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Here's what people have been saying about Lei'd to Rest:
"I wanted to let you guys know that we purchased Lei'd to Rest for my sister's sweet 16 birthday bash! We played last night and I could not wait to get up today and let you know that it was a wonderful game! Everyone had a fantastic time playing, and the storyline was quite... intriguing! Kudos to the writers of the game, and I cannot wait to purchase another one! We are already trying to plan a time to play again!!!"
Heather Smith, United States
"Wanted you to know we hosted Lei'd to Rest for 8 high school students (11th and 12th graders). They had a blast! This is our third game (after Final Curtain, Reading of the Will) and it was the best yet. The kids especially enjoyed the ability cards. And having a corpse for them to discover really got them into the spirit of the game. We used oatmeal for the victim's vomit -- it was so lifelike, our son almost gagged. We highly recommend your games and look forward to our next game. Thanks for a great product!"
Rita Tallini, Georgia, United States
"For my 15th birthday party we ran Lei'd to Rest and before the event everyone was very excited.
Everyone turned up looking great as everyone dressed up and the house was decorated to look like a real Hawaiian beach resort.
All my friends had a blast! It was so much fun and by the end of the night everyone was getting right into it and scrambling around to find last bits of information to try and solve not just the murder but the countless other mysteries as well.
The plots were very well thought out and everyone since has been talking about the party and can't wait for the next one.
This was the first murder mystery I've had and already people are asking when the next one will be.
It was great fun and I would highly recommend Lei'd to Rest to anyone as it was so much fun and funny to see everyone getting involved in solving the case and the story was excellent.
Thanks for such great work and we will definitely be running another one sooner rather that later as it was so much fun. Thanks for a great time!!!"
Terence Smith, Australia
"Played Lei'd to Rest last weekend with six friends
and myself as the host. We all had a blast. There were a few attempted murders
(one successful) during the game and that really added to the excitement.
It was the first mystery game for most of the guests. We can't wait to do another.
Hosting instructions were easy to follow and the format left enough open to interpretation
to keep people guessing."
Paul Weiss, United States
"The Lei'd to Rest party was a tremendous success. It was the first "downloaded" murder mystery we've done.
It was very cool that guests could think "out of the box" enough to actually use the items they had in their possession rather than just thinking of them as clues.
Everyone involved got into their roles very well and thoroughly enjoyed it. We can't wait to play again!"
Paul Weiss, United States
"I just wanted you to know that we played Lei'd to Rest this last weekend and we had so much fun!
I've thrown other murder mystery parties from kits and boxes and I think this was the funnest yet. No script, which left it open for interpretation.
That makes it seem like the game is confusing, but once the rules were explained, people got it and had a blast!
Everyone got way into it and someone even tried to murder the murderer!
Next time I throw a murder mystery party, I'm definitely getting it here! Thank you so much for such a fun product!!"
Megan McGrath, United States
"We used Lei'd to Rest for our first event of the South Denver Freeform Role-Playing Group, a group under meetup.com. It went off fantastically and has really set the stage for our future meetup events. We plan to use one of your games again very soon."
D Bo, United States
If you would like to tell us how your party went, please click here to send us your story.
Lei'd to Rest – a Hawaiian murder mystery game for 6 to 12 guests (or up to 22 with the expansion pack) and a host 
Costs £20.00 (about 30.34 US dollars)
Written by DeAnna Knippling
Download the free
introductory file
Lei'd to Rest is a dinner party murder mystery game for 6 to 12 guests (or up to 22 with the expansion pack) and a host – download the free introductory pdf file.
Expanded! – this game has now been expanded for up to 22 players.
Join us in a thrilling evening of sun, sand, legend, lies, treachery and murder. 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 Lei'd to Rest? It's up to you.
"Lei'd to Rest was a really great time. I love the flexibility for the game to go in so many directions.
I think after each game, guests have started to realize the freedom and come up with stuff they can do that isn't necessarily on their sheet or in their items. "
Stephanie Wagner, United States
Lei'd to Rest
It's the present day on the island of Hawaii. The local culture, exotic and isolated for centuries, is being eroded by the constant stream of tourists flooding through the airports. All sorts of people rub shoulders at the resorts. Most of them are innocent travellers, but some of them have ulterior motives.
Lokuhai Beach is a small, isolated beach in the loneliest part of Harmony Cove. The beach itself is owned by Harmony Cove Resort, about a half-hour drive through rocky, mountainous countryside. Advertised as the "Last Real Hawaiian Beach", it's gorgeous. Birds of Paradise call to each other past the vibrant orchids -- you could make your own lei in minutes -- and jewel-toned lizards beg for table scraps. The music of the forest harmonizes with a nearby waterfall, cascading down the side of a steep hill through pools and sparkling in the sunset as it runs into the cove.
