Lei’d to Rest

Cover to Lei'd to Rest
(15 customer reviews)

£33.99

Lei’d to Rest is a downloadable murder mystery game for 6 to 22 guests and one or two hosts. It is set in Hawaii, at a beach party that goes horribly wrong. Written by DeAnna Knippling. Recommended for ages 15+.

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Lei'd to Rest is a murder mystery game for 6 to 22 guests and one or two hosts. It is set in Hawaii, at a beach party that goes horribly wrong. Download the free introductory pdf file.

Lei'd to Rest is a thrilling evening of sun, sand, legend, lies, treachery, and murder! 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 Lei'd to Rest?

"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

See stories and pictures from Lei'd to Rest

Read the Legend of the Red Goddess

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...

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.

Note that Lei'd to Rest is a bit more complex than some of our other games. If you've not hosted one of our games before, you might want to allocate a bit longer to prepare for it and to read through how it's going to work.

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

 

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 Legend of the Red Goddess.

Cast of characters

  • Annatto: Religious zealot
  • Brad Bates: Local dance instructor
  • Rory Beard: Local surfer
  • Elsie Brighton: One half of a pair of newlyweds. Midwestern and naïve
  • Ned Brighton: Elsie Brighton’s sickly other half
  • Sarafina Chavez: An aspiring actress willing to do anything to get attention
  • Anson Hardasty: Wealthy elderly businessman
  • Heather Harris: Secretary to Earl Peace
  • Max Hartnett: Anson Hardasty’s best lawyer
  • Cassidy Hayes: Stateside florist
  • Keoni: Tour guide and traditional Hawaiian entertainer, with aspirations
  • Dr. Penny Kingsbury: Local doctor
  • Ren Matsuda: Out-of-work local
  • Mojo Mo: Hawaiian master cook and sometime witch doctor
  • Anna Nayuki: Local real estate agent
  • Lawrence Ost: Local botanist
  • Earl Peace: Private detective
  • Wilson Scott: Tourist and postal worker
  • Jack Slack: Local small-scale entrepreneur and all-around dubious character
  • Mel Squant: The perfect grandparent and tourist
  • Chelsea Whitaker: Famous local surfer
  • Noelle Wright: Stateside florist

Lei'd to Rest is for 6 to 22 players:

  • 6 players (2 male, 2 female, 2 any)
  • 7 players (2 male, 3 female, 2 any)
  • 8 players (3 male, 3 female, 2 any)
  • 9 players (4 male, 3 female, 2 any)
  • 10 players (4 male, 3 female, 3 any)
  • 11 players (4 male, 4 female, 3 any)
  • 12 players (4 male, 4 female, 4 any)
  • 13 players (4 male, 4 female, 5 any)
  • 14 players (4 or 6 male, 4 or 5 female, 4 or 5 any)
  • 15 players (4 or 6 male, 4 or 5 female, 5 or 6 any)
  • 16 players (6 male, 5 female, 5 any)
  • 17 players (6 male, 6 female, 5 any)
  • 18 players (6 male, 6 female, 6 any)
  • 19 players (6 or 8 male, 6 or 7 female, 5 or 6 any)
  • 20 players (6 or 8 male, 6 or 7 female, 6 or 7 any)
  • 21 players (8 male, 7 female, 6 any)
  • 22 players (8 male, 7 female, 7 any)

You also need one or two hosts, to organize the party and ensure everything runs smoothly. (We recommend two hosts with more than 12 guests, particularly if this is your first Freeform Games murder mystery party.)

How Freeform Games murder mystery games work

Lei'd to Rest 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, Lei'd to Rest contains plenty of other plots and secrets to keep everyone busy. Lei'd to Rest isn't scripted, and lets the players decide how to achieve their goals and thwart their 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.

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

Recommended for ages 15+

We recommend Lei'd to Rest for those aged 15+,  as  one character is the mistress of another.

Extra characters

Sometimes you have too many guests and need more characters. So most games have free extra characters (written by us or previous hosts) included in the download when you purchase the game.

  • 'Ginger' Roberts – freelance reporter in search of the Big Story. (Any)
    (by Freeform Games)

Please note that we haven't always tested these – and they may not tie in exactly with our games.

