FAQs

The optional characters are fully integrated with both motives AND opportunities. They are suspects the same as the other characters. In most games, we achieve this by linking the optional character with an essential character so if the essential character is guilty then the optional character is an accomplice. (In the Swinging Sixties and Naughty Nineties, we gave the optional characters additional small motives and opportunities.)

Optional characters have their own pre-party booklets and party booklets with suggested dialogue and a clue to read. They are fully integrated into the list of speakers but their names are given in light-grey italics so it is easy for the party to skip over them if they are absent.

Optional characters are ideal for guests who may or may not be able to make your shindig or for those who are shy and may not wish to participate fully.

Parties can run with 0, 1 or 2 optional/minor characters. Your whodunnit will run equally well with or without them.

Optional characters do, however, have a slightly smaller role than the main, essential characters. Therefore if all of your guests want a major role, we do recommend that you buy a game for a larger number of players (if it is available.)

Yes, definitely. In the Party Booklets, optional characters are listed in light grey italics in the left-hand column of speakers and so people do know who the optional characters are.

Officially, there is a maximum of 14 players per game - some games only have smaller versions.

We feel that any more and the time needed to give additional characters their own separate motives and opportunities would make the evening too cumbersome and too long.

Occasionally, hosts choose to "double-up" a character so that two people play a single character and split the lines between them; we do NOT write the booklets in this way but have heard good reports from those who have tried it.

Yes definitely. We often say that our games our so easy to run that the host can play a character alongside their guests.

The murderer is not a person randomly selected on the night. We carefully plot each of our mysteries to provide one or two key pieces of evidence that link the killer (or killers) to the crime. These pieces of evidence are carefully woven throughout the mystery so that the murderer is guessable. Many of our guests have told us how much they appreciate the mystery-solving element of our games.

That said, we have sometimes re-run games with a different group of friends and a suitable time interval between the parties. As different people play characters in different ways, the party dynamics were different each time. 

No. The murderer is NOT told who he or she is until the final Audio Solution is played. We find this adds to the suspense and allows all guests to play on an equal footing.

The host also does not know unless they listen to this solution (or read the text version).

We suggest that guests do not look at the Whodunnit section of their booklets in advance; these do NOT state who the killer is but they do explain a few red herrings, show why a given character must be innocent and/or show who has tampered with the evidence.

All murder mysteries are written for adults but some may also be suitable for teenagers or older children. Most mysteries have milder content than that found in a 12A film (UK classifications) or PG-13 film (American classifications). This depends on parental judgment, however, and there is an Age and Sensibilities section within each mystery where we list everything that may (possibly) cause offense.

A few general notes:

• We never use bad language.
• We never use sordid or explicit details so even those mysteries where affairs are alleged and denied can generally be played with your Great Aunt Agatha or the local vicar present. (For example, if an affair is alleged, someone might claim they saw the characters going into the same hotel room or kissing etc; the characters generally deny this. No further details need be given - although parties are free to be as explicit as they wish in ad-libs.)
• There is minimal violence - the homicide happened beforehand and we try to keep the details far removed from everyday life. Any threats are comical ones. *
• Innuendos, if any, are extremely mild (and optional) and "smut" is kept to a minimum - although feel free to add in whatever details you wish!

Note that "Is Santa Slayed?" is written for both adults and families.

*With any murder mystery, people's reactions can depend upon personal experience and so the method of killing is given in the Age and Sensibilities section. An early mystery (Murder in the Naughty Nineties) did use a hit-and-run as the homicide method, although the "victim" is soon found to be less than sympathetic and the mystery is very light-hearted.  Our upcoming Wild West Murder Mystery will involve guns and shootings - it's hard to imagine the Wild West without! Other mysteries, however, deliberately use less common methods of killing - for example, electrocution in a giant disco ball (Murder at the 70s Disco Party) or poison sprayed by a Santa in the Box toy (Murder at the Christmas Party).

Both! Shy players can if they wish simply read the suggested dialogue. No ad-libbing or singing/dancing is needed and guests do not need to make a fool of themselves - unless they wish.

However, we do find that the more people get into character and ham up their roles, the more fun parties become.

The extroverts in the group can have fun with accents, catchphrases, ad-libs and using their own words.

