Well, I’m always looking for something new to do with my friends (usually couples) and I saw these “host a murder mystery” games in a local bookstore. Has anyone tried any of them? Were they “bummers” or did everyone have a good time? What were your general impressions?
Zev Steinhardt
It’s fun! Once. We hosted one a loooooong time ago (like, 10 years). I hardly remember it except it was like a costume party where everyone had to stay in character. The mystery itself was not very difficult, as I recall. The best part was pulling out the pictures after a few years and seeing all our old friends and ourselves in silly costumes!
I have been to a few of those things with various groups.
I’d have to say, if you get the right set of people together for these they are AWESOME and tons of fun. Especially if you plan out who is going to play who and get them dressed up for their character.
On the other hand if the group doesn’t get into it, it doesn’t work.
So if you buy one of them try to plan a group that would grab it and run with it.
My in-laws hosted one of these parties and it was great – they went all out on the theme, from the decor to the menu. Rather than have everyone wear costumes, they supplied a few inexpensive items for the guests. It was a old-fashioned gangster mystery, so they had stuff like fedoras and feather boas.
I would say that the key was that everyone was extremely enthusiastic. (My in-laws are almost scary in the amount of enthusiasm they have for party games and group activities.) I got the feeling that if you had even a few groaners, it would ruin the mood. At one point, we even messed up one of the game instructions, resulting in a rather longish period where the game was making no sense at all, and we still had a good time.
The ones that are actually the “How to Host a Murder” brand name (I might have screwed the capitalization, but that name) are good. The knockoffs were awful.
If you’ve got the right group of people, it’s a lot of fun.
I’ve played some of the Murder-in-a-Box games with friends and usually we had a pretty good time. The only problems that arose were: 1) when we didn’t have enough people to go around and some of us had to double up on the characters–that gave us more information than we should had have and spoiled some of the mystery; or 2) if someone was not really getting into character, which can really drag things down (especially if the dragger turns out to be the murderer.) I would agree that enthusiasm and willingness to get into your role make a huge difference in how the game goes.
I also have a friend who writes her own mystery games from scratch, using the basic template of the boxed mysteries but tailoring them to the people who are actually playing so that there isn’t a problem with doubling up on characters or finding enough men to play all the male roles. The game she wrote for my birthday a few years ago was not a murder mystery, but had to do with a stolen diamond necklace. We dressed up for it (1930s-style) and stayed in character all through an afternoon tea party, and had a terrific time.
I’ve hosted that kind of party twice.
My advice is to start early. They last a long while, especially if you’re including dinner.
The first one was impromptu and kind of dragged on and on. The second one was planned much better and the participants were a lot more enthusiastic. Super fun. Still, I don’t think I’d host another one.
I have attended and hosted several, both of the boxed variety and one which I purchased online. Of these, I found the online much more enjoyable, for a couple of reasons:[ul][li]Greater flexibility with the number of guests - all the boxed sets I have played were for exactly 8 players, and more than once we had people pull out at the last minute which either meant a dash around to find extra guests or the doubling-up that Miss Mapp spoke about.Interesting “side-quests” - the main goal of the evening is to solve the murder, but in the one we downloaded, there were numerous other tasks which varied from character to character (bribing someone, finding out who your “husband” is having an affair with, etc)[/ul]Whichever you go for, it is crucial to choose your guests fairly carefully - the right people can increase enjoyment ten fold, while the wrong people can reduce the evening to people reading a script. Dressing up helps, as does having a little alcohol to start the evening off… Try and get people there early rather than later, as the games (if played properly) do take at least 3-4 hours, and starting at 9pm makes for a late evening. Overall though, they are excellent fun and well worth the expense - they can be used more than once - just choose a different character for yourself and it’s a whole new experience (although leaving a little time between games so that the details become fuzzy is better).[/li]
Have fun!!!
Grim
I did one once, 1930’s country manor in England. Very entertaining. My friend’s hosted it at their house (I was in an apartment at the time) and we cooked up a gourmet dinner with everything from soup to nuts. Must have gone through 2 cases of wine.
I second the suggestion to start early, tell your guests that cocktails are at 4, dinner at 5.
We always go crazy on the costumes too, so we had the right crowd.
It was this game here, scroll down to “The Duke’s Descent” hmmm… out of print.
My only comment was that it was really complicated, I gave up trying to follow all the clues and just had fun being my charactor. The wine helped.
My dad used to co-own and run a “murder mystery party” company back in the late 80’s (if you were in the Northern Illinois/Quad Cities area, it was called M&L Murder Co.). He had a standard stable of amateur actors and have a prewritten script (which my dad usually wrote himself) of who each person was and what the plot was about. Places would hire him - sometimes hotels for a nightly event or clubs or something. He would go out there with all of the actors, in costume and do the show.
