If you have any questions about our Murder Mystery Games, please check to see if it's answered below. If not, please feel free to contact us and we will get back to you within 24 hours.
Q1: Can these games be played via zoom during covid-19 lockdown times?
A1: Our murder mystery games were originally written to be played with all the players meeting in person. However during Covid-19 and lockdown, more and more people are playing our games via Zoom. Please see our full details here of playing the games via Zoom
Q2: What do I do if I have less than the maximum amount of players?
A2: If you have less than the maximum number of players indicated for the game then the host's information pack will detail which characters can be left out (usually an even split between male and female characters) along with how to prevent any of these characters being selected as the murderer or victim. During the course of the game, the hosts information pack will prompt you to read out "extra character statements" (found at the end of the host's pack) for any missing characters. This will ensure that all necessary information from those missing characters are then heard by everyone.
Q3: How is my Murder Mystery Game delivered?
A3: If you have purchased one of our downloadable murder mystery games, as soon as your payment has cleared you'll be emailed a link to download your chosen game. You will receive the download in the form of a "Zip file" attachment. Save the Zip file to your computer and then open it to access all the game files. You should receive a Hosts information pack, individual packs for each character in your game and a "Read me First" file which gives you more information about your chosen game. Please be aware that the link expires after 48 hours so please ensure you have downloaded your game by this time. Should the link expire before you can download it, please contact us with your purchase reference details and we will email it through to you
If you have purchased one of our boxed games, these are from our affiliated suppliers via Amazon.co.uk. You can find the different delivery options at their checkout screen. Please note if you have any queries about the delivery of your boxed game, you will need to contact Amazon.co.uk rather than ourselves.
Q4: What format are the game files delivered in?
A4: Our range of downloadable murder mystery games and sent in a PDF format. If your device doesn't support PDF formats, please let us know and we can send them to you in a Microsoft Word format instead. Boxed or electronic games from our affiliated suppliers are sent in the format as indicated under their individual descriptions.
Q5: How much printing is involved for the Murder Mystery Games?
A5: With our downloadable games, our recommendation is always to email your guests with their individual character pack at least a week in advance to allow them to either print it out (6 pages per character pack) or to have them bring it on a portable device such as an IPad or Tablet which they can refer to during the party. For the hosts information pack, it is a fairly lengthy file (30+ pages depending on your game). Again we would recommend that rather than print all these pages out, you simply have the file open on a laptop, IPad, Tablet, etc. and read from it at the required times. This way, you will only need to print the final few pages of the hosts pack which contain all the maps and illustrations you need for the party.
For boxed games, there should be no printing involved unless otherwise stated under the game description.
Q6: How much printing is involved for the Children's Mystery Games?
A6: The Children's Mystery Games involve much less printing. Typically, you would just need to print out the one page of clues which related to the guilty party you have selected, one page for the map, one page of tokens for the children and then enough detective note sheets for the amount of children you have playing. Usually you would be looking at about 8 printed pages in total
Q7: How long should each game last?
A7: That really depends on how long you want them to last and how much fun everyone is having. For the Children's games, allow approximately 30 to 45 minutes per game. For the Murder Mystery Games, allow 90 minutes to two hours per game.
Q8: What happens if I have more people attending my Murder Mystery Party; can you add in extra characters?
A8: With our downloadable murder mystery games, if you have extra guests attending your party, we usually recommend allocating the extra guests to the role of bystanders or party guests. These people would be able to observe and interact with the main characters throughout the party but would be free to invent their own back story. It would need to be made clear to everyone that these people are extras and not part of the main story line and so the only help they can give is any secret information they've heard from the main characters. Although these extra players cannot be chosen as the murderer or the victim, they can still attempt to solve the murder in the same way.
With our affiliated boxed games, you can not have more or less players than indicated unless specifically stated on the listing description
Q9: How much of the game is scripted?
A9: We prefer to minimise the amount of scripts in our range of murder mystery games as the feedback we've received from our customers over the years indicates this allows them to improvise more and play their character in their way. Each character is given a personality profile to work to along with secret information about themselves and some of the other characters. The only scripted parts of the game you'll find are with the character introductions, the conversation starters and, if you're the guilty party, the confession. The sneak previews allow you to see how this format appears in the game files.
Each of the boxed games will vary depending on supplier. Please contact the supplier directly if you have any questions with a boxed game.