Way out West Free

Cover to the free version of our Way out West murder mystery game.
(17 customer reviews)

£0.00

Way out West is a FREE downloadable murder mystery game for 10 guests and a host set in the Wild West. Characters include dastardly railwaymen, upright sheriffs and scheming saloon staff. Written by Tracy Bose. Recommended for ages 12+.

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Way out West Free murder mystery game will allow you to host a fabulous Wild West party, just like our regular games. The only differences are that this free version is for 10 guests only  (rather than 10–24 like the full version) and it's completely free of charge!

Way out West Free is a murder mystery party game for 10 guests and a host. It is set in California in 1884, in the classic Western mold. Download the free introductory pdf file.

Way out West Free is a thrilling evening of scheming, intrigue, and skulduggery! Your guests will be in the middle of the action, and it will be up to them to wheel and deal to get what they want. Will they achieve their goals, keep their secrets hidden, and survive Way out West Free?

"We played Way out West on New Year's Eve and really enjoyed it a lot. I have flagged your website in my favorites so we can easily access you next year if not before. Thanks for all of your hard work on this game."
Jackie Vick, Minnesota, United States

See stories and pictures from Way out West

Read the Cactus Gulch Gazette

It is the spring of 1884. America's west coast is slowly being populated with small towns full of settlers, coming to prospect for precious metals, set up ranches and run dubious saloons. Now the railway is coming! Cactus Gulch is one such small town. Founded 20 years ago, tonight it has a festive air as the townsfolk get set to start their 20th anniversary celebrations. Plus, the railway is coming! However, all is not running smoothly. Land disputes, disreputable card games, strange folk from out of town, and quarrels with the local Indians are all adding to a tense atmosphere…

Way out West Free 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.

"Thanks for a great party – definitely recommend Way out West to friends!"
Mel Woods, London, United Kingdom

 

Includes rules for the use of poison.

Includes rules for the use of poison.

Includes rules for combat.

Includes rules for combat.

The free introductory pdf file contains an introduction to the game, a cast list of all the characters, and a copy of the Cactus Gulch Gazette.

Cast of characters

  • Blaise Sadler – Aging saloon owner
  • Clem Parham – City slicker, Mid West Rail rep
  • Dan Fairweather – Slow and honest deputy sheriff
  • Doc Faraday – Notorious gambler
  • Elijah Entwhistle – Travelling preacher
  • John Paulson – Town's much-revered judge
  • Lucy Calhoun – Zeke's daughter, young woman, complete tomboy
  • Mel Easton – City slicker, South West Rail rep
  • Runs Like a Deer – Indian woman
  • Slick O'Hare – Scruffy ranch hand for hire

These are the additional characters you get in the full version of the game.

    • Able Blane – The town's reliable sheriff
    • Christy Martin – Storekeeper from out of town
    • Etta Johnson – Local schoolmarm and newspaper gossip
    • Frederick Lloyd – Wealthy English mining investor
    • Kalamata Kate – Young bar waitress
    • Marco the Mesmerizing – Travelling stage magician with a secret agenda
    • Maxwell Jebediah Adams – Town drunkard and ne'er-do-well
    • Minnie Mae Adams – Former Sunday School teacher with hidden depths
    • Ol' Barr – Reclusive fur trapper and friend to the Indians
    • Robert Barnaby – Shy young legal clerk
    • Ruby Sapphire – Flame-haired singer, notorious beauty
    • Soon Li – Chinese migrant worker, in a heap of trouble
    • Three Feathers – Revered Indian shaman
    • Widder James – Grande Dame of the ladies in Cactus Gulch

Way out West is for 10  players:

  • 10 players (5 male, 3 female, 2 any)

You also need a host – someone to organize the party and ensure everything runs smoothly.

Click here for our blog post with Wild West costume ideas!

How Freeform Games murder mystery games work

Way out West Free is unlike other murder mystery games. Although the game starts with a murder, each character has several goals they must try to accomplish. While they may want to solve the murder, Way out West Free contains plenty of other plots and secrets to keep everyone busy. Way out West Free isn't scripted, and lets the players decide how to achieve their goals and thwart their enemies.

"We received your game, Way out West, and had our party last weekend. It was a huge success. Everyone went all out on their costumes and the game flowed smoothly. Thanks for your great customer service!"
Lisa and Anthony Perez, Oregon, United States

On the evening of the game the guests are met by the organizer, the Bartender of the Silver Dollar Saloon.

They then receive their detailed backgrounds which include dark secrets, objectives, and money. When everyone has arrived the celebrating starts, but it is immediately disrupted by a shocking announcement. The real fun then begins as everyone questions, bribes, and blackmails each other. As the evening progresses they may even try to murder one another! Along the way they may solve some of Way out West's mysteries. Where is the map to the recently discovered silver lode? Who owns the land that the railways are desperate to get hold of? Why are the Indians threatening to rebel? Why is a pack of cards so important? Why is the preacher so sinister?

Finally, the game concludes and everyone finds out how they did, and what secrets everyone else was concealing.

Recommended for ages 12+

We recommend Way out West Free for those aged 12+,  as it is family-friendly and contains no adult themes.

"Thank you for a great site, fantastic games, good service and very quick reply. Keep up the good work." Ole Martin Brodwall, Norway

Extra characters

Way out West Free doesn't have any extra characters.

If you have more than ten players, please purchase the full Way out West game.

Cast Iron Guarantee

We offer a Cast Iron Guarantee on all our murder mystery games. If you’re not completely satisfied with your game, you can let us know within 30 days and we will refund you. Of course, Way out West Free is already free – but if after trying it you purchase one of our regular games, then this guarantee will apply. See our full terms and conditions, and our refund policy.

