Thirty-five items were chosen that could be found in each of the nine rooms in the game Clue. A fingerprint was put on the each item. A powder was chosen that would provide contrast to the color of each item. A brush was used to spread powder across the items to develop the fingerprints. If a magnetic powder was used, the brush was waved across the surface so that the powder adhered to the print.

    If a print could not be found using the powder chosen, another powder was used to see if a print would become visible. Ninhydrin was used to develop a set of prints on paper in order to compare the quality with prints on paper developed with powders. In many cases, silver powder was followed by chemist grey powder because silver powder got into the ridges and filled them too much. Chemist grey powder was used to clean the ridges out and develop the print.

    Hinge lifters were used to lift the print for viewing and storage. A hinge lifter was chosen that was either clear so that different lighting effects and background colors could be used or that provided contrast to the color of the powder used. The hinge lifter was placed on the print and pressed down evenly. A roller was sometimes used to ensure a smooth lift. The lifted print is covered with the hinged cover and is protected from scratches and dirt. If the item had a rounded or oddly shaped surface, clear tape was used for the lift because hinge lifters don’t bend around surfaces without bubbles or creases.

    If fluorescent powder was used, the print was viewed under an alternate light source. Photographs were taken of all the lifts for computer viewing and a magnifying glass was used to examine each of the lifts.

    Observations were recorded for each of the items. These were used to explain the quality of the lift and the reason each developing technique was used.

        A shoeprint was also developed. Vaseline was spread on the bottom of the shoe and the shoe was pressed onto a sheet of white paper. Magnetic powder was waved over the surface of the shoeprint and adhered to the Vaseline, giving a developed footprint.

        A quantitative evaluation system was developed in order to give each of the prints a quality number. Prints were viewed closely and a quality number was assigned based on the quality, clarity and identification possibility of each print.

    Graphs were made using various combinations of the data in order to evaluate the different developing techniques, item surfaces and quality numbers. These graphs were also used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Quantitative Fingerprint Evaluation System.