How to play our murder mystery games
Exciting and fun murder mystery games
with full and amusing scripts and
‘real’, three-dimensional, tangible clues
What do you get in the box when you buy one of our murder mystery games?
Each murder mystery game contains party instructions to the host, invitations and envelopes, character place cards or character labels, character booklets, scripts, envelopes containing clues, and a CD*. Two of the games contain secret items (see individual game for details).
All the players of the murder mystery game are suspects. The aim of the game is to establish the identity of the murderer by listening to the dialogue and examining the evidence.
Hosts are requested to respect their guests’ real-life individual personalities. The invitations give brief character and costume descriptions and essential requirements, and the players are encouraged to adopt appropriate accents for their characters. Hosts should attempt to cast the players in roles in which they will feel comfortable and happy to participate. The murder mystery games are intended to be fun, not embarrassing.
Hosts are advised to send out their invitations well in advance of the murder mystery party to allow their guests plenty of time to prepare their costumes. All the characters must be present at the party as they are all suspects and all have a share of the dialogue.
This means that the murder mystery games cannot be played properly if any of the characters are missing. It is a good idea to have some ‘back-up’ guests in mind in the event of any of the original invitees not being able to attend. Although it is preferable in the normal state of play that the characters are in costume, it is inevitable that ‘back-ups’ may not be. It is more important that hosts have the number of players necessary to fill the character roles, and some improvisation may be needed regarding costumes and essential requirements.
Although the food provided by the host should be interesting and tasteful, it is advisable to keep it simple as the players will become absorbed in the murder mystery game and will not want to be distracted by a multiple course meal. The games are played more easily with fork or finger food.
All the murder mystery games follow the same format:
When all the guests have arrived for the murder mystery party, the host distributes the character booklets and allows the players time to privately read their booklets, which outline the rules and preparation for the murder mystery game.
Each character booklet contains a ‘private profile’, which provides the player with some confidential background information about their character, and a ‘public profile’, which the player reads aloud when requested, to introduce the character to the other players.
At the start of the murder mystery game, the host plays a CD to set the scene of the murder, and then the narrator asks the characters to introduce themselves in a specific order.
The players proceed to the script, which comprises six Acts. Within the script, there is an opportunity after each Act to review the evidence (and take a break if required) before continuing with the murder mystery game.
After Act 6, following the review of evidence, the players make their accusations as directed by the host. Each character makes one accusation against another character, and the greatest number of accusations against one character constitutes the final accusation. When the final accusation has been announced, the murderer stands up and reveals themselves. After the revelation, the host plays the CD again for a final summary.
*Boxed murder mystery games only.
©2011 KM Pearce/Murderous Acts!
