<p>We are looking for a unique gift for my Brother and sister in law and my husband thought of a murder mystery game. We don’t know quite how they work though and if we could do it with our two families. We would have 8-10 people (depending if my folks are here or not) and ages 14- 55 or 14- 78.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any first hand experience with this?</p>
<p>They were really popular among my kids’ friends when everyone was in middle school. There are a bunch that are commercially available and pretty good, but I don’t remember any names. Generally, I think they are set up for 8 or 10 players, and are pretty inflexible (i.e., you need exactly that number, or it doesn’t work).</p>
<p>I actually wrote one from scratch for my daughter’s 11th birthday party. It worked OK, but I don’t recommend going that route.</p>
<p>I did one for my 17th birthday party. I got my directions from <a href=“http://www.nightofmystery.com…it%5B/url%5D”>www.nightofmystery.com…it</a> was great! They give you everything you need, from costume ideas to actual evidence to character descriptions.</p>
<p>I didn’t have all the people I needed, but it was still a ton of fun and everyone present loved it. :)</p>
<p>A group of my college friends get together for New Year’s every year, and for 5 years we did murder mysteries. My daughter also had a murder mystery birthday party one year. They are a lot of fun. </p>
<p>There are several different versions out there. I never went the boxed version one, because we had too many people. You have the right number for that type. I googled “murder mystery” and came up with a lot of options. There are freelancers who write these and then sell them online. The ones I enjoyed the most were when each person was assigned a role and a task, and had to playact that role the entire night. </p>
<p>Many of my links have been taken off the net, but this is what I still have:</p>
<p>[Murder</a> mysteries - Murder mystery kits for dinner parties, cocktail parties, special events](<a href=“http://www.tailormademysteries.com/tmm/myst.htm]Murder”>http://www.tailormademysteries.com/tmm/myst.htm)
[Murder</a> Mystery Dinner Party Games from Mysteries and More](<a href=“http://www.murdermysterygames.com/cgi-bin/mystery_games/mystery_games.cgi?country=US]Murder”>http://www.murdermysterygames.com/cgi-bin/mystery_games/mystery_games.cgi?country=US)
[Mystery</a> Net.com: Online mysteries, mystery games, mystery books](<a href=“http://www.mysterynet.com/]Mystery”>http://www.mysterynet.com/)</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure I bought something from the first link. To be honest, it would take some serious research to figure out where I bought 5 years worth of games. Have fun!</p>
<p>Great replies! Here’s what my husband and I are still wondering about: Is this something where the whole evening you stay in character and do certain things at certain times or does the murder happen right away and then the point of the evening is figuring out who done it? We are concerned that because our kids are all boys ages 14-20 they might think it’s silly. Are they three hour games or a half hour?</p>
<p>They go however quickly you want. Mine was 3 hours or so, which I think is more fun. :)</p>
<p>The games I’ve seen tend to go 2-3 hours of fairly constant activity. Roles tend to be evenly divided by gender, although for some you can switch genders without too much problem. They are aimed squarely at teens.</p>
<p>kathie, it depends on the type of game you chose – there are several varieties. Sometimes the murder happens immediately, sometimes off screen, sometimes in the middle of the game. As for length, 3 hours is about right, although you can sometimes shorten them. And they are set up with natural breaks, for eating dinner, for example.</p>
<p>When my group did it, we had teens ranging in age from 6 to 16, both girls and boys. They all loved playing.</p>