Murder on Baker Street: Murder Mystery Party Game

For my wife’s 60th birthday I decided to do a murder mystery, as she loves mysteries and mystery shows. This one seemed a sure winner and it certainly delivered.

From name tags to investigator forms, all paper materials were included in the PDFs. We had a few people now out and there were clear instructions in how to deal with that. As host it became clear I needed to know who the victim and murderer were so I could assist in guiding the evening. But you can designate a non character to stuff envelopes, or scroll the rounds handouts, so you can play and guess with everyone else.

I bought old library backdrops for photos. Everyone came dressed up and I wish I could drop pics of their costumes, it really contributed to the memory. This was a birthday my wife will never forget!

My friends and I are obsessed with these murder mystery parties! We do a few a year! I really like to get the scene set, so I always make sure to have music in the background that suites the party. We dimmed the lights too, having it darker always seem to make people more comfortable to get into character, than if there were stark lights. I always make sure to hit up thrift stores to find the perfect decor and get my DIY on! This party was really easy for people to find costumes as most of our guys wore suite vests they already owned along with fun mustaches! 10/10 would recommend

My guests and I had a very positive experience with this murder mystery. I picked it for the theme, doesn’t get much better than classic Sherlock! My guests were teenagers (14-17yr) and they all stepped up to the task admirably. At first I was worried about whether they’d be able to role-play, but they all did a good job, there were definitely character breaks and some goofing off (ever heard ‘bro’ in a heavy English accent?!) But it generally stayed cohesive, and everyone found themselves enjoying it (they also did an AMAZING job finding costumes, I wish I could share them here!)
I found the Pinterest board kind of tacky and not super helpful, but I’m thankful for the idea of assembling a Pinterest board, I forget how helpful they can be for this sort of thing! I ended up putting together my own boards for Edwardian men's and women’s costumes for my guests to peruse.

If you are planning on organizing a mystery part using this package, I have a few recommendations
-Get early RSVPs! I asked people for their availability about 2 months beforehand, and sent invitations 1 month beforehand, makes things way easier, and people start to get super excited about the upcoming party the longer they know about it! Also, definitely send out the pre-game task cards, that really upped the excitement in the final week.
-Consider sealing the clue cards with wax. You can get a whole box of wax sealing beads for $10 bucks off Amazon, and a stamp for $7 if you don’t have one already. It made the clue cards so thrilling to open, and made it feel official! I also printed them out on a paper that looked old and tanned like parchment to complete the effect.
-Get a little fancy with, and emphasize drinks and food. Since this game is based on the idea of Sherlock hosting a dinner party, I think it’s a good idea to probably actually have dinner. I made sure there were fun drinks available all night (all non-alcoholic due the age range) with a fancy punch bowl, glasses, and a decanter. Dinner was stew with rolls, and dessert was a choice between fancy pistachio or butterscotch pudding served in parfait glasses. I personally tried to emphasize fancy glass to enhance the theme. I had small detailed glass bowls out with nuts, raisins, and chocolate all night for guests to snack on (mostly pre-dinner) I also had coffee and tea available to guests all night.
-If you want to host and play, it’s definitely possible, but I decided to not to play as an official character, and just be “Maria” aka Sherlock’s steward (a made up character) for the night. It gave me peace of mind, not having to worry about accidentally seeing spoilers, and making sure everything flowed smoothly without having to worry about being an actual character. I also recruited two helpers to assist me throughout the night, filling empty bottles, washing glasses, setting tables etc.

In the end, only one person solved the mystery! The person got overlooked by everyone, and managed to slide under everyone’s investigations, but the person did come to the conclusion that they themselves were it! The murderer was the only one who figured it out! Ha! It didn’t water down the evening though, it just encouraged more discussion and hilarity, and much conversations in the days after the event. 

(Before seeing who the murderer was while printing out materials, I made my guess, and was right. It’s ‘easy’ to figure out while having the broad overview of everything, but as a guest having one-on-one conversations with everyone, it’s surprising how things can be missed or assumed!)

Three small things I ended up doing that I’m glad I included:

1. One of my assistants was an unofficial "butler" as each character arrived, I gave them their name tag and first clue card, then directed them to a side room, where they could digest and read in quiet. Then, when they were ready to be in character and proceed, our butler escorted them into the living room to be "announced" and introduced to Sherlock. This made the transition to 'hey I'm here! hi friend who I’ve known all my life!’ to 'Hello Mr Sherlock, my name is Devon Ferguson, and I'm delighted to be at your dinner party' very very smooth, without awkwardness!

2. Marbles was played as a short game to fill time between the opening of the first clue cards and dinner. It fit really well with the theme, and all the guests had a lot of fun playing! Per the recommendation of my brother, who has played marbles before, we did it outside on the driveway, so the marbles didn’t slide around on the wood floor.

3. Awards Ceremony. I bought little golden plastic trophies from Amazon, dolled them up a bit, and bought a bar of chocolate to go with each of them. There was an award for Best actor (male), best actor (female), best costume (male), best costume (female), Marbles winner, and money game winner (another game we included as recommended in the host PDF)

It was a 10/10 night. A lot of work wen...

We used it as a team-building activity during lunch at work, and it was a hit!

I had a group of 24 students, ages 13 up to 17 and they really enjoyed the game. Admittedly, only one person was able to identify the correct solution but what a blast they had! The material was easy to prep and it was also easy for me to not "spoil" it for myself as I didn't want to be biased in the roles that I assigned. It did take them a bit to get the hang of it and I know if I do it again, my instructions will be a bit more clear but great fun for everyone involved. We did not do any additional games and it did take us 3 hours and that included a sit down dinner. We will definitely do something like this again!