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

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. 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.

15 reviews for Lei’d to Rest

  1. Anonymous (verified owner) –

    Game was lots of fun! Knocking down from 5 to 3 stars as there was lots of cultural appropriation which was kind of cringe inducing. Weird characters like “the witch doctor” who felt kind of racist.

  2. Lesley (verified owner) –

    Thanks!
    Was pretty fun.
    They did not find the murderer.
    Lots of work for me the host!

  3. Anonymous (verified owner) –

    The premise was fun, great characters are great stories. It requires someone to be the host and if you are the host get ready to be asked 1 million questions because it is a complex game with each character having their own ability’s and it not being clear about what can and can’t be said and who can and can’t know what.

    I think it was a tad too complex for the average party.

    If you want to be stumped and play at a slower pace and are a super experienced MM player then this is for you.

    Story 4/5
    Difficulty 6/5
    Characters 5/5
    Game “flow” 2/5

  4. Andrew –

    We had a great time with Lei’d to Rest! The story and characters have a lot of layers so everyone had plenty to occupy themselves with over the course of the night. Many laughs were had. The game is very in depth, but all of us were murder mystery first-timers and it was still a success. Hosting is a fair bit of work; I’m looking forward to someone else hosting a freeform games murder mystery so I can play next time 🙂

  5. Michelle –

    We did Lei’d to Rest on Sunday. It was a family event celebrating the 80th birthdays of both my parents! We had 14 people involved and it was so much fun! My parents were Mel and Penny, which suited them just fine. The grandchildren, aged 11, 14, 18, 28, 30 and 31 all had a great time! Would recommend this game to others!

  6. Chuck Cooley –

    The murderer totally got away with it… We played Lei’d to Rest with 12 characters, including Ginger but leaving out Ned. Perhaps that led to some confusion or missing clues, but overall it seemed to work. There was less fighting than I expected (except for Jack, who got laid flat twice, and totally deserved it); perhaps we are just a peaceable group. Ginger gave some really good feedback, writing: ‘The characters were really interesting and different, which was great. It felt easy to get engaged because the characters were interesting to talk to. The plot itself was great and had MULTIPLE plot twists that we didn’t see coming. I wished we could have played for longer! It really didn’t get old.’ Thanks for a very memorable New Year’s Eve!

  7. Wendy –

    I hosted Lei’d to Rest and all of my friends said they had a ton of fun! This was my first time hosting and playing Freeform Games, and it was a fantastic experience. I was a little concerned about my shyer friends, but everyone enjoyed their character. I also think Lei’d to Rest was a good introduction to my friends who haven’t experienced any multi-hour puzzle-like games. Items are important in Lei’d to Rest, so as a host, I would stress and remind folks that you can loot items if you knock someone unconscious. A lot of my friends were also really focussed on decrypting Project Caulfield, so I had to add clarity in the middle of the game that it wasn’t necessary that they decrypt the contents. My friends ended up not finding the murderer, and if I were to host this again, something I’d do next time is add a rule that you can only pickpocket someone you’ve walked by in the last minute because it became too difficult to find Project Caulfield with all of the uninformed pickpocketing. Thank you for the great writing and game!

  8. Kelly –

    Last night we played Lei’d to Rest. It was a hit! We had people who have played before and some newcomers to the game. Everyone got dressed up and had a great time. The guests were impressed by how well written the roles were, while still allowing them to make them their own.
    We took a break at the midpoint for a hula contest. The men were hysterical.
    I highly recommend it! We also loved Bludgeoned on Broadway and Snow Business.

  9. Kendra Pearsall –

    Everyone had a great time doing Lei’d to Rest. I attended another murder mystery game by [a different company] 2 months later and I noticed the game, plot were not nearly as interesting as this one so stick with Freeform Games. The customer service with this company is excellent and they are true to their word. And very few other companies offer a money back guarantee so there is no risk.

  10. D Bo –

    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.

    Image #1 from D Bo

  11. Megan McGrath –

    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!!

  12. Paul Weiss –

    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!

  13. Paul Weiss –

    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.

    Image #1 from Paul Weiss

  14. Rita Tallini –

    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!

  15. Heather Smith –

    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!!!

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