I actually did quite a few when I was 12-13 years old for him. One example I remember is from 1991 at a place called Jumer’s (hotel) in Bloomington, IL. I played the son of a French diplomat, but I can’t really remember anything else about the plot. Halfway through the night, my “father” got killed. Well, needless to say, that killed the fun for me that night. Having to play a 13 year old who just found out his father was murdered was challenging, but not altogether giddy fun. I threw out a half hour or so of fake sadness and then retired to the hotel room, where I “needed to be alone”.
The next morning, we had a huge breakfast assembly where the whole case is analyzed by one of the actors playing a “lead investigator”. Then we let the audience discuss and debate who they think is the murderer. Finally, after some time, we reveal who it was, how they did it, etc. It was pretty fun and my dad paid me something like $20, which seemed like a lot back then.
I hosted one over 15 years ago – it was set in Paris, so I did my best effort to cook a French dinner, put an enormous loaf of french bread on the table, and posted the evolving clues on the wall. It went pretty well (and I was the one to solve the puzzle!)
Years later some friends hosted a “Star Trek” mystery game, using a commercial game. It was way too complicated, and no one came close to solving it. I think it wasn’t a great idea in the first place – you know that Worf or Picard aren’t going to commit a murder.
One of the boxed mysteries I played was a Star Trek one, not involving a murder, but some stolen technobabble item that made a “wibble-wobble” sound on the taped intro. This was also one of the ones where we had to double up (IIRC, I was Troi and Ensign Ro). When you get your characters’ information cards and at the top of both, it says:
You are infected by a nanite.
you realize pretty quickly that the other 6 character cards you didn’t see probaby say the same thing too.
We used to do them frequently and had a great time. Someone mentioned to start early in the evening & I second that. Our favorites were the “How to Host a Murder” series.
Some of our regulars would really get into the spirit of the scenario by dressing for the theme. Others didn’t bother to dress for the theme but came in the appropriate state of mind for an English manor house, a Chicago mob hangout, etc. Invitees know the premise of the game and what character they’ll be playing.
We always asked new people if they wanted to participate before issuing an invitation. It will be uncomfortable for everyone if one person doesn’t want to play the game.
Have fun.
As others have already made clear, they can be a real blast. My suggestion: find somebody you know (who won’t be attending the party) who has a used murder mystery set that they enjoyed. That way you can get tips about what worked and what didn’t from somebody who has “been there, done that.”
Note that this won’t work with all murder mysteries; in some cases supplies are not reusable. Be sure to do a full inventory before relying on used supplies!
They can be great, but you need to really get everyone involved from an early stage in the theme and their characters. So everyone dresses up and prepares for it as best they can, like a good halloween party.
Yes, they’re great fun. Just be sure to not take it too seriously and do it over an extended dinner.
Yes, my family did one, one year just before Christmas, and the results were…interesting.
[HIJACK] My step-mom completely lost her shit. She planned the event and chose who would play whom, and of course she completely screwed that part up. THEN she talked in a fake high-pitched voice the entire night, that caused some serious eyebrow raising. THEN she got really pissed off when my half-sister solved the mystery, and she didn’t. So pissed off, in fact, that she told my dad that she hated my half-sister and left the house and went to a hotel…for the rest of our winter break. Which meant I ended up cooking Christmas dinner. Which meant it tasted good rather than like crap. So you could say it turned out well. She came back after we all left, though, so it didn’t work out as well for my dad.[/HIJACK]
So, as long as you don’t have a borderline psychotic step-mom, it should be fine.
We’ve done a couple of “How to Host a Murder”'s. Great fun. If you like cooking, it’s also fun to have a related menu.
Our mystery parties are legendary within our group of friends. When I have the time to commit to it, I write them myself.
It is a chunk of work to write the mystery and organize how to “control” the evening…BUT the advantages are that you can tailor the story and characters to the group of people you’re inviting, and you can determine the difficulty of the mystery itself.
If you’re interesting in dabbling in it, I’d make these suggestions:
I usually orchestrate mine so that the group is called together (much like the endings of the “classic” mysteries) and the whole thing is hashed out together. We’ve done this over dinner or just drinks.
It really is so much fun…the only drawback is that once you’ve done one, they keep pestering you for more. 
Good luck,s
We had a grand time. Although I have to confess that by the end of the evening we were all quite trashed and weren’t really playing along anymore.
I think it takes a special mix of people, ones that are willing to play, but it can be fun.