You have decided to host a murder mystery party. Now what? How do you select the perfect game for your group? Here are the five simple steps to choose the right murder mystery party.  We do have a  game sorter at My Mystery Party that will assist you in making the right choice.  I'll walk you through how to use it with these five steps.

GUESTS' GENDER

Since we are considering role-playing games, the first thing you do is note your gender ratio. Are you having an all-female or all-male party, or will it be co-ed? If it's a mix, you'll need to jot down the ratio, as the games will vary with the number of males to females.  

NUMBER OF PLAYERS

Next up to consider is the number of guests you will have. It's best to come up with the maximum amount that you will possibly have at your event. Best case scenario - think of everyone who might want to come to your party, then, jot that number down. We have our games grouped into bins from small to jumbo, so this will assist you in narrowing down your selection.  Also, some games vary with the number of required players, so make a note of how many dependable players you will have. Don't choose a game with 20 required players if you only have eight that you are confident will show up, as you'll meet your party doom if you do that. If you are hosting a large party, please read my how to host a large party article.

CHALLENGE LEVEL

Now, it is time to choose a challenge level.  Our games do not contain any highly-inappropriate content, such as foul language, sexual innuendos, or drug references. The games are rated by difficulty level, and approximate minimum ages are assessed accordingly. The games at My Mystery Party are rated from 2/10 to 8/10.  For example, with the 2/10 rating, we would expect 80% to guess the solution correctly.  With the 8/10 difficulty, we would expect only 20% of your guests to answer correctly.  Most parties will be in the moderate difficulty range (5-6). I would only choose a challenging level (7-8) if you have an experienced group that is openly excited and into your party. 

THEME

Your games have been narrowed drastically by now, so the tricky part begins. The page will default to the 'featured' games, which are the most popular based upon my opinion, and I'm the author of the games.  If you're looking for a popular game based upon customer choice, you can use the 'sort by' feature on the top right and sort by best-selling.  You can also sort by average customer review. However, if you sort by reviews, the newest games will be unfairly put at the bottom, as they haven't head enough time to obtain reviews.  The games are also grouped by holiday and themes. The games with the closest holiday will be found on top. Once you find a game of interest, it's time to check your gender ratio that you wrote down earlier (if you're doing a co-ed game).  The newer games, unless inspired by one of my published novels, will have mostly (if not all) gender-flexible characters. On each game's page, there is a character list for the host and sample game materials. There's also a free invitation and link to a pre-game website, that's also a free add-on. Check out these items and verify that the game will suit your guest list.                                   

COSTUMES

The final step is to consider costume suggestions. I put this last to consider. With everything else you've deliberated, this is the least important, as they are only suggestions. You can make any game as minimal as asking the guests to wear a name tag or as elaborate as you wish. Some games, however, just beg for costumes to be purchased, such as the twenties or eighties theme. Other games, such as the Ravenwood Masquerade Ball, can be played easily with just a name tag, or you can ask the guests to go all out with elaborate masks and ballgowns/tuxedos.