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Here's what people have been saying about Hollywood Lies:
"I would just like to thank you for this wonderful game. Played twice, once with adults and once with kids. The adults took a while to get into it but eventually got there (I think after the alcohol started flowing), but the kids were magnificent and got into their characters really quickly with some sussing the murderer after only 20 minutes. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and keep asking when the next one will be."
Denise Boyd, Fife, United Kingdom
"My daughter's Hollywood Lies party was a HUGE hit with her friends. They came in their "dazzle wear"; we even had the "red carpet" leading up to our door for the guests. It was fun for them. The concept of the game is great for this age group -- they had to mingle and talk to one another. No wallflowers were allowed!"
Pat Baker-Simon, United States
"I don't think I've ever laughed so hard."
Doris Arnett-Gary, United States
"Just played Hollywood Lies (kids version) for my daughter's 13th birthday party. It is the first unscripted party I have run and I was concerned. It was fabulous and the timings were great.
Can't believe we managed to keep all those teenagers involved for 4 hours. Many many thanks!"
Shirley Thomson, United Kingdom
"I played Hollywood Lies at my school, it was really fun. I played Sam Cortinelli."
Joel Kelly, United Kingdom
"I loved the first game we played of yours... Hollywood Lies. Best night of my life... my husband and I attended and only knew 2 people there. By the end of the night we knew 30 more people -- all by their Hollywood Lies names! It was fun running into them various places and using our "stage" names. We loved it so much we always wanted to host our own. So now we are [Casino Fatale]."
Kerri Lawnsby, Texas, United States
"We tend to go away as a group of 20+ every year or so, and one of the highlights of our holidays has always been the murder mystery night. Hollywood Lies took it to another dimension. It was fantastic."
June Wilson, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
"Overall, Hollywood Lies was an incredibly fun night and everyone had a great time. Thank you for providing such a detailed hosting package. It was very thorough and made it so much easier to host!"
A Customer, United States
"I thoroughly enjoyed playing Hollywood Lies, easy to find suitable clothing, it was very easy to find appropriate themed decorations. The making movies and watching them was fun and a good laugh."
Allison Abbott, Australia
"I have played in A Heroic Death and Arabian Nights, so I decided to host Hollywood Lies for my 13th Birthday Party. I added in custom 'weapon' cards to make the game more exciting and everyone had a blast! I've already told everyone I'm doing it again next year!"
Ellory S., United States
"We had so much fun playing Hollywood Lies and I am pretty sure I won mother of the year for hosting it. :) I think the kids all did a fantastic job with their roles. We will definitely come back to you for another game. Thanks! Here's a video we made for the game, in the form of a trailer."
Sandi Atherton, United States
If you would like to tell us how your party went, please click here to send us your story.
Hollywood Lies – a Hollywood murder mystery game for 16 to 22 guests (or up to 32 with the expansion pack) and one or two hosts 
Costs £25.00 (about 38.18 US dollars)
Written by Steve Hatherley
Download the free
introductory file
Hollywood Lies is a dinner party murder mystery game for 16 to 22 guests (or up to 32 with the expansion pack) and one or two hosts – download the free introductory pdf file.
Kids' version – this game includes a FREE special version written for kids and younger teens.
Join us in a thrilling evening of scheming, intrigue and skulduggery. You will be in the middle of the action and it will be up to you to wheel and deal with the other guests. Can you achieve your goals, keep your secrets hidden and survive Hollywood Lies? It's up to you.
"Hollywood Lies Expanded was exactly what we wanted on New Year's Eve, a gala murder mystery. The guests haven't had that much fun at a party in years!"
Lauren Plaviak, Canada
Hollywood Lies
It's award night and Tom Speed's latest film, Dazzled to Death, has just swept the board and garnered five Erics - for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Sadly, Tom Speed's award for Best Actor was accepted posthumously by his wife, Zara Vicars, as Tom was killed in a driving accident late last night.
Despite this note of sadness, celebrations are in full swing at the Dazzled to Death post-award party. Deals are being cut for future productions and everyone is having a good time enjoying the atmosphere and mingling with Hollywood's movers and shakers.
Is there anything suspicious about Tom Speed's death? Who will win next year's Erics? Find out at Hollywood Lies.
Read Hollywood Lies
stories See Hollywood Lies
pictures
Hollywood Lies lasts for about four hours and is suited to an evening. It is often played over a meal – a finger buffet if possible to allow guests to circulate and talk in private.
"I just hosted Hollywood Lies for a group of teen homeschoolers this weekend. I have to say that they had a blast!
