Curse of the Pharaoh – a Freeform Games murder mystery 
For 6 to 9 guests (or up to 19 with the expansion pack) and a host – costs £20.00 (about 30.8 US dollars)
Curse of the Pharaoh is a dinner party murder mystery game for 6 to 9 guests (or up to 19 with the expansion pack) and a host – download the free introductory pdf file.
Curse of the Pharaoh is one of our more complex and intricately plotted games, and we don't recommend it if you're new to this kind of murder mystery party game. On the other hand, if you're a veteran you should find it highly satisfying!
Click here to see previous hosts' stories about their Curse of the Pharaoh parties.
Click here to see the gallery of Curse of the Pharaoh pictures.
Join us in Egypt, 1894, and determine the fate of the British Empire in a thrilling evening of mystery 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 Curse of the Pharaoh? It's up to you.
"The game [Curse of the Pharaoh] was last night. It went sooooooooooooo well that I would just like to thank you for doing an amazing job. Thank you!"
Emma Bardes, United States
Curse of the Pharaoh
The Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt. 23 April 1894. The excavation season will soon be over, as the baking sun makes digging unbearable, but the Oxford University archaeologists lead by Sir William Saville have made a startling discovery. Tonight, the team and their guests prepare to enjoy a slap-up dinner to celebrate the uncovering of the tomb of a previously unknown XVIth Dynasty pharaoh. But while the archaeologists make merry, dark clouds gather, internal tensions among the group burst to the surface and one of the local diggers is brutally murdered.
Curse of the Pharaoh 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 enjoyed it [Curse of the Pharaoh] very much and must say congrats to you for creating a great storyline."
Mark Doney, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
The free introductory pdf file contains an introduction to the game, a list of all the characters, an invitation to send to your guests, the Cairo Gazette – 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 Curse of the Pharaoh:
- Alvy Spanheim – The charming and sinister German cultural attaché
- Ariadne Price-Evans – The respected archaeologist with an intriguing past
- Eva de Chalons – The beautiful and mysterious Frenchwoman
- Helen Mackinnon – The belle of Oxford, fought over by men
- Hugh Carlaw – The enthusiastic young student
- Lindsay Wilde – The downtrodden assistant with hidden depths
- Robert Tregarne – Detective Sergeant in the Colonial Police, charged with the responsibility of clearing up this dreadful crime
- Shahfeez Merouf – The enigmatic curator of the Luxor Museum
- Sir William Saville – The veteran leader of the archaeological team
and these are the characters in the Expansion Pack:
- Alex McQueen – The ambitious young detective sergeant in Her Majesty's Colonial Police Force
- Angela Fox – Wife of a Church minister and member of the Cambridge archaeological team
- Armand Lenoir – The French archaeologist with a sad romantic history
- Chris Kovacs – The Hungarian student, dogsbody of the Cambridge archaeological team
- Fatima al-Mansoor – The unscrupulous antiquarian and collector
- Lady Jane Fortescue – The financial backer of the Cambridge archaeological team
- Marie-Claire Guiscard – The French archaeologist, dedicated to her parents
- Professor Reginald Mathers – Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge
- Reverend Godfrey Fox – Church minister and member of the Cambridge archaeological team
- Tariq al-Mansoor – The wealthy antiquarian and collector
How Freeform Games Murder Mysteries Work
Curse of the Pharaoh 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!
Curse of the Pharaoh 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, Curse of the Pharaoh lets you decide how to achieve your goals and thwart your enemies.
On the evening of the game the guests are met by the organizer, the archaeological team's native servant. They then receive their detailed backgrounds - including dark secrets, objectives and money. When everyone has arrived the servant announces that, with the corpse tidied away into the camel shed for safekeeping, dinner will now be served. The fun then begins as everyone questions, bribes and blackmails each other. As the evening progresses they may even try to murder one another! Depending on what the players choose to do, there are several different possible endings, but finally 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) - Paige Money – archaeological reporter for The Times. (M/F)
(by Philip Murray)
Purchasing Curse of the Pharaoh
Curse of the Pharaoh costs £20.00 (GB pounds). That works out at about US$30.8 at today's exchange rate, although the rate charged by your credit card may vary slightly.
To purchase Curse of the Pharaoh, 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 Curse of the Pharaoh then please let us know within 30 days and we will refund you.