Common questions

These are common questions that we get about our murder mystery games. We've split them into several main categories:

Questions about downloading and printing the game files

  1. How soon will I get my game?

  2. I haven't received the download email.

  3. I purchased a game some time ago but have lost the password, or my password has expired.

  4. My game didn't download properly!

  5. My PDF won't print out, or some pages won't, or it looks funny…

  6. Is it possible to download the game in Excel or MS Word format?

  7. Do I need Winzip to download the files?

Questions about our murder mystery games

  1. Do you have any free games?

  2. What is a murder mystery game?

  3. How do freeform murder mystery games work?

  4. Have you got any games for beginners?

  5. How do you 'win' the game?

  6. Does the murderer know they are the murderer?

  7. What happens to those playing the murder victims?

  8. What happens at the start of a murder mystery party?

  9. Have you got any tips for running a murder mystery game?

  10. Are your murder mysteries based around the revelation of successive clues, with people reading from scripts?

  11. What size of murder mystery game do I need?

Questions about online games

  1. Can we play the games online?

  2. Do you have any games designed for online play?

  3. Is it possible to adapt our regular games for online play?

  4. Do you have any online games for younger kids?

Questions about casting

  1. How many players do I need?

  2. If I don't have the maximum number of people, how do I know which characters to drop?

  3. Can you play the games with more guests than advertised?

  4. Can my guests access their character information online?

  5. Do you have any all-male or all-female games?

Questions about murder mystery games for kids

  1. Do you have games for children as well as for adults? What's the difference?

  2. Are the younger games too childish for adults?

  3. Do you have games suitable for a girls-only or boys-only party?

Questions about the host

  1. What does the host do?

  2. Does the host/organizer get to play a role in the game, and should they wear a costume?

  3. Can you play a character and host at the same time?

  4. Is it possible to host the games without knowing who the murderer is?

  5. How do the games work where the host is also playing a character?

Questions about specific game rules

  1. How do you play scissors paper stone?

  2. Can I see the rules before buying?

  3. Do characters have character abilities that they can use?

  4. What happens to those players who characters die during play?

  5. What size of murder mystery game do I need?

Other questions

If you've got a question that we haven't answered here, please get in touch via our contact form, or ask us a question on our Facebook page.

Or you can contact us via Facebook with this form (your query comment won't appear on Facebook itself, unless you choose for it to). Please don't use this for questions about your game purchase or download, though – because we won't be able to identify your transaction justfrom your Facebook ID. We need your email address for that.

Questions about the game files

How soon will I get my game?

You can download your game immediately after making your purchase. We also send you an email with a download link so you can download your game later. (If you don't see that email, check your spam folder – sometimes they get caught in there. If you still can't find the email, please contact us.)

I haven't received the download email.

Please check your email (including your junk folder). If you're sure you haven't received it, then please get in touch. It will help us if you tell us when you purchased the game, and what email address you used.

I purchased a game some time ago but have lost the password, or my password has expired.

No problem – just contact us with the email that you used to buy the game and (roughly) when you bought it, and we will arrange another download.

My game didn't download properly!

You can redownload the game by using the link in the email we sent you (check your junk/spam folder if you can't find it), and follow the instructions there to generate a new download. And if that doesn't work, contact 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 years ago, and it's free.) You can download an up-to-date version from Adobe. If you're still having trouble printing out, send us a message and we'll see what we can do.

Is it possible to download the game in Excel or MS Word format?

We produce our games in pdf format to ensure that they can be viewed consistently by our customers no matter what computer they are using. However, sometimes we know that our customers like to customise the games – such as changing character names. If you want to do this then get in touch with us and we can let you have the game files in MS Word or .odt format.

Do I need Winzip to download the files?

No - we compress the game files into a .zip file to make them easy to download (there are quite a few separate files to download). To download, just right-click on the filename and choose "Save as…". The files can then be opened by Windows/Mac without needing any other special software. If you are having trouble, though, please get in touch and we will email you the game files.

Questions about our murder mystery games

Do you have any free games?

Yes! Click here to get our free version of Way out West (which is exactly the same as the paid-for version but is limited to only 10 players – the full game will cater for up to 24).

What is a murder mystery game?

A murder mystery game is an interactive party game for anywhere between 6 and 40 guests. There are several styles of murder mystery games.

Perhaps the most popular those where the mystery takes place in rounds of reading out clues. They are often played over a meal (the rounds taking place between courses). This is the form that the boxed sets available in the shops take – and is also how many of the games available on the Internet are played. These are sometimes known as murder mystery dinner parties.

Our murder mystery games are quite different. Our games cater for more guests (over 40 with Murder at Sea, if you include all the free extra characters) 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, our games are not usually 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. Our games are 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 our 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?

