How to Play & Learn

1. Get organiser access

1. Create an adult sponsor account in the Sponsor Office, or sign in if you already have one.
2. Ask the Academy administrator to grant organiser access to the email address you used for your account.
3. Once access is granted, open the organiser dashboard. If asked to sign in, use your sponsor email and password — not a Club Code.

2. Create and share club codes

1. On the organiser dashboard, enter the club’s name, for example “Clacton Juniors”, and its federation.
2. Select “Generate code”. The Academy creates a unique Club Code, such as ABPS-CLACTON-42.
3. Send the code to the local club leader and ask them to enter it in the Club Code box on the homepage.

The Club Code links sponsor accounts to a club. It is not a password and does not replace signing in.

3. Follow participation and the national leaderboard

• The dashboard lists clubs, their codes, linked sponsors and detectives, and cases completed.
• Each correct answer on a detective’s first attempt at a stamp earns one club point. Children may retry for learning, but retries do not add club points.
• Club leaders see the top ten club positions without points. Organisers can see the full national table, including points. Children still see their own case scores.
• Use “Back to Sponsor Office” to return to your sponsor account, or “Sign out” when you have finished.

1. Enter your Club Code and create an account

1. Go to the Academy homepage and enter the Club Code your ABPS organiser gave you.
2. Select “Continue with Club Code” to reach the Sponsor Office. Create your account with your email address, or sign in to your existing account.
3. If asked, confirm your email using the link sent to your inbox, then return to the Sponsor Office.

New sponsors receive 20 free welcome credits to help their group get started. You can also create a sponsor account without a Club Code and add one later.

2. Confirm your club membership

In the Sponsor Office, find “Your stamp club”. Your homepage code will be filled in; if not, enter it here. Select “Join club” and check that the correct club name appears.

Entering the code on the homepage does not join the club automatically — you must sign in and confirm. Once linked, your detectives’ first-attempt points count towards your club’s national position.

3. Enrol your detectives

• Enrol each child in the Sponsor Office using a first name or fun detective nickname — never a full name.
• Give each child their own unique Academy Passcode.
• Children go to the Academy homepage and use their Academy Passcode to sign in. Their code is different from your Club Code.

4. Run the weekly Field Assignment

1. A new Field Assignment of five stamps is released each week. Choose a case to investigate.
2. Read the Forensic Briefing together and inspect the stamp with the magnifying lens.
3. Answer the five questions. All answers are in the briefing — there is no cheat sheet, so adults can discover the facts too.
4. After solving the case, select “Claim Stamp” to add it to the detective’s digital album. Each claimed stamp uses one credit from your shared sponsor balance.

Children can retry cases to practise. Only their first attempt at each stamp earns club points.

5. Reply to memos and review progress

• Children can send a memo from a case when they need help. Find it in “Incoming Memos” in your Sponsor Office and reply with a gentle hint.
• Children can read your replies in “Replies from HQ” on their dashboard.
• Review solved cases and results in the Sponsor Office; copy or print them for club records.
• Check “Your stamp club” for your club’s position and the top ten national clubs. Club points are visible to organisers only.

6. Save the week's cases for offline play

Detectives can play with no internet at all — in a village hall, on a coach or at a camp — once the week's cases have been saved to their device.

1. Sign your detective in on the tablet or phone they will actually use, with their own Academy Passcode.
2. While the device still has internet, open HQ and select Download for offline play in the top bar. On a phone the button reads Save offline.
3. Wait until the button reads Offline files saved. That stores this week's five cases, the stamp pictures and the detective's album on the device.
4. Switch the internet off if you like — the detective opens a case and plays exactly as before. A banner across the top reads “Offline — using your downloaded files.”
5. Answers are kept safely on the device and checked with HQ automatically when the internet returns. The banner then reads “Back online” and says how many cases are waiting to be checked. If a case is closed halfway, the answers already typed are kept too.

Save the files once per device, once a week. If you hold cases until your meeting day and time, a saved offline device opens them by its own clock — so make sure the device time is right.

7. Run the session on paper

No devices for the children? Then use printed sheets. Print one low-ink answer sheet per detective from the Sponsor Office, show the stamp in full screen, read the Forensic Briefing and the five questions aloud, and let each detective write a letter for every answer and mark their own sheet. Enter the results afterwards with Enter paper answers.

The full step-by-step session is Part 3 below.

1. Print the answer sheets

• In the Sponsor Office, open a detective’s data and select Print answer sheet.
• Each sheet shows the detective’s nickname and Academy Code, with six assignment grids on one page. Each grid has Case 1–5 columns and Q1–Q5 rows with a blank box to write the answer letter.
• Print one sheet per detective. The low-ink design saves paper — one sheet covers six weeks.

2. Read the briefing and questions aloud

1. On your tablet or laptop, open the case and select the full-screen button so the stamp can be seen from the back of the room.
2. Read the Forensic Briefing aloud, then each question and its A, B, C, D options.
3. Children listen and write one letter (A–D) in the matching box on their sheet — for example, Case 2, Q3: B.

3. Let the detectives self-mark

• Read out the answers one question at a time. Every answer is in the briefing, so children can check their own sheets and mark them.
• A skipped answer stays blank and scores zero — that is fine.

4. Enter the results

1. In the Sponsor Office, choose Enter paper answers and pick the detective.
2. Select the case, then tap A–D for each of the five questions. Tap a selected letter again to clear it.
3. Select Save. The score is recorded, the stamp is added to the detective’s album, and the case counts towards the weekly assignment and club standings.

Each saved case uses one credit, unless your account is linked to a club — club-linked sponsors have unlimited play.