Right in the middle of his opening speech Nicolaas Maester collapses in front of the audience. The ringmaster of Circus Maester appears to have been murdered.
It doesn’t take long for somebody to be arrested and for the case to be closed.
You receive an old package containing handwritten documents, scratched photos, mysterious drawings and weathered objects. Remnants of the 140-year-old crime scene.
Now it’s up to you to figure out who murdered Nicolaas Maester.
Beautiful high-quality materials made with an eye for detail.
Made to play at home.
Virtually without phone or computer, only use those for hints and to check your answers at the end.
2- 6 Hours of playtime.
Cooperative game for 1-6 players.
Finished playing?
Use a refill pack to sell the game to new players and earn back a part of your purchase.
Puzzles
Story
Detective
Oh yes it’s a lovestory!
On Circus Grounds is a very cool play-at-home-mystery, it is nicely put together! We solved it without hints, so certainly not too complicated. But challenging. Beautifully designed. Highly recommended! I hope more mysteries will come from Studio Stamp.
Really enjoyed On Circus Grounds, what a beautiful and good game! Versatile and fun puzzles, intriguing theme and story and it looks fantastic too! Hats off! 
Unraveled this riddle with great pleasure the past few days. It’s made with so much love and attention to detail, we really enjoyed it! Wonderful to immerse yourself in a different time and an exciting story. An absolute must!
We played the game at home yesterday. Love it! We have been immersed in the story for more than five hours, which gradually gained more dimensions. In the beginning it took some getting used to, where do you start ..? But after reading the first letter, we were completely engaged. And such beautiful material. It’s clear the makers have designed this game with great care and love. And this is the ideal game in COVID times. A real escape room feeling, but at home. Recommended!!!
A really cool mystery! Mainly focused on the story, although the puzzles were also tough. Prepare for a long session, as indicated 2-4 hours. I’ve played a lot of games like this before, but they still had some original stuff in them.
Read more reviews (translated using Google Translate)
To make the experience as realistic as possible, in this game there is no competition. There are no rules. There is no set order, no off limits envelopes. Just the researchers and a package.
And the crucial question: who did it?
Each object offers a new perspective on the intertwined stories. Inspect the details, follow the clues and find the answers.
Are you stuck? A special webpage contains several hints for each document. When you solved the mystery, try to answer the questions on the site and you will immediately see if you are right.
Ask the right questions and find out what happened in 1883.
STUDIO STAMP is a small company dedicated to telling intriguing stories through play-at-home escape style puzzle games. We love diving in archives and have an eye for detail and authenticity.
Our first game Meester, 1883 (On Circus Grounds) is a success in the Netherlands and Belgium. After our succesful national launch we updated and translated the game to English for the international audience, which resulted in a Kickstarter. Thanks to that Kickstarter we were able to launch our international webshop, which is now live!
As an experienced game designer he oversees the difficulty and playability of our projects.
Joël also works as an interaction and concept designer on large-scale real life games and immersive theatre productions. He also co-designed a number of escaperooms.
He enjoys playing cooperative narrative board games and bringing his imagination to life with Photoshop.
August is responsible for the texts, characters and stories that make Studio Stamp unique.
He writes a variety of work, from plays to poetry. He develops his own role-playing games and experiments with podcasts and music.
August is a born knowledge junkie. In his spare time he likes to read reports on archeology, sociology, history and mythology.
Marilou keeps an eye on the authenticity and aesthetics of the materials and documents, which are so important to us.
She works as a graphic designer on may different projects, from infographics to posters, always with a focus on typography and calligraphy.
Marilou is a professional dreamer and allows herself to be amazed by the world. She acts in a theater group in her spare time.
Wilco –
A beautiful mystery to puzzle you through together in peace. All documents and other items are beautifully made and feel authentic.
The puzzles are challenging, but not so difficult that it is impossible to do. All in all, we have been wonderfully sweet with it for a few hours. We hope for more from Studio Stamp in the future.
Topper!
Vera –
A beautifully designed mystery that we spent a full afternoon working on. Nice puzzles and let yourself be carried away by the stories.
Rolf –
We really enjoyed it very much: the atmosphere and design are perfect, the puzzles challenging but not too far-fetched, and the experience is very special due to the extensive background information and the storyline during the puzzle.
Hans Flier (verified owner) –
The story, the design and the puzzles are of a rare quality. Like more mysteries of this high level!