Most of our games have an impartial host. 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.

On our choosing a game page, The host can play a character indicates a game where the host can also play a character and take part in solving the mystery.

Have you got any games for beginners?

Yes! Some of our games are more complex, and others less so – if you're not confident about hosting something like this, choosing one of the more straightforward games will give you less to have to think about on the day. Take a look at our 'games for beginners' page here.

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.

Are players allowed to lie?

Yes, players are allowed to lie when asked questions. (Otherwise, one could just go around asking everyone, "Are you the murderer?" and solve it quickly that way.) The only situation in which lying is forbidden is if an ability has been used. So, if someone uses an ability to see your Secret, or your item cards, etc, you must show it to them. The abilities allow players to learn the real truth – but their number of uses is limited, so they must be used carefully.

What happens to those playing the murder victims?

In most of our games, the murder has taken place before the game starts. When the murder does occur during the party, and the victim is one of the players, that player will get a second character who joins the party shortly after. These games are indicated by this icon Replacement character icon in our choosing a game page.

What happens at the start of a murder mystery party?

At the start of our games, once everybody has read their character information and you've introduced the game, then it's time to start playing the game.

Usually, most players leap into action and start playing. They'll identify who they need to talk to from their character sheet (perhaps using the “Tips for Beginners”), and go and talk to that person.

Sometimes, however, you may have one or two players who will be a bit unsure and won't know what to do. Those are the ones that you need to keep an eye out for.

If I see anyone looking a bit lost, then I will ask them if there's a problem and try and help them. Often it needs little more than asking them what their goals are and then asking them who they think they need to talk to, and then giving them a bit of encouragement. (Or you can work it from the other angle and ask one of the other players to go and to them.)

Have you got any tips for running a murder mystery game?

Yes!

Our players have come up with a great collection of suggestions and ideas for running murder mystery games that we've gathered here on our Hints and tips page. Also, here's a great source for all sorts of information related to hosting our games: Loads of tips for hosting a murder mystery party game.

Are your 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.

What size of murder mystery game do I need?

We've been frustrated by other murder mystery games that have a fixed number of players, so we designed our murder mystery games so that they can be played by different numbers of players.

Bludgeoned on Broadway, for example, has been written for 8 to 13 guests. That means the game will cater for a minimum of 8 guests, and a maximum of 13. (Plus someone to be the host.)

In general, we recommend that you fill a game as much as you can. That's because our games are usually better with more players. So that if you have 16 players coming to your party, pick a game with that number as a maximum (say A Dead Man's Chest) rather than one with 16 as a minimum (such as Hollywood Lies).

All of our games have at least one free extra character that you can use if you end up with more players than originally expected. Some of the games have more than one - you can check here to see which extra characters are available.

Questions about online games

Can we play the games online?

Yes you can! A number of our guests have played our games online during the 2020–21 pandemic using video chat such as Zoom. Click here to read our tips for playing our games online.

Is it possible to adapt your games for online play?

Yes it is! Most of our games can be adapted for online play, and we recommend having a second host as you will find that you have more administrative tasks than when you host them face-to-face. See our tips for hosting our games online for more details.

Do you have any online games for younger kids?

While we have some regular party games (such as Pirate Island and Trick or Treat) aimed at younger kids, we don't recommend that these are played online and we don't have any online games designed specifically for kids.

Questions about casting

How many players do I need?

Most murder mystery parties are for a variable number of guests. For example, Murder at Sea can be played with anywhere between 17 and 33 guests (plus one host). 17 is the absolute minimum you would need for Murder at Sea. If you have more than 17 but fewer than 33 guests, the game tells you which characters you should and shouldn't use.

In general, we recommend that you fill a game as much as you can. That's because our games are usually better with more players. So that if you have 16 players coming to your party, pick a game with that number as a maximum (say A Dead Man's Chest) rather than one with 16 as a minimum (such as Hollywood Lies).

If I don't have the maximum 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!

Can you play the games with more guests than advertised?

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 Murder at Sea).

We have some free additional characters for our games, written both by ourselves and our customers, so if you do have more guests than expected you have some options for giving them characters to play. You can get the extra characters when you download the files, and you can see which games have extra characters here.

Can my guests access their character information online?

No, unfortunately not. 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 any all-male or all-female games?

Sort of. We have a number of games where the characters are all ungendered and can be played by anyone. These games are indicated by this icon Ungendered game icon in our choosing a game page, or click here.

If, however you want to run one of our other games with an all-male or all-female group, then you have two options.

