How to run your own murder mystery party

How do you play a You Dunnit murder mystery party game?

The whodunnit party game is played over a number of rounds – while you eat, drink and socialize!

There are three parts to each round:

1. Script – players read through the script together.
2. Questions and Evidence – players use the guidelines to ask and answer questions, but they can go also have fun improvising as they try to work out whodunnit! There are prompts to guide players to help them tease information out of each other.
3. Voting – players can vote for who they guess the murderer is.

After the final round, the murderer is exposed!

😱😱😱

Build your party using our online murder mystery game builder. Play it virtually – or in real life!

That's right – You Dunnit murder mystery party games can be played as an online murder mystery game (eg: Zoom) using your phone, tablet or computer – or in person, using your phone to read the script or using the game as a printed script.

Murder mystery builder: How do you write your own personalized murder mystery party game?

The You Dunnit murder mystery party game creator makes it simple to write your own custom game.

Head over to our mystery game maker and let us take the hard work out of it!

1. Select your murder mystery game based on how many guests you have

Select between:

• Dinner Party Mystery: 6–10 guests (Try it now)
• Event Mystery for 12–200+ people (Coming soon!)

2. Fill in the blanks

You get to write lots of personalizable content:

• Who is the murder victim?
• Where and when is your murder mystery party game set?
• Who are the characters and what are their names?

Plus lots of extra content!

As the murder mystery game writer – can you have lots of creative fun!

Build it now... Play later

Your game should take less than 15 mins to write and you can play any time after when it is convenient for you and your friends.

3. Send your party guests the unique murder mystery party game link

Text or email the unique murder mystery game link to all the players.

This contains their character's profile along with hints and tips on how to play – so they can prepare for your murder mystery party ahead of time.

You (the game creator) will Host your game and will get extra instructions for how to lead it through.

The other players can't access the game rounds until you hit 'start the game' from your Hosts panel.

4. Start your murder mystery party!

Once you're ready to start your murder mystery party – give your players access with a secret game code which you'll find in your host panel.

Play your murder mystery party together over three rounds using your downloaded scripts or swiping through the rounds using your phones.

Each round consists of:

1. Scripts – players read through the script together.
2. Questions and Evidence – players use the guidelines to ask and answer questions, but they can go also have fun improvising as they try to work out whodunnit! There are prompts to guide players to help them tease information out of each other.
3. Voting – players can vote for who they guess the murderer is.

After the final round, the murderer is exposed!

Give yourselves about 1-2 hours to complete the game at your party.

Don't forget, you can print a PDF version of the whodunnit game script too – in case a player's phone battery dies! 🪫☠️

Where should you play a murder mystery party?

As well as thinking about what food and drink you want at your murder mystery party, you can also get creative with the theme and location of your game.

Other than playing it around your table at home or virtually online you might consider:

• Running a team-building exercise as your business retreat
• With your football team
• With your church youth group
• With your classmates at college
• In your workplace as an office party

Why not even consider getting away for a short break, booking an Airbnb or hiring a holiday apartment or a haunted house! 👻

When should you play a murder mystery party?

Most murder mystery parties are played in the evening – but in terms of the time of year, and certain life events it can be pretty much any time.

Here are some ideas:

• Halloween murder mystery party
• Christmas murder mystery party
• Murder mystery hen party
• Murder mystery stag do party

How long does it take to play a murder mystery party game?

Allow 1–2 hours to play your murder mystery party.

If you’re in a rush you can speed through the scripts - you decide on the pace.

If you've gone away for the weekend, why not play each of the three rounds on different evenings?

How to build your own murder mystery party game

You have two choices, one is quick and easy, while the other takes time and is pretty hard!

1. Quick and Easy: Use You Dunnit's murder mystery party game generator

Create your game your way following our step-by-step game builder online

2. The long and hard way! Write your own murder mystery party script using our Step by-step guide

Writing you’re own murder mystery party takes time and effort.

If you think you've got it in you, we’ve compiled a popular guide: How to write a murder mystery game.

Give it a go by following these steps:

1. Assemble Your murder mystery game cast
   
2. Set the scene
3. Create your murder mystery character motives
4. Give each character a backstory
5. Insert slow reveals and red herrings
6. Turn your story into a game
7. Have a slip-up