Their "movies" were a hoot! This is the 3rd year in a row that we have used your games as sort of an ice breaker for the kids to get to know one another. As usual, it was a great success. Thanks again!"
Janice , North Carolina, United States
The free introductory pdf file contains an introduction to the game, a cast list of all the characters – plus details of how to buy the game.
New expanded version!
Important note: Hollywood Lies is an alternative version of one of our other games, Halloween Lies. The characters and the plots are the same, so if your guests have previously played Halloween Lies, they'll know the secrets of Hollywood Lies too! The difference is that Halloween Lies is written specifically for a Halloween party, while Hollywood Lies is suitable for any time of year.
Now available in German!
You can buy a German translation of this game -- click here for more details.
These are the characters in Hollywood Lies:
- Anna d'Lessey – Award-winning director of Dazzled to Death.
- Bernie Newman – Movie star wannabe.
- Bobby Treveeno – Entertainer of the old school.
- Brian d'Lessey – Anna d'Lessey's husband.
- Charles Henderson-Plum – British actor, known for playing villains.
- CJ Vasquez – One of Dazzled to Death's co-producers.
- Crystal Beech – Award-winning star of Dazzled to Death.
- Detective Sandra Chase – One of Hollywood's finest detectives.
- Edison Flax – One of Hollywood's many agents.
- Ghana Moon – Award-winning screenwriter.
- Jack Simpson – Actor fired from Dazzled to Death before filming started.
- Jim Taylor – Actor and producer.
- Jules Milton – Manager of Spangles Hotel.
- Kara Montague: – Singer turned actress with a minor role in Dazzled to Death.
- Les Tytan – Mesmerist whose clients include Charles Henderson-Plum and Mel Cutter.
- Lou Dunlin – Respected Hollywood film director.
- Max McNab – Bit-part actor struggling to make the big time.
- Mel Cutter – Columnist for the Hollywood News.
- Pip Slater – One of Hollywood's many agents.
- Sam Cortinelli – One of Dazzled to Death's stunt doubles.
- Terry Ford – Character actor who played "Hatch", a bodyguard, in Dazzled to Death.
- Zara Vicars – Co-producer of Dazzled to Death and Tom Speed's widow.
and these are the characters in the Expanded version:
- Anna d'Lessey – Dazzled to Death's director and winner of the Best Director award.
- Bernie Newman – Bernie has come to Hollywood to become a movie star.
- Bobby Treveeno – Bobby is an entertainer of the old school and can dance, act and sing. Bobby's career, however, is in decline.
- Brian d'Lessey – Anna's husband. Brian used to work for a movie-financing business.
- Charles Henderson-Plum – Charles played "Skipper Primley," Dazzled to Death's British villain.
- CJ Vasquez – One of Dazzled to Death's co-producers.
- Cord Rankin – Cord is a tough-guy character actor who recently appeared in Davy Jones' Locker.
- Crystal Beech – Star of Dazzled to Death. Crystal won an Eric (Best Actress) for her role as Millicent Nimitz, the victim's wife. This is her first major role in a movie.
- Detective Sandra Chase – One of Hollywood's finest detectives, Detective Chase is well known to the movie community.
- Eden Delmonico – Eden is a rich heiress and actress. She recently appeared in Davy Jones' Locker.
- Edison Flax – Edison is one of Hollywood's many agents. He is also Tom Speed's agent.
- Ghana Moon – Ghana is one of Hollywood's most successful screenwriters, and won an Eric for Dazzled to Death.
- Hunter Sharp – Hunter is an independent film producer/director.
- Jack Simpson – Jack was originally signed up to act in Dazzled to Death, but was fired before filming started after Jack and Tom Speed had a blazing row.
- Jam Lafayette – Owner of the Sacre Bleu! restaurant and TV personality.
- Jim Taylor – Jim both acts and produces. He was one of Dazzled to Death's co-producers.
- Jules Milton – Manager of Spangles Hotel, where the Dazzled to Death post-Eric party is being held. Six years ago, Jules caused a fire that burned down three sound stages.
- Kara Montague: – Kara is a singer turned actress with a minor role ("Carmel Nightshade") in Dazzled to Death.
- Les Tytan – Les is a mesmerist whose clients have included Charles Henderson-Plum and Mel Cutter.
- Lou Dunlin – A respected Hollywood film director. Lou was the original director for Dazzled to Death, but was replaced by Anna d'Lessey during pre-production.
- Lucinda Dawson – Lucinda is a former soap opera actress turned agent.
- Max McNab – Max plays bit-parts and is struggling to get into the big time. In Dazzled to Death Max played "Cop in Elevator".
