Suddenly the lights go out and you are startled by the sound of a gunshot. The lights come back on and you see a dead man lying next to you! As you look around the room you notice some very shady characters. One of them must be the murderer, but which one is it?

This may sound like a movie, but it isn't. You are in fact participating in an exciting murder mystery party game.

Murder Mystery Parties are becoming a very popular entertainment choice for Party Hostesses looking for something unique. Party planners want their event to be talked about in excited conversations for weeks afterwards. Your run of the mill food, music and social gathering just doesn't garner real excitement. Hostesses are now looking for other ways to get their guest excited about attending. Many are tying Theme Parties, which can be fun. Even more fun is a murder mystery theme party.

Murder mystery games have been around a very long time and have been very popular in the UK for about 15 years. The last 2 years has seen a huge growth of interest in the USA as more people are becoming exposed to them. The first murder mystery games featured actors who portrayed characters using scripted roles. They would mingle with the guests dropping clues. These are still performed today at large fund raising events and murder mystery dinner theaters.

The next generation of games let the guests themselves play the characters but the parts were still scripted. Later boxed sets were introduced which were scripted and played out in rounds, much like a board game. While these could be enjoyable they lacked spontaneity or the ability to be creative. Everything went exactly as scripted.

Today a new genre of Murder Mystery Games is emerging. In the older versions solving the murder was the sole point of the game. Some of the new murder mystery games have many subplots. Guests will have their own nefarious agendas. Parts are no longer scripted. Instead characters receive detailed backgrounds which details their fictional relationships with other characters at the party. They also have secrets of their own which may have nothing to do with the murder that occurs. Participants take on their characters persona.

After the murder they learn certain details of the crime through evidence, eavesdropping and questioning other characters. Some games include play money, which can be used for buying information, blackmailing and other nefarious schemes. All of this leads to extensive social interaction, which is the real point of a party, isn't it?

How many boring parties have you been to where there were small groups of people gathered together into clusters? Or even more horrifying to the host/ess are people standing around not conversing at all. This just doesn't happen at a well-written murder mystery party. With a good game the guests get so caught up in their own schemes that they sometimes forget to even investigate the murder! Each murder mystery game usually takes place in exotic locations and timelines. These can include gangsters in Chicago during the roaring twenties or sock hops in the fifties. You might even be taken to fictional settings. These settings allow participants to don great costumes, which allow them to more fully experience the ambience of the game.

When you decide to host a murder mystery party there are some things you should look for: