Collection: Murder mystery games

Most murder mystery games run around 2–3 hours, depending on how much your guests mingle at the start and how quickly they work through their objectives and evidence. If you're planning to serve dinner during the night, you can stretch it out a bit longer - the mystery fits around a meal really well. For tips on structuring food alongside the game, check out our guide to hosting a murder mystery dinner party.

Yes - and we recommend it. You don't need to know who the murderer is in advance, so you can enjoy the party alongside your guests. Each kit includes a character assignment guide to help you pick the right role for yourself and match everyone else without seeing spoilers.

Yes - it's best to wait until your guest list is confirmed before customizing. Once you're ready, assign your definite "yes" guests to the core character slots first. For example, if your kit supports 8–12 players and you've got 8 confirmed, lock those in. Then assign any "maybe" guests to the additional characters - 9, 10, 11, 12 - so if they can't make it, you can simply leave those roles out and everything still runs smoothly. There's more information on which characters to include for the additional slots in the host guide.

If there's one guest in particular who's on the fence, make them the last character in the lineup. All characters build on each other, so the last one removed will have the least impact on the overall story.

One thing to watch for: if someone from your core group drops out, make sure you replace them with one of your additional guests rather than just leaving the role empty. Core characters can hold vital information - or even be the murderer (we've seen this happen before.) The good news is you can resubmit the customization form if your numbers change closer to the event, so you're never fully locked in.

About 30–45 minutes into the night, one character is "murdered." But they're not out of the game - they step into a new role as the detective and stay fully involved in the action. The victim doesn't know they're the victim until they read their objectives on the night, so it's a genuine surprise. For a closer look at how the whole evening unfolds, we've got a step-by-step guide to how murder mystery parties work.

Yes - the murderer is pre-determined in every kit. This is intentional. It means the storyline stays tight, the clues all connect, and we can include evidence for guests to piece together. The person playing the murderer doesn't find out until later in the game, so they get to enjoy the evening without feeling on edge early on.

No problem. Any extra guests can play as "Independent Detectives." They don't have a scripted character, but they can move around, meet everyone, review clues, and try to crack the case on their own. We include spare name tags for this. It works especially well for bigger groups, or when you've got a few guests who'd rather observe than commit to a full role.