5 Top Tips for Hosting a Murder Mystery Party Online
Hosting a murder mystery party in your house can feel like a tough enough job, but when that party is online it can feel even harder to pull off a truly killer night. From the organising to the execution, you as the host need to bring all your guests together in a magical murder mystery party even though they aren’t in the same room. Here are a few of our tips and tricks to help you smash it…
1 – Pick your platform
One of the first decisions you will need to make as an online host is which platform you will use. There are several great options available and it may be that you and your friends already have a preferred platform, but there are pros and cons to each that are worth looking at.
Zoom for example is great, allowing for easy screen sharing and messaging, but it does time out unless you pay a subscription. Nothing ruins the build-up of a good mystery quite like waiting 8 minutes for a new free meeting! Discord, meanwhile, is fantastic for giving long meetings that don’t time out, but it is arguably less ideal for screen and document sharing.
To make things easier, consider sending the relevant documents to each guest when you invite them, and don’t forget to include the right time zone, platform, and password if needed so they can find your party with ease.
2 – Go for the right number of guests – and change your screen names!
When you are thinking about the guest list for your party you need to consider a couple of things. Firstly, how many minimum players do you need for your party whether it is 5-10, 6-8, and so on. Then you need to think about playing it online and the kind of mates you have. If you are a relatively well behaved bunch, juggling 15 screens at once is absolutely doable.
If you are a more rowdy group, you may feel that a few less players might make the game go faster and smoother. Then again, we regularly play with upwards of 10 members of our very rowdy family and it is always a blast! A true top tip is to change your names on the call so that everyone can see which character you are playing and keep it straight for the duration of the game.
3 – Pick a killer theme
The most important choice you will make when hosting your online mystery is the theme. For a truly spectacular night, choose something that is easy for all your friends to dress up as and get in the spirit. Our 90s game The Clue-less Killer, for example, is set at a house party and therefore easy to dress up and set up a space for each of your guests.
A game like our Bridgerton themed mystery may be trickier for some groups to organise costumes, while others will already have the perfect gown or top hat in mind. It really depends on your group and how you want your party to go. Just remember, the key is to draw everyone in so they almost forget they aren’t in the same room, and a killer theme will do just that!
4 - Go the extra mile
Just because you aren’t physically travelling to the same location doesn’t mean you can’t go the extra mile for your party. Send pictures to your guests to print out and stick on the wall behind them to go with the theme of space or all set up tents in your rooms for our 80s themed mystery Camp Deadwood.
Plan ahead that you will all make a suitably themed snack or drink, change your backgrounds, and listen to the specially created Spotify playlist included with your game. Anything to really bring you guys together and make it feel like one big party instead of half a dozen individual rooms.
5 – It’s your party and you’ll kill it if you want to!
Your guests are here to play a murder mystery, to try and catch the killer, and to have some fun. Don’t sweat the small stuff, worry about people talking over each other, or how it will work. Start off your call with the introduction provided in your how to play guide, and keep referring back to it to keep the game moving.
Feel free to take breaks between each round and chat about anything, break into smaller rooms for discussions, or take a moment individually to think about what you have heard. It is your game so play it how you want, and we guarantee that you’ll have an evening to die for!
