How to write a murder mystery game for a work party

Simple steps to creating your corporate murder mystery event:

You've decided to do a murder mystery, now here is how to create a bespoke mystery game…

1. Choose a theme

Decide on a theme for your event. This can be anything from a 1920s speakeasy to a futuristic sci-fi mystery. The theme sets the tone for the event and helps to create a sense of immersion for your team. With our game builder you can chose the decade of your choice (it could even be in the future) and you can decide on the name of the town and venue location which can influence your theme. You can even base it in a hotel or a church...

2. Assign Roles

Assign roles to your team members. These can be suspects, detectives, or other characters that are central to the mystery. Make sure to give everyone a role that they will enjoy and that fits their personality.

With the You Dunnit game for large events, your host plays the role of the Inspector who oversees the game.

You then chose 6 of your colleagues to play the role of 'suspects'. These should be people who enjoy theatrics and would be confident to do a spot of acting. They should be confident to talk to people as they will be questioned by the rest of the party over the duration of the evening. And they should be up for a bit of ad-lib when they get asked that curve ball question!

Everyone else plays the role of detectives who help the inspector to solve the crime by going round in groups to interview the suspects over three rounds.

3. Create a plot

Create a plot for your event. This can be as simple or as complex as you like. Make sure to include plenty of twists and turns to keep your team guessing.

• Every suspect should have a link to at least three other suspects so that their stories are intertwined
• Every suspect should have a motive to kill the victim, so that your guests are left guessing
• There should be plenty of sub-plots to throw people off track or to ensure it's not too easy to guess!

4. Set the Scene

Set the scene for your event by creating a visual setting that matches your theme. This can be done with decorations, props, and costumes.

• Create a murder scene. You might want to use police tape, or create an outline of a body on the floor.
• Think about the decade your game is based in. Gather props that reflect that period.
• Ensure your suspects are wearing costumes that match their character.
• Decide where each suspect will be based over the evening. It's much more fun if people are on their feet walking about, hunting out the suspects and finding them where they should be. For example, a chef would be in the kitchen and a doorman would be on the door!
• Play music that is either from the correct time period, or music that creates suspense!

5. Rehearse

It's really important that your key cast have a chance to get together before the event to run through your game.

This helps to make sure that they each know the story, practice what they will say when people ask them questions and become familiar with their character.

It also means that you get a chance to practice getting into character; mannerisms, accent, emotions etc.

Once you have your date for your event set, you can work backwards to find a rehearsal date that works for your cast.

6. Run the event

I know it sounds obvious, but it's important to think ahead about how you will run the event.

You want to be making sure to keep your team engaged and on their toes. Encourage them to interact with each other and the various characters in the mystery.

The start of your event will want to feel like an ordinary night, which you can interrupt with the sudden appearance of the Inspector who will 'interrupt' with some bad news, and instruct the guests what they need to do

You should also think about the other touches that make a work event fun.S

Such as:

• Have a bar
• Set up a snack table
• Have music (perhaps your event will end with dancing?)
• Have other activities around the room (such as a mobile casino)
  

7. Reveal the Murderer

At the end of the event, reveal the murderer and explain how they did it. Make sure to give everyone a chance to guess who they think the murderer is before revealing the answer.

Get your suspects back to the front and go over all the evidence in front of the rest of the guests/ work colleagues.

Give each suspect a chance to defend themselves!

And of course, get everyone to vote on who they think did it!

There you go! Our 7 tips for writing a corporate murder mystery event.

If you don't have time to write a murder mystery game from scratch, there is an easy way...

How to create a murder mystery party... quickly!

If you haven't got the hours (and I honestly mean hours and hours) to sit down and craft a game from scratch, then thankfully, we've created a super simple ‘game builder'.

Consider it the perfect murder mystery template, but better than anything you've used before for creating a murder mystery.

It allows you to put in lots of little personalised details such as character and place names, hit ‘Build My Game!' and out comes your own, tailor-made, custom, personalized online murder mystery game that your friends will be astounded at.

It will be something that no one has ever played before and you will be an instant legend.

Why not save yourself some time (it takes less than 15 minutes) while still using your creativity over at you-dunnit.com. It's the simplest way to answer the question of how to make a murder mystery party.

There are loads of themes to choose from, you can select the number of players – or even play a in large group, such as a murder mystery game for corporate events – or team building.