Planning the party

1. The first step is to purchase the game. You can pick one from the list in “The games” page.

2. Invite eight or more friends to your murder mystery party. There are eight characters, each assigned to a player. One player is the murderer and the others must figure out who that is. Extra players can play the auxiliary character and can have just as much fun with the same information as the others.

Choose a character for each of the players that you think will be fun for them to play

3. Read the character descriptions in the game instructions. Choose a character for each of the players that you think will be fun for them to play (don’t read the narratives). There are usually four women and four men in the stories, but anyone can play any character, it’s all fun.

Getting ready

1. Put together your costume and start thinking about how you want to act that character out. Don’t feel underdressed, you can make a simple costume or an elaborate one, either works its fun all the same. Same with the acting, there is no pressure.

2. You can bring some food and drinks to the game, a potluck works great! The game is designed with socializing in mind.

3. Show up!

Playing the game

1. Set out snacks and spend some time socializing and catching up to start off with. This is when you show off your costumes and have fun acting out your character. This step actually contributes to solving the mystery.

2. Start the clock, you have two and a half hours to catch the murderer. This has proven to be the amount of time needed to give the murderer a chance to escape and other players a chance to catch them.

There are vital clues in all the game materials; everyone knows something important

3. Read Detective Thrasher’s police report introduction out loud to the group, then put the report on a central table so everyone can refer to it. Then each player reads their witness statements out loud. Each player is then given their narrative and the auxiliary narrative to the extra players. Only you can read your narrative, it tells you what your character actually did at the time of the murder. As the host you can play as a character but don’t read the narratives beforehand. A player will find out they are the murderer while reading their narrative.

4. Pass out and read the clue cards, and then exchange them with other players. Try to read them all. Ask the other characters what they did and saw. There are vital clues in all the game materials; everyone knows something important.

5. Don’t be fooled, everyone can and will tell lies, especially the murderer. So use your head and be alert.

6. When the time runs out, each player guesses who is the murderer. The murderer will then reveal who they are. Everyone will laugh and share their part of the story and funny things that happened during the game.

7. The murderer then reads their narrative out loud. By this time everyone is dying to know the details of what happened and will listen in rapt silence as all is revealed.

8. The final step is to purchase the next game you want to play; you can pick one from the list in “The games” page.