Hey Katie,

We missed this comment when you posted it, but to reply to your question… I don’t think the “pre-game” is necessary from my point of view. A lot/all that info usually comes out at the party anyways, but what it does do is add a lot of intrigue and hype to the party.

If you have people that are on the fence or unsure, this can give them a small taste and draw them in. For excited players, this adds to the hype and sometimes gives them a direction on who to talk to first.

Thoughts?

The downloadable games are very organized, easy to use, and designed quite nicely. Their Host Packets does a very good job of giving you a timeline for planning, as well as for the party. One of the things we like most about Night of Mystery is that there is something for the murder victim post-mortem. We always hold back the role of Detective and give it to them. And we’ve never had complaints about the Murderer knowing they did it. On the whole, we’ve found they’re well worth the money.

We’ve also used MY MYSTERY PARTY (one for her/two for me) which was also very fun and well organized. It’s nice that the murderer doesn’t know they did it. The only thing we don’t like about their parties is the manner/suggestion on how the murder happens, but mostly, that there is nothing for the murder victim to really do after they are murdered other than be a ghost. Kind of boring in our eyes.

This has become an annual event, and she and her “usual suspects” look forward to it. We prefer the free flow form, but are ready to try some other companies, so thanks for doing the research for us.

Hi Kelly,

Thank you for your review on Freeform. I am thinking about purchasing a mystery game from them and am curious which game you played. I have about 10 people. I would like to host for a Halloween party. I am leaning towards A Will to Murder.

Thank you for the review…this is super helpful!

Hi Kaitlin,

So sorry for missing this comment, we were taking a break over the holidays. For what it’s worth, your question is a tough one for us to answer since they have different ways of being played. We have enjoyed all the ones that we have tried, but we found that it really depends on your group. We found our first time players liked the My Mystery Party one, but our very social group (who liked to talk a lot), enjoyed the Shot in the Dark one. We are planning on getting our other reviews up really soon, but the best advice we can give is to figure out your number of players and find a theme you like. They are all very good so far.

Most of our guests come from a board game group. They are very into playing all kinds of games. Most have attended at least one or more of the previous murder mystery parties I have run.

Guest attendance
*Shot in the Dark. We had 14 suspects and the rest of the crowd played investigators. It made it easier for me to adjust roles for any late cancelations. We had between 35-40 guests. One person was running it.

Freeform Games – last time I was scrabbling to switch roles around to fill the key roles of people who had to cancel at the last moment. We had about 30 guests. Three people were running it, we could have had one but we needed the extras to help add up votes (our addition, we vote on many different prize categories), manning the host desk, and we keep one host mingling to assist when needed.

Setup
*Shot in the Dark. It took longer to print everything than it did to put the information together for the guests. Very easy and fast! Each suspect had three pages. Each investigator had one page.

Freeform games – Setting up the info for the game takes longer. Everyone gets a folder filled with their information. Multiple pages. Lots of cutting things out.

Guest Involvement
*Freeform Games – Not only do you have to find out who the murderer is, you also have things to do for your role. People stay active and engaged.

Shot in the Dark – I noticed some people “checked out” when it came to solving the mystery. Partially due to only having 14 suspects (that part was my fault), but even the suspects seemed a bit bored by it.

Game Quality
*Freeform games – I find their games very well written. I read through everything looking for possible questions. We do what they say “When in doubt, just make it up”. It always works out very well, and does not change the outcome of the game. In these games the host does not play.
Shot In The Dark – In the game we chose there was some conflicting information that didn’t quite work. We went with the “When in doubt, just make it up” policy, thinking it would work out in the end, but it hindered the guests involved from solving the mystery and made it difficult for some suspects to provide information to the investigators.
I was also not a fan of the names. In our mystery there was a Samson and a Sam. That got confusing to some people. For ease of play the names should be different. There was also poor editing where there was a Samuel was mentioned. We were able to easily figure out who they meant, but it never should have been a question.
In this game the host can play. I wasn’t playing but I didn’t go over the roles pregame, like I normally do.

Solution Quality
*Freeform games – Even during the games when no one had been able to guess the murderer, after the solution is read, most people have that “Ah Ha” moment when the realize what they did wrong and it all falls into place.

Shot in the Dark – Although some people did correctly guess the murderer, the general consensus was that it could have been anyone. No one was certain their choice. It felt like they just randomly picked the killer with no strong suspect.

Other notes
– One of our favorite parts of the evening is the accusation portion. We all gather together and say who we thing the killer is. The killer, of course, tries to deflect blame. Since with Shot in the Dark the murderer was not aware they did it and everyone was meh about who they thought the killer was, we skipped this step. Freeform games wins here.

– Costumes – Most of my guests like to get dressed up and wear costumes. Our optional dress code for the evening was cocktail or formal wear. The suspects dressed in costumes according to their roles. Since not everyone had a role, there was no need for the variety of costumes we would normally have. Freeform games wins.

– Cost – Shot in the Dark has different price ranges based on the number of suspects. Freeform games just charges per game (some games have extended versions for an additional charge).

– Buying the game – with Shot in the Dark you purchase a game based on the number of suspects. After you purchase the game you are stuck with that number.

Overall Freeform Games is the clear winner. They have well written mysteries that get everyone involved in the mystery. Although they are more work setting up and assigning roles, they are worth the extra effort. Many of my repeat guests asked that we return to them next time.

Hey Melissa,

Thanks for taking the time to comment. Interesting to hear that these games can work for kids as young as seven… and their whole class to boot!

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for the notes/review of Freeform Games. Glad to hear they take care of their customers, and make enjoyable parties!