Trouble downloading? If you have trouble downloading the game files, please first check your spam folder. If you still can't find the download email, contact us with the name of the game and the email address you used to purchase it, and we'll resend it.

17 reviews for Way out West Free

  1. Anonymous (verified owner) –

    For our first ever murder mystery it went off pretty good, although some people had questions for the bartender that the bartender was unsure of. Eg. if someone was killed but could be saved as it was before the judgment could their items be stolen? Same for after the judgement? I think a bit more information or maybe a guide of possible questions for the bartender would be helpful. Other than that, it was a great little mystery.

  2. angie (verified owner) –

    You really gotta nix the racist native american stuff bro I’m not handing this out to a bunch of my white ass friends to play

    • Freeform Games (store manager) –

      Thank you for your comments. We decided when we designed Way out West that it would be wrong to whitewash the Old West — to make it seem like there were no indigenous people present in this historical period — so we included Native characters in the game. We don’t feel that they are portrayed in a racist way — we have tried to represent how they were seen, and treated, by the White settlers of the time. Thankfully, most people who use the game are good with this and are able to enjoy it, from a wide variety of backgrounds. But we absolutely respect that some will feel it’s not going to be comfortable for them or their guests. We have a wide range of other games available, in that case.

  3. Heidemarie P. (verified owner) –

    This was such a great event for my husbands birthday. Thank you:-)

  4. Kara (verified owner) –

    Was tons of fun. Maybe some plot holes that could be fixed but it’s didn’t affect the joy that was had by all!

  5. Adam (verified owner) –

    We decided to buy another game and not use this one. This is incredibly cool that you offer a game with this detail for free. We didn’t want to encourage co-workers to act out cultural appropriation of Indigenous people, though.

    • Freeform Games (store manager) –

      Thanks for your review, Adam! We very much appreciate your consideration of your co-workers’ sensitivities in this area. We had a tough choice with this game — either excluding Native characters from the cast list, and so ‘whitewashing’ the history of settlement of the Old West — or else representing them and their stories within the game, and so running the risk of it seeming like cultural appropriation. We decided in the end that we wanted to include the Native experience as part of the game, but we absolutely respect the feelings of people who decide that it’s not going to be suitable for them.

  6. Melissa C. (verified owner) –

    The W.O.W game was amazing we had a great time easy to follow instruction character packets. Would highly recommend for a first time hosting a murder mystery game night.

    Image #1 from Melissa C.
    Image #2 from Melissa C.
    Image #3 from Melissa C.
    Image #4 from Melissa C.
    Image #5 from Melissa C.
    Image #6 from Melissa C.
    Image #7 from Melissa C.

  7. Katherine Chivers (verified owner) –

  8. Rose Sergott –

    I had a blast hosting this game and will certainly be doing another one!
    The only thing I found hard was that the Items weren’t sorted by character and that was confusing, but I figured it out. Definitely a great deal for a free game! everyone asked when the next one would be!

  9. Mandy Gaziel (verified owner) –

    It was a lot of fun.
    Somet hings were a little unclear, perhaps because we used the free version but all in all everyone had a great time.
    Thank you.

  10. Sandra –

    Super fun, the whole family loved it.

  11. Anonymous –

    Went great. The group had a really good time and everything was easy to follow and have ready.

  12. Abe M. –

    With some preparation, the game was easy to run! There was lots of laughter, deceit, shock, and intrigue. We had a few new players and they were surprised by how much fun they had. Read everything, dress up, and be ready for a great time!

  13. Rolf Behr –

  14. Lisa –

    This game was so much fun! While I was worried about not getting into, everybody was super engaged and not bored at all throughout the evening. We had a great time!

  15. lorraine mewett –

    We have done a number of murder mysteries over the years and this was voted the best so far.

  16. Thijs –

    Played the game with a group of adult scouts. Weeks after we played the game, there were still sometimes discussions on how the game played out! We loved it.

  17. Anonymous –

    Great name and we had a great party. Lots of answers, all to the same question, Will surely do another one for our annual party.

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Q & A

Ask a question
Should the number of ability uses be modified depending on the number of players? For example three uses of the "interrogation" ability might seem a lot for a group of 10 players. Matt asked on 15 November 2024

Hi Matt, thanks for this question! No, it's fine to leave the numbers of uses as they are. Although there are fewer characters to be using them on, there are also fewer characters who have them and can be using them -- so it tends to make the game more intense, but it balances out in terms of the 'information economy'. In the end there's a certain amount of basic information that needs to be able to emerge, one way or another.
(But saying that, of course if people end up with spare unused abilities at the end of the night, then that's absolutely fine -- it isn't necessary to use all of them unless one feels it will be useful to do so.)

 Freeform Games answered on 15 November 2024 store manager
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Is it okay for there to be less than 10 players? Sofie asked on 8 October 2024

Hi - if you run Way out West for fewer than ten players, you will need to adjust some plots and clues to make sure that the mystery can be solved. We do have games for fewer than ten players, though; you could look at one of those instead.

 Steve Hatherley answered on 9 October 2024 store manager
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Hi, I was wondering if there's an option to get about 2\3 more characters to the free version of way out west If so I would also like to know how to incorporate them in with the other characters Thx Mandy Mandy Gaziel asked on 27 August 2024

Hi Mandy, thank you for checking out our games!
No, there are no extra characters available for the free version of Way out West. It is good for 10 guests, but if you have more than that, then you need the paid-for version

 Freeform Games answered on 27 August 2024 store manager
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