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EnglishWhat Kinds of Projects Can Detective Board Maker Boards Support?
Updated
Detective Board Maker is an online tool for building evidence and investigation boards in your browser. You pin notes, photos, and articles to a corkboard, connect clues with red string, and can share a case as a public board. According to the site, it is free to start and is positioned for true-crime research, story planning, tabletop campaigns, and study. So it suits any project where the value comes from seeing how pieces of information relate — not from storing long documents.
Fiction and story planning
This is the most visible use on the site. Public boards include lore maps of which characters know each other or belong to which groups, heist plans, and case files written in the voice of a fictional detective. The board format works well when you need to hold a cast, a timeline, and a set of clues in one view and check that every connection makes sense.
A practical example: a mystery writer pins one note per suspect, one per physical clue, and one per alibi, then draws string only where the text actually supports a link. Gaps in the string become the plot holes to fix.
True-crime research and investigation notes
The site lists true-crime research among its intended uses, and public boards in that category include case summaries and evidence-style write-ups. For this kind of work, the board is a way to organize sources and see which claims connect to which evidence. Keep in mind that a public board is visible to others, so treat it as a presentation layer rather than a private case file.
Tabletop and role-playing campaigns
Public boards show campaign and game notes, including heist plans and session notes for role-playing groups. A game master can pin locations, non-player characters, and plot threads, then connect them to track what the party has discovered. Because boards can be shared publicly, a group can also use one as a shared reference between sessions.
Study and general mystery-solving
The site also names study as a use. The same mechanics — notes plus connections — fit any subject where relationships matter: a set of historical events and their causes, a literature plot with its subplots, or a logic puzzle where you track what each clue rules out.
How to decide whether it fits your project
| Your project looks like… | Fits well if… | Watch out for… |
|---|---|---|
| A story with many characters and clues | You need to see connections at a glance | Very long text belongs in notes, not on the board |
| Case research with multiple sources | You want a visual map of claims and evidence | Public boards are visible to others |
| A campaign or game plan | Several people need a shared reference | Check what sharing a board exposes |
| Study material with linked ideas | Relationships matter more than memorizing lists | It is a mapping tool, not a flashcard system |
The site says it is free to start and runs in the browser, so the lowest-risk way to decide is to open a board and pin your actual project material for ten minutes. If the connections become obvious as you place the notes, the tool fits; if you find yourself wanting a document outline instead, it probably does not.