Until now, everything we sold for the table was a case file: a pile of documents, no roles, and nobody who already knows the answer. This autumn we added something different. Three murder mystery party games, in English, where every guest plays a character and one person keeps the evening moving. Here is what each box holds, what we learned building them, and which one fits your guest list.
What a party kit is, and what it is not
A case file is a detective's desk. A party kit is a room full of suspects. Each guest gets a public page to read aloud, a secret page, three private goals worth points, and a clue sheet for every round. The host reads the narration, hands out the evidence cards and keeps the solution sealed until the vote. The host does not play, and that is a deliberate trade-off: someone has to know where the night is heading. Everything prints flat on ordinary paper. You cut the cards with scissors and assemble nothing.
Murder at the Gilded Canary: a 1920s speakeasy
It is New Year's Eve, 1927, and the club owner collapses during the midnight toast. The case turns on a ledger with its pages torn out, a poisoned glass, and a timeline that only works if you know who left the room and when. Nobody at the bar is quite who they say they are. The bonus puzzle is a number code on a telegram. It is the gentlest of the three, so start here if your friends have never done anything like it. See the 1920s speakeasy kit.
Murder on the SS Aurelia: an ocean liner in 1955
A sapphire vanishes from a suite on the last night of the crossing, and this time two people did it together. Guests can search any cabin by name, and the host reads a card for that place. A key-board log, two photographs taken twenty minutes apart and a Morse reply from New York carry the puzzle. Pick it for a group that enjoys comparing statements line by line. See the ocean liner kit.
Murder at the Vineyard Wedding: a rehearsal dinner, today
Here the phones are the evidence. In the third round everyone drops their phone in a bowl and the group chat, the photographs, a keypad log and one suspicious emoji start to talk. A father dies at the foot of a ladder, and his last text does not sound like him. Pick it for friends who live on their phones, or for a bridal party that wants a night before the wedding. See the wedding kit.
One purchase, three sizes
Every kit includes the same case in three sizes: Mini for 4 to 6 guests, Classic for 6 to 9, and Grand for 10 to 20. We did not just add and remove names. In the small versions the core cast holds every critical clue, and we checked that each important fact has at least two sources, so one missing guest cannot break the case. If a character has no player, the host reads that character's pages aloud. Every file also comes in a full-colour design and a printer-friendly one that prints well in black and white.
Which one should you pick?
New to murder mystery parties: the speakeasy. Love cross-checking alibis: the ocean liner. A group that texts all day: the vineyard wedding. Not sure you want a role-playing night at all? Try before you buy. Play a case online, download the free cold case file or the free escape room.
Good to know
The kits are in English only for now. Plan about two hours, or 90 minutes for the small version, and ages 14 and up. You can browse all three on the party kit page.