First, you some players can play a character of a different gender to their own. However, some of our games also include some sort of 'sexual tension' romance element between characters, which you may want to avoid – or at the least be very careful about who you cast in that.

Second, you could rewrite some of the characters and plots to remove the male or female characters. This will probably be a lot of work – but if that's something you really want to do, then please get in touch with us first, so that we can steer you to an appropriate game.

Questions about murder mystery games for kids

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 8 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.

Are the younger games too childish for adults?

We've designed all of our games to be enjoyable for adults, and the age limit simply represents whether there are mature themes present in the game. So, for example, we suggest that Davy Jones' Locker is appropriate for ages 15+ and that's due to a plot about elopement and references to voodoo and gypsy magic.

Even the games we list as suitable for very young children (such as Pirate Island) are suitable for adults – and we've playtested them with both adults and kids.

Our kids' murder mystery game page contains details of each game's adult content and provides a suggested age limit.

Do you have games suitable for a girls-only or boys-only party?

Our party games (Pirate Island, Trick or Treat and Monster Mash) are completely suitable for single-sex parties. These games are written so that the players will take on the roles of monsters or pirates, but we don't give them specific characters so it doesn't matter whether they are boys or girls.

However, our murder mystery games are written for mixed groups of male and female. So for a single-sex game some players will have to play the opposite sex. We find that while girls generally don't mind doing this, it's a different story trying to get boys to play female characters! On our games for kids page, we talk through each game and how suitable it is for youngsters to play.

Questions about the host

What does the host do?

Here's what the host actually does in one of our murder mystery games.

Before the party the host:

The host might also be responsible for sorting out the venue and refreshments – or that may be done by others.

During the party the host:

The host might also be involved in serving food and drinks – but it's often better if others are responsible for that.

Does the host/organizer get to play a role in the game, and should they wear a costume?

In many 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.

Can you play a character and host at the same time?

Yes – the host can play a character in Reunion with Death or Death in Venice (or other games marked by The host can lpay a character on our choosing a game page).

However, for our other games we don’t recommend both playing and hosting at the same time, for several reasons:

However, if you want to be the host and play a character, then we have included some advice on hosting and playing at the same time here, on our blog.

Is it at all possible to host the games without knowing who the murderer is?

In Reunion with Death and Death in Venice (or other games marked by The host can play a character on our choosing a game page), the host can play a character and host the party, and therefore does not know who the murderer is.

For our other games, it's not possible to be the host without knowing who the murderer is and other guilty secrets. These games are designed so that there is lots of interactivity between the guests, and 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.

How do the games work where the host is also playing a character?

In those games marked by The host can play a character on our choosing a game page, we've removed the game secrets (such as who the murderer is) from the instructions file. Instead, it contains a list of what to do and when, and guidance about casting.

The characters' individual briefings (which do contain their secrets) are in separate files. So don't read those. Instead, pass them to the relevant players without looking at them (the front page is fine, by the way). When you print them out, print and assemble the character briefings without reading them.

The cards file includes announcements that need to be read aloud during the game, and also the solution to the game. When you print this out, tuck the solution into an envelope without reading it. Keep the announcements separate, but don't read them before you have to.

Once the game starts, it's a matter of following the timetable in the instructions.

The download also includes 'secret instructions' for hosts who want to just host without also playing a character. These secret instructions include the game's secrets, so if you are playing and hosting, don't read that!

So in summary, if you're hosting a game and playing a character, you can still solve the murder providing you don't read the individual character briefing files, the solution, and the host's secret instructions.

Questions about specific game rules

Can I see the rules before buying?

Yes. The simplest way to do that is to download our free version of Way out West.

We also have some common standard rules, and you can download them here.

Do characters have character abilities that they can use?

Yes, we give our characters abilities that let their players do things that their character can, but that they might not be able to. Usually these let them discover clues and red herrings. Most abilities are used by players on each other – for example a player might use an ability to find out another player's “Clue”.

Our games include a wide-range of abilities, from evaluating the cost of something to being a crack shot to even pick pocketing.

We've written about abilities on our blog, here.

What happens to those players who characters die during play?

Quite a few of our games include simple rules for attacking other characters – and as a result some characters can die. We've written our games so that this can only occur during the later stages of the game - before then it's impossible to die. By that point they've been involved in most of the game, and it's usually okay for them to step out of the game (or lie there as a gory corpse) and maybe help the host out with refreshment duties! We don't provide replacement characters for them, because this would really be too unpredictable. (The exception is those games that include a planned character death – in these situations they are given a replacement character.)

Can I pickpocket a character's Secret or Clue?

No. When using the pickpocket ability, you can only take an item or money. (A character's Secret or Clue is part of them, and not something that can be taken away.)