Murder Mystery Party Games - A Murder on the Grill, Host Your Own Cookout Murder Mystery Dinner for 8 Adult Players, Solve the Case with Crime Scene Clues, 18 Years and Up

This review has NO SPOILERS whatsoever.As I read the reviews for this game, I kept coming across reviewers that stated that there are two "extra" characters that don't matter/play a lesser part in the story. This couldn't be further from the truth. All eight characters are essential to the story and aid in casting doubt and adding substantial clues to the story. They all get clues that they get to reveal, and they all get the same gear as everyone else. (Reading some of those reviews made me mad, because essentially I knew 2 characters were for sure not the murderer, and there were no spoiler warnings, so be careful reading the reviews here.)We just played the game this past weekend and you absolutely needed 8 people to play all of the 8 characters.Here are my suggestions (for first-timers with this specific murder-mystery set-up).Some of the recipes that they give you in the book are a little... eccentric? The baked ziti, which is supposed to be the main dish, had kind of a goofy recipe for the red sauce, if you think that you won't like it, you are probably right, just google a different recipe for baked ziti. Also, you don't even have to serve anything in the recipe book, because it isn't referenced (at all) during the game. (The only food they talk about isn't even a recipe in the book...) So make whatever you want. OR (what we will do next time) invite your guests to each bring their own version of each of the recipes in the book and have a pot-luck.I will say: The Mocha Rum Cake with Ricotta Cream was amazing. And I made it with gluten-free flour for a guest who had dietary restrictions and it still turned out amazing! It tasted like a cannoli cake. I am sure with wheat-flour it would taste even better.We invited 8 guests to play the 8 characters, and like I mentioned above, they each had an equal part to play. My husband and I, who were hosting the party, created our own characters that brought our group to 10 total. My husband and I made up our own characters because,1) if someone shouldn't come at the last minute, we could substitute in for them2) we wanted to be sure that we could help if any of our guests didn't understand the game mechanics and had a question they wanted answered without feeling like they were going to reveal too much information or harm their chances of winning3) we wanted to be able to serve and clear the dinner without missing any lines or clue reveals that would hinder the flow of the gameThe game has an audio CD that has four tracks that you play in between the three rounds where a person named "Antonio Telastori" narrates what is going on and fills in some of the blanks.So it goes like this:Play Track 1 on CD: Introduction to the story by TelastoriIntroduce CharactersBegin Round 1 DialogueBegin Round 1 QuestioningPlay Track 2 on CD: Continued Story by TelastoriBegin Round 2 DialogueBegin Round 2 QuestioningPlay Track 3 on CD: Continued Story by TelastoriBegin Round 3 DialogueBegin Round 3 QuestioningFinal Statements made by each characterAccusationsPlay Track 4 on CD: Telastori reveals who is the real murderer.So rather than play the CD, my husband decided to dress up as Antonio Telastori and typed up everything that Telastori says in the CD on tracks 1-3 and read it as Antonio Telastori from a wingback chair in front of the fireplace. He didn't want to know who the murderer was so he chose to wait to play the final track of the CD at our party rather than perform it for our guests.I made up a character named "Colleen DiCoppza" who was a new waitress/bus-girl who was (totally obviously) an undercover cop. I basically waited the table and then got to "arrest" the murderer at the end of the night.Our guests got to be the real stars of the show.Before the party, let your guests know which characters they are, and what the costume suggestions are. In lieu of the invitations, we just invited everyone on a Facebook event and private messaged everyone their character's name and their costume suggestion. I put a list of all of the characters and their background description on the wall of the group so that everyone could see. But that's all they really need to know before they get to the party.At the party we had each table setting include their CHARACTER BOOKLET (this contains all of the dialogue and questioning), their CLUES (some of the characters will have different clues that their character booklet prompts them to reveal during different parts of the game. Instruct your characters to keep the clues face down, until they are instructed to reveal them (or you could put them in sealed, labled envelopes - what we will do next time...), and their NAME TAGS. All of these items came with the game, we also included (at our own behest): NAME TENTS, SPIRAL MEMO BOOKS, PENS, MAGNIFYING GLASSES, BALLOT FOR BEST DRESSED CHARACTER, and of course a plate, napkin, fork, knife, spoon, water glass, and wine glass.We did have a prize for "Best Dressed to Kill" and a separate prize for whomever solved the case. (We explained to our guests at the beginning that if more than one person guessed the murderer correctly, that we had already picked a number between 1-10 and that whoever got closest would win the prize, which ended up being what happened.) Next time I think I will include a prize for whoever is the actual murderer since they have to be so sneaky the entire night and have no shot at winning the other prize of correctly guessing the murderer.The murderer will learn that they are the murderer on the first pages of their character booklet. Unfortunately for our murderer, they happened to be a terrible liar and started sweating profusely immediately, haha. Luckily no one really noticed, but as a host or hostess I would recommend that there are several pitchers of water available to your guests to refill their glasses as they play because it is easy to get caught up in the game and not realize someone is dying of thirst and an empty glass.... ...oops.As the host and hostess, we played the game not knowing who the murderer was and so we each got to cast an accusation at the end, and I was glad we did it that way, because I don't know if I would have accidentally revealed to much knowing who it was the whole time. I drank a lot of wine as the game went on.The instructions say that the game will take about 3 hours, it could really swing one way or the other depending how your night goes. We pulled it off in about 2.5, but we talked for ages afterwards, so it really rounded out to being longer than expected.Be sure to set up your dinner table (where your game will be played) so that everyone can see everyone else and no one has their back turned, because you don't want to miss out on any little clue.Hopefully that helps answer a lot of questions about how this game goes, I know it can be overwhelming at first, but the little character booklets really keep your guests moving through the game.