The luau started badly... the bus broke down on the way to the beach, and everyone had to walk the last fifteen minutes. Everyone's cell phones seem to be unable to reach out of the mountains to the resort (or anywhere else), and the driver has been unable to get the bus running again. One of the guests, Joe Markham, has been trying to help get it started...
Read Lei'd to Rest
stories See Lei'd to Rest
pictures Read the
Legend of the Red Goddess
Lei'd to Rest 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.
"Just downloaded Lei'd to Rest – first time I have downloaded one of your games. We intend to play the game in May – but I just wanted to say how good the game looks – and so easy to download."
Dave Measey, Leicester, United Kingdom
The free introductory pdf file contains an introduction to the game, a list of all the characters, a copy of the Legend of the Red Goddess, the luau holiday brochure – plus details of how to buy the game.
New expanded version!
Now available in German!
You can buy a German translation of this game – click here for more details.
These are the characters in Lei'd to Rest:
- Anna Nayuki – The pushy local real estate agent
- Annatto – The enigmatic religious enthusiast
- Anson Hardasty – The wealthy elderly businessman
- Elsie Brighton – The naive Midwestern newlywed
- Jack Slack – The local entrepreneur and ne'er-do-well
- Keoni – The tour guide and entertainer, with aspirations
- Max Hartnett – Anson Hardasty's best lawyer
- Mel Squant – The perfect grandparent and tourist
- Mojo Mo – The Hawaiian cook and sometime witch-doctor
- Ned Brighton – Elsie Brighton's sickly other half
- Penny Kingsbury – The cynical local doctor
- Sarafina Chavez – The aspiring actress, and Anson Hardasty's mistress
and these are the characters in the Expanded version:
- Anna Nayuki – The pushy local real estate agent
- Annatto – The enigmatic religious enthusiast
- Anson Hardasty – The wealthy elderly businessman
- Brad Bates – Local dance instructor
- Cassidy Hayes – Stateside florist
- Chelsea Whitaker – Famous local surfer
- Earl Peace – Private investigator
- Elsie Brighton – The naive Midwestern newlywed
- Heather Harris – Secretary to Earl Peace
- Jack Slack – The local entrepreneur and ne'er-do-well
- Keoni – The tour guide and entertainer, with aspirations
- Lawrence Ost – Local botanist
- Max Hartnett – Anson Hardasty's best lawyer
- Mel Squant – The perfect grandparent and tourist
- Mojo Mo – The Hawaiian cook and sometime witch-doctor
- Ned Brighton – Elsie Brighton's sickly other half
- Noelle Wright – Stateside florist
- Penny Kingsbury – The cynical local doctor
- Ren Matsuda – Out-of-work local
- Rory Beard – Local surfer
- Sarafina Chavez – The aspiring actress, and Anson Hardasty's mistress
- Wilson Scott – Tourist and postal worker
| Number of guests | Male characters | Female characters | Characters that can be played by either sex |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| 14 | 6 or 4 | 4 or 5 | 4 or 5 |
| 15 | 6 or 4 | 4 or 5 | 5 or 6 |
| 16 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| 17 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 19 | 8 or 6 | 6 or 7 | 5 or 6 |
| 20 | 8 or 6 | 6 or 7 | 6 or 7 |
| 21 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
How Freeform Games Murder Mysteries Work
Lei'd to Rest 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!
Lei'd to Rest 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, Lei'd to Rest lets you decide how to achieve your goals and thwart your enemies.
"We'd previously played Bludgeoned on Broadway, so I knew Lei'd to Rest would be a superior game.
I love the completeness of the materials, well developed characters and back stories, and as host, ease in running."
Sara Duprey, United States
On the evening of the game the guests are met by the organizer, the Bus Driver. They then receive their detailed backgrounds -- including dark secrets, objectives and special items. The players can form alliances, blackmail each other, steal items and decide what they plan to do next season. Along the way they may solve some of Lei'd to Rest's mysteries. Are the locals poisoning people? Who threatened the starlet? How are the wealthy businessman and the victim connected? Is someone threatening the tourists? What makes a smuggler so interested in an innocent-looking Midwestern newlywed? All will be revealed in Lei'd to Rest.
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)
Purchasing Lei'd to Rest
Lei'd to Rest costs £20.00 (GB pounds). That works out at about US$30.34 at today's exchange rate, although the rate charged by your credit card may vary slightly.
To purchase Lei'd to Rest, 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 Lei'd to Rest then please let us know within 30 days and we will refund you.