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My birthday is on Saturday and this year I'm thinking of doing a Murder Mystery Party! It sounds like a ton of fun and I've never been to one before. I've looked at some party/ game packages in the stores, but they seem to max out at 8 characters, and I would really like at least 11, but up to 16. I've been looking online and it appears there are a ton of sites that put together murder mystery packages that you can download and customize. Has anybody ever used one that they would recommend? Any generic tips or fun stories from your own murder mystery parties? I'm pretty excited about this! Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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We did this sort of thing at our lock-in for National Junior Honor Society at Middle School. I was the murderer two years straight.
Posts: 6026 | Registered: Dec 2004
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I've only ever done the box sets with up to 8 people, so I can't really give you advice on the only packages. As for general advice, I've seen two types of parties: one where everyone is expected to bring up certain points somewhere in the flow of conversation and one where everything is scripted out. If you and your friends have acting experience, look for the 1st type. They are way more fun if you've had acting experience. If no one has really ever acted, go with the 2nd type so that no one feels pressured. Oh, and make everyone dress up in costume. It's way more fun that way!
I always enjoy making the food and music an important part of the evening, following along with the theme of the mystery. If you're not really into cooking, your guests wouldn't mind just having pizza or something like that.
They're really not hard to put together and they are a ton of fun. Good luck and have a great birthday!
Posts: 161 | Registered: Jul 2002
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We had a company come in for our office holiday party (25 guests) and run the murder mystery for us. We were each assigned roles, given small scripts and props. We spent about 30 minutes introducing "ourselves" and then an hour mingling and interviewing the other characters to come to our conclusion of whodunnit. We submitted our guesses before dinner, and the crew tallied up the votes while we ate. Between dinner and dessert they revealed the real murderer and who we all thought was the murderer (which for us was different LOL)
I thought it was a lot of fun and I'd love to do it again.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Yay! It's great to hear your stories, they make me more and more excited!
Happy Birthday Divaesafani!!! Have you ever been to France on your birthday? I’ve always wanted to- what with Bastille Day going on and all.
ketchupqueen, looks like you're right. Evie had a party a while back. Thanks for the idea of looking for the thread, it's got some pretty nifty info!
pooka, while I've heard the term “mafia” before and I know it’s a game. The only version I’ve ever played was at camp where you turn out the lights and somebody from the “mafia” tries to kill you and then the “police officer” takes a guess as to who the killer is. Is this what you’re talking about?
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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I own this one: The curious Affair and Dredmoor Manor. It can play pretty much as many as you want, although some end up being detectives more than active participants. If you don't have a lot of rooms in your house that you can use and that can't be seen from each other, don't bother. You will need to manufacture reasons for people to wander through the house into all kinds of different rooms so they can get one another alone to kill them. When we did it, we had different appetizers and drinks in different rooms and had chairs and a cooler out on the deck.
It was pretty fun. The ones that play 8 are the best, though. The "How to Host a Murder" series are very good, but you need EXACTLY 8 players. We've done 3 of those now and loved them all.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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I'd say 16 is the absolute upper limit for a murder mystery party. I've been to several, and really anything over 10 gets too unweildy to be fun for everyone.
Posts: 1753 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Update: The party was a complete success!!! Everybody had a blast. The day of the party, I had a friend come over to help me with the clues and she wanted to hide the clues and make clues to the clues. So instead of just giving a person a clue as to who the murderer was, they got a slip of paper that said something cryptic like, "This clue requires a lot of reflection. I've been watching you since you came in", and the clue referred to a mirror near the entry way. That added a lot to the game, and the game was awesome all on its own!
If anybody else is interested, I highly recommend going for it. That was probably the best party I've thrown in a few years. One word of caution though, it ended up being a LOT more work than I was expecting. I did buy mine online, so it involved printing everything out, cutting things up, and putting stuff in envelopes. If you have the option, I would look in to buying a set from a store.
Thanks for everybody's advice! :-D
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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