This was my first time ever hosting a murder mystery party for my book club and it was SO MUCH FUN! If you have an open minded group of friends, this will be a blast! It is a well written script with many twists in the dialogue, will definitely be ordering a different set soon!

I bought this game and played it with a group of seven adults on New Year's Eve, and we had a great time! The set-up was minimal, which made it easy to start, and the game itself took about 1-1.5 hours to complete. Everyone enjoyed it, and it was a fun way to spend the evening.That said, the directions could definitely be clearer. We were a little confused at times about what we were supposed to do or say, especially since none of us had ever played a murder mystery game before. As the game went on, we got the hang of it, but a more straightforward explanation would have helped us get started faster.Now that we've played, I feel like we'd be able to ad-lib more and enjoy the game even more if we played a different version in the future. Overall, though, it was a great experience, and I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for a fun, interactive game to play with a group!

This game was so fun! I can't wait to play the other ones in the series!I read the reviews and all of the advice and this is what worked for us:-Tell your guests waaay ahead of time. I gauged interest a little over a month.-Give your guests their character name/description (or the invitation!) at least a month in advanced so that they can prepare their costumes. I just scanned the character descriptions and sent my guests a PDF via email.-Set the scene! I had a lot of fun decorating. I put crime scene tape all over my hard and outlined a body in my porch. I also had a mug shot back drop to photograph all of my guests. I also enjoyed using my nice dishes and linens.-I didn't use any of the menu recommendations. The menu has nothing to do with the script so if you wanted to go way out into left field, go forth. I served Pioneer Woman's baked ziti, garlic bread, caesar salad, and Italian love cake. It was spectacular.-When your guests arrive, prepare them. Someone is going to find out that they're the murderer immediately. I think that's important because I cannot keep a secret and would instantly smile. My guests were nervous about the same. We all agreed that we would read the first page with our faces covered and then all give our best "I'm the murderer" face. It worked like a charm.-We did not use the CD. I started to, but it was really lame. It didn't change game play at all. And I really liked that they gave us the option.-It's really a lot of information (especially or the host, who needs to know and explain the rules), but once you get started, it's easy. The first round really warms you up.-For us, the most confusing part was after each scripted scenes, you have to make accusations and then respond. It gets a little hairy, especially if the murderer doesn't have a good answer. The murderer needs to be a good liar and prepared to make up a story on the fly. BUT! Everyone else is reading their responses to accusations and the murderer is just making it up, it's definitely suspicious. To counter that, you should make sure your guests don't read directly from their booklets. They should read the page thoroughly, reference it while speaking, but shouldn't read from it. This is especially important in round 3. We also didn't realize that guests should form their own questions, not just the ones listed in the booklet.-Some reviews stated that it was difficult for the characters to understand when to reveal clues. It was obvious to us as the accusation says, "REVEAL CLUE!" Perhaps those reviewers didn't know that all accusations should have been made each round. It's confusing because anyone can make an accusation, but some of them feel like they should be in order. Sometimes we would piggy back on one another. For example, someone would say, "Marco, you did it because [some reason or another]!" And before Marco could answer, another character would say, "That's a good point, and Marco, what about [this other reason that you're probably the murderer]?" and Marco would respond. And maybe he could evade answering all of accusations.-Some reviews said that two characters weren't really critical and you could play without them. I don't think that's true. In fact, when it was time to make a formal accusations, Clair and Father Alfredo each got a vote. They were definitely involved and definitely good suspects. I almost didn't invite a 7th and 8th guest and I'm glad I did. The party may have been ruined. My version is definitely made for 8 characters.-I had prizes for each of my guests. The murderer obviously wouldn't win, so they received a prize, and then any guest who guessed correctly. Only one person did! I gave out a gift card, K cups, and little bottles of liquor.Overall, it was so fun. My guests really enjoyed it. I thought it was put together well. Now that I've played one, I'll feel better prepared trying out the others.