I was at the games store the other day, and for the umpteenth time looked at those “Evening of Murder” party kits. You know, you invite 8 people over, and you play a murder mystery game in character. I’ve been a big mystery buff for years, and they always look kind of interesting. I’m not sure if I even know enough people who would be loose and adventurous enough to try it.
Have any of you even thrown one of these? Ever been to one? Would you go if you were invited? Does it sound like fun, or does it sound kind of tacky?
I want some opinions before I plunk down my $40 for one. The back of the box doesn’t even give enough information for me to have a good idea of how the game is played.
I’ve been to one of these before. I don’t know if it was out of a box, or if they made it up. Either way, I thought it was a blast. I’ve often thought of doing one myself. What’s held me back is that I’m apparantly the only person who thought it was fun. When I’ve mentioned it to other people, they all look at me like I’m nuts. Even my ex, who was at the original party with me and who I thought was having fun balked at the idea of holding our own.
So I guess what this comes down to is that if you wanna host a mystery, I’ll come, but don’t count on anyone else.
I hosted one, and I’ve been to another. Hosting was fun – I set up a French dinner with an ENORMOUS loaf of French bread. I’m happy to say that I solved the mystery (and no, I didn’t peek).
Years later friends hosted a “Star Trek the Next Generation” mystery. It wasn’t as much fun, partly because no one solved the mystery, and partly because the mystery-writers didn’t want any of the cast members to be the real “bad guys”. My advice – don’t go with anything based on a big show or franchise. You KNOW Picard’s not going to be the heavy.
A few years ago we had a company Christmas party, and my boss had hired a professional who orchestrated a mystery game for us. I forget what the mystery was…something about missing presents at the Santa Headquarters, I think. I do remember that it wasn’t much fun. I think how much fun you have would depend on the people playing.
Eh, to heck with it, have a sex toy party instead.
Michi
I haven’t been to one, but it does sound like fun. For pointers, you might want to watch “Murder, By Death”. It’s Neil Simon’s version of a murder-mystery party for five great fictional detectives.
<picture Peter Falk here doing his best Sam Spade/Humphrey Bogart imitation)
“The room is empty, and all the doors are locked from the inside. That can only mean one thing. And I don’t know what it is.”
My in-laws had one last year, and I was surprised by how fun it was. The game they selected had a Wild West theme, and the hostess went all out and gave cowboy hats and toy six shooters to all the guests, and made a buffet with BBQ, chile, and other vaguely western food.
I think the success will depend on the enthusiasm of the guests. In our case, there were 15 people, and the few who initially weren’t that into the idea actually got into the spirit of competition. With this particular game, each guest is assigned to be a character in the mystery, and is given information that only they will know (ex. where they were at the time of the murder, how they knew the victim, etc). At various points, the host reads more clues to the group. The guests ask each other questions to determine who is the murderer. You can lie if you want to, but the additional clues given might reveal you as a liar. It was surprisingly easy, and the 12 and 13 year olds at the party had no trouble playing. This was a family gathering, so it was nice to have an activity aside from listening to Aunt Helga complain … I can also see how it would be a hoot if you got a bunch of friends together and got tanked up while solving the mystery.
If you are the host, definitely give yourself time before the party to review everything to be sure it makes sense. The host (at least in this brand of game) goes into it knowing which character is the murderer, and is more of a facilitator than a player.
I wonder if there is anything out there that would let a bunch of people play a murder game online (without all purchasing game software).
They’re generally a hoot and a half. Try the “How to Host a Murder” series (I think it’s called). All the proper names are terrible puns and the mystery is generally pretty clever.
The “How to Host a Murder” ones are generally better than the other major brand name ones. And yes, it does depend on the people you’re playing with. In a group where people are generally willing to give it a go, its great. (The HHM ones used to have complete meal suggestions and recipes, if you’re willing to do that as well, it makes a very nice dinner party.)
If a significant number of the participants are less than enthused, then its a complete drag.
One other thing, these mystery stories will never win awards for fiendishly clever plots, or great writing - they’re a more than a bit flaky and more than a bit silly. A hardcore mystery fan might be disappointed (but again, people willing to throw themselves into the game generally have fun.)
I hosted one and also went to one as a staff party. The second group was way too big, but both were still a blast. If you can get the people to come in character and garb, it adds to it. Have it Lola, I’ll be there, just promise to make me someone sexy
I’m part of a theater company that performs interactive mysteries for banquets, family reunions, corporate retreats, etc. Let me tell you, this kind of thing is not for everyone! If you want to host a mystery on your own, you really have to choose your guests with care. I don’t know how many times I’ve been hanging around a dining room practically begging people to get into it and interrogate me for clues. Most people just want to get the evening over with. Find a fun crowd, though, and you’d probably have a pretty good time.
Also, it depends on which kit you get, but some of those host-a-mysteries are pretty lame. If you have some reasonably intelligent people and/or lovers of mystery stories in your group, they’ll breeze right through many of them.
I’ve done four of them - they are a good way to host a small New Years Eve dinner party. Although I’m not sure that we ever succeeded in actually solving the mystery. The How to Host a Murder games are great but there is another version that can be done with 6 to 8 people. This version lets the optional two characters play detective or an innocent bystander. They end up asking people to reenact what they were doing at the time and it lends itself to some entertaining (and slightly embarassing) situations. I remember being asked to demonstrate certain ahem sleeping arrangements to prove that I had an alibi.
I would also suggest making sure that everyone gets along. And if you invite couples make sure that they are in a happy and secure relationship - because these story lines often bring up issues about affairs, drinking problems and the like.
My husband and I just hosted the “Roman Ruins” one last Saturday and had a great time. I made the recipies they suggested and everyone came in costume. I think everyone really got into it. The format was a bit awkward, as you have to drop clues into the conversation, but that didn’t take away from the fun aspects of it.
I would caution that if you do it people who are not into it, it will probably suck. Luckily we have goofy friends.
I had one, and one friend got sick and couldn’t come (we managed to find someone else) but then one guy just didn’t show (it was my brother-in-law to the rescue). It is very, very important to impress upon your friends that they HAVE to come, hell or high water.
The second one went much better. It was fun. I opened my book and the first thing I read was “You are the murderer, do not share this information”. As the murderer, you are the only one allowed to lie.
We’ve done two of the How to Host a Murder ones, and we were lucky enough to have good groups both times. People dressed up, got into it, had a good time.
The characters for this brand are usually an even split between male and female, which could be a problem if your guests aren’t evenly split. For one of the ones we did, we had to have a guy play one of the female characters, but he had fun with it so it wasn’t a big deal.
Like taddycat said, the format was a little awkward at first, but after the first round people usually get the hang of it. I think there were three or four rounds or clues/questioning.
I’ll go with Juniper200’s recommendation that the guests should be willing to participate. I did one once at a friend’s party (I, Dr. something-or-other, an ophthalmologist, was the murderer!) but most people were too busy drinking and when an amazing “discovery” was made by one of the party-goers (a corpse falling out of a closet) too many people were outside smoking and didn’t even notice. The bonus is that there were so many people at the party that the guesses were flying all over the place and one of the party-goers “deduced” who the criminal was.
I wanted to thank everyone for their advice and suggestions. I think that I’m going to plan one for after finals. I’ve got to make sure that I have the right mix of wacky people (read: CanadianSue is definitely going to be here!), and I’m going to be very picky about which game I buy (How to Host a Murder, right?). You guys have reassured me that these things can be as fun as I hoped they were.