Most games also offer selected guests optional opportunities to sing a couple of lines of a song or dance or have a shootout (Wild West). Guests are warned in advance that they will have these optional opportunities. The host instructions also tell you which guests will get these opportunities so you can assign characters accordingly. That said, if guests choose to skip over these opportunities then the party will run just fine without them.

Each party can choose whether to allow ad-libs and "optional chime-ins" or not.

This depends very much upon the people present - how many characters the game is for, whether optional characters are present, how quickly players speak, pauses between speakers, amount of optional dialogue spoken etc. 

As a general rule, we say that:

6-8 players: 1.75 - 2.5+ hours

8-10 players: 2 - 2.75+ hours

10-12 players: 2.25 - 3+ hours

12-14 players: 3 - 3.25+ hours

The Initial Mingling, food and chatting breaks are in addition to this. We advise hosts to keep an eye on the time and to minimize chatting breaks between rounds so that guests can complete the game while the people are still fresh and then chat and relax over dessert and coffee.

All of our parties are self-hosted. They are designed to be extremely easy to run on the night so that even first-time hosts can play a character and enjoy the game.

Note that there is admin work to do up-front such as sending invitations and pre-party booklets to your guests and printing party booklets, clues, award certificates, name tags etc.

The mystery games consist of:

1 An optional Initial Mingling (guests mix and mingle as they try to achieve competing objectives); this section is usually fairly short (5-15 minutes or so).

2 Audio Introduction

3 Six rounds with a semi-flexible script - and lots of room for ad-libs and embellishment. 

4 An optional (but recommended) Whodunnit round

5 Audio Solution

If played face-to-face, guests can play an optional mix and mingle round called the Initial Mingling when they first arrive at your house. This is a great way of finding out who is who while learning about the key themes of the party.

As everyone (naturally) has competing objectives, expect a lot of laughter.

Our optional Initial Mingling round can be made as long or as short as the hosts and guests wish - or can be avoided entirely if you choose.

If played remotely, this can take the form of a series of short video calls between different players using Zoom Breakout Rooms or Google Hangouts or just as messaging via WhatsApp.

The rounds are flexibly-scripted. Each person's party booklet gives the information that must be given (in whatever words) in bold and additional dialogue suggestions (including fun catchphrases and accent suggestions) in non-bold. Players can therefore simply read what is given or can use their own words and ad-lib and chime in as much as they wish.

The examples below are from two different murder mysteries: Mac is a Scottish laird while Mayor speaks with a Southern American accent.

See our flexible scripts page for further details.

Yes, we positively encourage this. At the bottom of each game page, under the "Included With Your Murder Mystery Game Kit Purchase - All Ready for Instant Download!" heading, there are different sample materials including host instructions, invitations, a sample pre-party booklet, a party booklet, a clue, and an award certificate. All sample materials are for that specific game. Customers can also listen to the audio introduction for that mystery.

No. We are afraid that we license our games for private use only. Therefore if you are an event company, a guest house or hotel, a restaurant, a theatre or another commercial organization, our games are NOT to be used.

Each pre-party booklet and party booklet has a "not for commercial use" notice in the footer.

We are happy to support charities. Please email us IN ADVANCE telling us what your charity is and how often and when you wish to run the murder mystery and we will provide you with written permission.

Yes. Providing that you are not selling tickets, we class work parties as "normal" parties and that fits under our definition of private use.

We can sell to any country that does not make us pay VAT for downloadable products.

We currently sell to the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Singapore, Norway, Switzerland and Gibraltar. These countries appear on the Country/Region dropdown list of permitted countries on the Checkout page.

In general, we offer a 40% discount between different versions of the SAME game and 100% exchange between the face-to-face and virtual versions of the SAME game.

Please see our Refund and Exchange Policy page, section 3, for our detailed Exchange policies.

If you leave a review on a game that you have played, then all reviewers will be added to a monthly draw. The winner will receive a voucher for 100% discount on one game.

If you leave a review AND two photos relating to our mystery game, we will send you a £10 discount voucher against the purchase of your next mystery once the photos are approved.

If you would like the chance to win two mysteries with 100% discount off both, then send us additional photos and some additional words to featured@maplemysterygames.com  If you are chosen as one of our Featured Mysteries, then your next TWO games are on us!