- Mel Cutter – Mel is the author of "Cutter's Comments", a notorious newspaper column in the Hollywood News. In the column, Mel described Dazzled to Death as "limp and tired" and accused Tom Speed of "having all the presence of a fishbowl". Mel is a regular feature at p
- Pip Slater – Pip is one of Hollywood's many agents.
- Randy Manfred – Randy is a character actor who tends to plays dumb evil henchmen.
- RT Markovitz – Press photographer for The Big Cheese, a newspaper.
- Sam Cortinelli – Sam Cortinelli is one of Dazzled to Death's stunt doubles. Sam is rumoured to have "family" connections.
- Terry Ford – Terry has experience of over 100 movies, playing character roles. In Dazzled to Death Terry played "Hatch", a bodyguard.
- Toy Shepherd – Toy is a comedian from the East Coast.
- Trixie Wells – Trixie owns a big corporation, TrixieCorp, but she's always wanted to make movies, so she's turned producer.
- Xavier Jones – Xavier is a composer who recently wrote the music for Anna d'Lessey's Bludgeoned on Broadway.
- Zara Vicars – Zara is a rich and successful Hollywood producer, and co-producer of Dazzled to Death. Zara is also Tom Speed's widow.
| Number of guests | Male characters | Female characters | Characters that can be played by either sex |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| 17 | 4 | 5 | 8 |
| 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| 19 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| 20 | 4 | 5 | 11 |
| 21 | 4 | 5 | 12 |
| 22 | 4 | 5 | 13 |
| 23 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| 24 | 5 | 6 | 13 |
| 25 | 5 | 6 | 14 |
| 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 |
| 27 | 6 | 7 | 14 |
| 28 | 6 | 7 | 15 |
| 29 | 7 | 8 | 14 |
| 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 |
| 31 | 8 | 8 | 15 |
| 32 | 8 | 8 | 16 |
How Freeform Games Murder Mysteries Work
Hollywood Lies is unlike many murder mystery games. Although the game starts with a murder, most of the characters have more important things to do than to investigate it. And the killing may not be over – it is unlikely that everyone will survive the remainder of the evening!
Hollywood Lies is played just like a murder mystery game. You may be trying to solve the murder, but primarily you are (initially at least) concentrating on your own goals and objectives. Unlike most boxed murder mystery games, Hollywood Lies lets you decide how to achieve your goals and thwart your enemies.
"Hollywood Lies went just perfect and everyone enjoyed themselves (we had 13 teenagers and 3 adults).
It was just excellent!"
Isabell Auffermann, United Kingdom
On the evening of the game the guests are met by the organizer, the Master (or Mistress) of Ceremonies. They then receive their detailed backgrounds - including dark secrets, objectives and money. The players can form alliances, blackmail each other, steal items and even try to make the best movie for next year. Along the way they may solve some of Hollywood Lies's mysteries. Who is having an affair? What has happened to the photos of Crystal Beech? Which script will be made into a movie? And of course, how did Tom Speed die? Finally, the game concludes and everyone finds out how they did, and what secrets everyone else was concealing.
Extra characters
Sometimes you have too many guests and you need more characters. So we've written a free extra character for each of our games that you can add in, and some of our customers have created their own characters for their parties and are kindly willing to share them.
Please note that we haven't tested these and they may not tie in exactly with our games.
IMPORTANT – if you've bought the game, you can download the files for these characters from the download page where you got your main game files. Contact us if you need the link and password to get back to that page.
- 'Ginger' Roberts – freelance reporter in search of the Big Story. (M/F)
(by Freeform Games) - Gwen Cortinelli – secretary and Sam Cortinelli's wife. (F)
(by Jo Stinett)
Purchasing Hollywood Lies
Hollywood Lies costs £25.00 (GB pounds). That works out at about US$38.18 at today's exchange rate, although the rate charged by your credit card may vary slightly.
To purchase Hollywood Lies, follow these three steps.
Step 1: Download the free introductory pdf file. You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to read this. If you do not already have Acrobat Reader, click here.
Step 2: Read our terms and conditions of purchase. Then come back here and click on the button to buy the game!
Step 3: Our orders are processed by WorldPay – we don't actually see your credit card details. After you have entered your credit card details you will be emailed the location of the main pdf files, plus the password required to unlock them. You can then download those files and enjoy the game!
Or, buy now!
Cards we accept
We accept the following credit and debit cards:
Cast Iron Guarantee
We offer a Cast Iron Guarantee on all our murder mystery games. If you're not completely satisfied with Hollywood Lies then please let us know within 30 days and we will refund you.