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NEW GAME! We've just brought out a fantastic new aristocratic murder mystery game, Lord and Lady Westing's Will, at just 20 pounds / 30 USD for a game for 11–16 guests!
FREE GAME! Click here to download your copy of our completely free murder mystery party game.
It's a version of Way out West, our most popular game. It has all the same depth, complexity, fun and excitement of the paid-for game, but it's just for 10 guests – that's the only difference. Well, and it's FREE! See for yourself!
Sunday 9th June is the night of the Tony Awards, celebrating everything that's great about the theatre! You could stage your own backstage bloodbath this year, with Bludgeoned on Broadway, the game in which greasepaint meets grievous bodily harm.
What people have been saying about our games
Our best-selling games for last month were:
- Way out West – dark deeds in the old west. For 10–24 guests.
- Casino Fatale – espionage, murder and intrigue in a glamorous Parisian casino. For 15–30 guests.
- A Will to Murder – murder and inheritance at an English country mansion
Murder mystery games aren't just for adults – kids can play too! Click here for party ideas for kids.
And now we also have new party games for younger kids! Check out Pirate Island, our new themed kids party game.
Not sure where to start? Click here for our step-by-step guide to planning your party.
Frequently asked questions
What is a murder mystery game?
A murder mystery game is an interactive party game for anywhere between 6 and 200 guests. There are broadly two types of murder mystery games.
The first are those where the mystery takes place in rounds of reading out clues, and is usually played over a meal (the rounds taking place between courses). This is the form that the popular boxed sets available in the shops take – and is how many of the games available on the Internet are played. These are sometimes known as murder mystery dinner parties.
The second type of murder mystery game is quite different. They usually cater for more guests and as well as needing to solve the murder, each guest has other goals and problems to solve. In a typical game you might have to solve the murder and pay off your gambling debts. Another character might want a certain object, while yet another is having an affair. Unlike the dinner party games, these games are not played around a table (although there is often food served, it is usually a buffet or finger food). Instead, the guests talk to one another and decide who to trust and who to blackmail in order to solve the mystery and achieve their goals. Unlike the murder mystery dinner parties, this type of game is completely interactive. While there is a set solution to the murder, how your guests achieve their other goals is entirely up to them.
We call these second types of games "freeform murder mystery games", and they're the only type we make – we don't think the first type are as fun or interesting.
How do freeform murder mystery games work?
As a host, you take the role of an impartial referee in a freeform murder mystery game. You won't get to solve the murder with everyone else – but as you will already have read the game you will be able to watch your guests try and puzzle things out.
As a guest you must rely on your wits and must negotiate, scheme and plot with the other guests to get what you want. Nobody needs to learn complicated background or memorise lines – your character background is little more than a side or two of paper – and you can keep that to hand during the game to refer to whenever you like.
How do you 'win' the game?
You don't really – it's not that sort of game. Some players will be more or less successful than others, in that they'll achieve more of their goals, will solve the identity of the murderer, will avoid being killed, etc. So you can award prizes for those accomplishments if you like, and for best costume, best performance and so on. But in general, if everyone has fun, then everyone wins!
Does the murderer know they are the murderer?
Yes, they do: they're told that right at the beginning, in their briefing. And they're told all the details of why they did it, and exactly how it happened.
How many players do I need?
Most murder mystery parties are for a variable number of guests. For example, All at Sea can be played with anywhere between 16 and 33 guests (plus one host). 16 is the absolute minimum you would need for All at Sea. If you have more than 16 but fewer than 33 guests, the game tells you which characters you should and shouldn't use.
If I don't have the max number of people, how do I know which characters to drop?
When you buy the game, the instructions will tell you which ones to leave out, depending on how many guests you have. We can't include that information on this website or in the free intro file, because it would give away that those droppable characters couldn't be the murderer!
How soon will I get my game?
You can download your game right away, immediately after making your purchase – there is no delay. And if it's not convenient for you to do that (eg. if you want to download it to a different computer), that's fine too – we will automatically send you an email message containing a download link and password, so you can download your game later, whenever suits you. (If you don't see that email message, check your spam folder – sometimes they get caught in there.)
Is there a forum where I can ask questions of other people who've used the game, or compare notes with them?
Yes! Here's the link to our murder mystery discussion forum.
Can my guests access their character information online?
No, that isn't possible at the moment. But in (almost) all our games each player's information is in a separate file, so you can email it to them and they can read it that way.
Do you have games for children as well as for adults? What's the difference?
We do have several games suitable for younger players down to the age of 12 or so – see our page about kids' murder mystery games for more details. In general our kids' games are just as complex and interesting as our adult games, they just don't include 'adult' plotlines and material. So they are also suitable for families of mixed age, and for more conservative groups such as church organizations.
Can you play the games with more guests than advertised? For example, could you run Death on the Gambia for 20 people? What would the additional guests do?
While you can add a few additional characters into the games, it would be hard to add more than three or four this way. Instead, you are better off choosing a game specifically designed for that number of guests (so instead of trying to add people to Death on the Gambia, you would be better off running All at Sea). See here for some free extra characters that we and previous hosts have written that you can add into the games if you need them.
Have you got any tips for running a murder mystery game?
Here's a collection of suggestions and ideas for running murder mystery games, that our players have come up with. Also, here's a great source for all sorts of information related to hosting our games:
My game didn't download properly, how can I get a good copy?
If you've still got the download page open, try refreshing it, as that'll generate a fresh set of download files for you. Or if not, go to the password email that we sent you (check your junk folder if you haven't received it), and follow the instructions there to generate a new download. Or if that doesn't work either, use our contact form to tell us about the problem, and we'll set it right for you.
My PDF won't print out, or some pages won't, or it looks funny...
This usually means that you're using an old version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. Our files will only print properly from version 4 or later. (Which came out three years ago, and it's free, so it's about time you upgraded anyway!) You can download an up-to-date version from here. If you're still having troubles printing out, send us a message and we'll sort you out.
Do you sell pre-printed games at all, or is it just downloads?
At the moment we only sell one of our games in pre-printed form – Way out West. Here's the page talking about it.
I want to give someone a game as a present, but I don't know which one they'd like best.
Not a problem! – you can give them one of our Gift Certificates. That way they can choose whichever game they prefer.
Are these murder mysteries based around the revelation of successive clues, with people reading from scripts?
No! These are quite different. In our games, everyone has all their information up front, and it's up to them how and when (and if) they want to reveal it, who they want to share it with, what they want to say about it, and so on. That's what we mean by 'freeform' – we put all those decisions in the guests' hands, rather than the game leading them by the nose.
Is it at all possible to host the games without knowing who the murderer is?
Unfortunately, it's not really possible to host our games without knowing who the murderer is and other guilty secrets. Our games are designed so that there is lots of interactivity between the guests, and unfortunately that means they need a host. The host role is lots of fun – it's great watching your friends scheme and plot and try to get the best of each other.
Does the host/organizer get to play a role in the game, and should they wear a costume?
Yes! – absolutely. In each of our games, the host/organizer has a named role, and a suggested costume. For example, in Way out West they're the Bartender, and in Spellbound they're the Librarian.