Rob (verified owner) –
We had a fantastic evening with Meester1883. It has been brilliantly put together with challenging puzzles. We thought the theme was very cool and the package is completely made in the style of that time. Everything seems authentic and takes you completely into the story. An absolute must!
Ina –
Great game. Nicely made, well-found and not so difficult that you need hints with everything. I will definitely pass it on
Rein De vries –
Very cleverly constructed. Slowly building up more clues and eventually discovering the plot together. Just been completely off the world. Not bored for a moment and the hints are very well put together. Chapeau
Lisanne –
Super fun game! Fiddled with 4 people all evening and finally unmasked the culprit, very nice to do. Nicely designed, everything made with attention and detail!
Griet (verified owner) –
I hesitated to order for a while, because of the price, but I’m glad we ordered anyway. We spent two evenings and an afternoon with our sons aged 10 and 15, having fun unraveling this mystery. We had to get in there for a while, because there was a lot in the package. The effect is beautiful, I really like the finish. After the second night I even traveled with the circus in my dreams (I was really all along
). The story always gets an extra layer, super elaborated! Highly recommended for the (rainy) winter days. And so in Corona time you can travel better in your dreams 
.
Peter –
A really fun game! Challenging and beautifully designed. We put our teeth there on Sinterklaas evening with 4 people and had a very pleasant evening while doing so. It’s also great that you can request a refill package from the makers free of charge, with which you can return the game to its original state. With that we can also let our friends enjoy this game.
admin (store manager) –
Hi Peter! Thank you for your nice response! For others reading this: for the first customers the refill packages were free of charge, this will change very soon.
Judith (verified owner) –
Great game! I went into it with my son and had a lot of fun puzzling for a few hours. We kind of got “greedy” about it; but sometimes it was necessary to put it aside for a while to continue with it later (the next day) with an objective view. What I liked was that it doesn’t matter which document or instruction you started with. Superb elaboration of the documents! with the different manuscripts and the nice secret codes.
Do have the idea that we have not needed all documents / directions to arrive at a solution. This became apparent after ‘evaluation’ with our neighbors who also played this game during Christmas. We have arrived at the same outcome through different routes.
I’m looking forward to a new game!
Jan Raes –
We bought Meester 1883 and enjoyed solving the murder mystery surrounding Nicolaas Meester. The characters come to life through the many vague and slightly clearer indications. The codes and puzzles are very challenging to crack.
The design is excellent with great care for the props (props) …
It could just be that this cold case was taken from life. It seems like a real story, as if you were reading an exciting book about flesh and blood characters.
It took us about four hours of fun to decipher this passionate murder mystery with our best detective skills.
Daniëlle (verified owner) –
We enjoyed playing Master 1883! Good to do with the two of you in one evening. Super nice to find your way in all the beautiful things that are included in the package.
Kevin –
Enjoy this mystery during New Year’s Eve. All documents look beautiful and the puzzles are challenging enough (even for avid escape room players). It took us about 4 hours. Definitely worth having ever played Meester 1883!
Lieke –
What a beautiful and fun game. We really like these kind of brain teasers and have been happy with them for at least a few hours. A huge recommendation!
Manon wages –
Very nice game. Good storyline. Puzzles that were challenging but not too difficult. Played the game without instructions. I saw the directions later, so if you need that little bit of extra help…. nice that you get so much information that you are really searching in the beginning and during the game you can create more order in all information. Highly recommended.
Maarten –
A really cool mystery! Mainly focused on the story, although the puzzles it contained were also tough. Prepare for a long session, as indicated 2-4 hours. I’ve played a lot of games like this before, but they still had some original stuff in them.
Bram Lazaroms –
This was our first experience with such a game, and a great one right away! Already got really excited about it during the crowdfunding, but can still wait to really start on New Year’s Eve. Beautifully made and had a really great night! Even missed the real New Year’s Eve because we were in it so much. Thank you very much, and highly recommended to everyone!
Chiara (verified owner) –
Awesome game! Nicely made, great quality and a very nice theme! We spent 2 hours with a club of 5. Very cool to do together. Awesome and I recommend it to everyone!
Maarten –
Nice game, well designed with an interesting story and challenging puzzles. The two of us enjoyed it for hours. Also nice that you can buy a refill package for not too much money if you want to give it to someone as a present.