing. This guide explains how the clues work, how to read the height chart, and a simple method that gets you to the culprit on the first try, even on the seven-person Chief cases.
What you see in a case
- The lineup: four to seven people standing in front of a height chart, each holding a number card. Position 1 is on the far left.
- The witness statement: a numbered list under the board. Every sentence is true about the culprit.
- The buttons: Cross out switches between marking people you have ruled out and making an accusation.
The people differ in six features: shirt colour, hat (none, baseball cap, beanie or fedora), eyewear (none, glasses or sunglasses), hair colour (black, brown, blonde, red or grey), facial hair (none, moustache or beard) and height (short, medium or tall).
How each case is built
Every case was generated and then checked by the game before it was included. Two things are always guaranteed:
- Exactly one person in the lineup matches the whole statement.
- Every sentence matters. If you ignored any single clue, at least two people would fit what was left.
That second rule is a powerful tool. If you think you have found the culprit but never used one of the clues, check again — you have probably made a mistake somewhere.
Reading the height chart
The wall behind the lineup is marked in centimetres, with two darker lines at 160 and 180. Height is measured to the very top of the person, hat included.
- Short people finish below the 160 line.
- Medium people finish between the two dark lines.
- Tall people rise above the 180 line.
The differences are deliberately clear — about ten centimetres from either dark line — so you never have to squint at the chart.
The six kinds of clue
- Features: "They wore a fedora." "They had grey hair." "They were clean-shaven."
- Negative clues: "They were not wearing a beanie." "They did not have red hair." These rule people out instead of in. From the Officer rank onwards they are the most common kind of clue.
- Height: "They were tall." "They were not short."
- End of the line (Detective rank): the culprit is in position 1 or in the last position.
- Neighbours (Chief rank): "They stood right next to someone with a beard" — directly beside, on the left or the right.
- Left and right (Chief rank): "They stood somewhere to the left of the person in the blue shirt." Left and right are as you look at the screen, and the person mentioned is always the only one in the line with that feature.
A method that always works
- Turn on Cross out. From now on, taps mark people instead of accusing them.
- Take the clues one at a time. For each line, cross out everyone who breaks it, then tap the line to tick it off.
- Handle position clues last. They are easiest once the lineup is smaller. For "left of the person in the blue shirt", first find that person, then look only at the people on their left who are still in play.
- When one person is left, check them against every line once more.
- Turn Cross out off and tap the culprit.
A worked example
Imagine a five-person lineup and this statement: "They did not have a beard. They were not wearing a baseball cap. They were tall." Start with the clue that removes the most people. If only two people rise above the 180 line, "tall" leaves just those two. Next, "not wearing a baseball cap" might remove one of them — and you are done. You still check the beard clue on the last person, because every clue is true about the culprit, and a quick final check is what turns a good guess into three stars.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up glasses and sunglasses. Glasses are thin round frames with the eyes visible; sunglasses are dark lenses.
- Forgetting hair under a hat. Hair colour is still visible at the sides of the head, and beards and moustaches share the hair colour.
- Reading "next to" too loosely. Only the people directly beside the culprit count, not two places away.
- Getting left and right backwards. It is your left as you look at the lineup, not the left of the people in it.
Keyboard shortcuts
Press 1 to 7 to accuse the person with that number, hold Shift with a number to cross someone out, and press N to switch cross-out mode on or off.
Start your investigation
The Rookie cases take a minute each and teach the basics; by the Chief rank you will be combining four clues across seven suspects. If you enjoy deduction, try the calm memory challenge of Evidence Match as well, and read our memory tips for more detective habits. Ready? Open your first case in Police Lineup.