Profitable murder mystery games

The murder mystery parties here on Great Murder Mystery Games are for domestic (ie, home) use only.

They're aimed at people hosting parties for their friends and families, and doing it in their homes.

If you want to charge an entry fee to your party, things are a little different: you will need a commercial licence.

I can think of several occasions when you might want a commercial licence.

Murder mystery nights

I've seen pubs, hotels and restaurants advertise murder mystery nights - and this is when a commercial licence is needed.

Creating a themed party night is outside my field of expertise, but the advantage of a commercial licence for one of the parties on Great Murder Mystery Games is that you can get an in-house staff member to organise it.

(Failing that, you need to get somebody in to organise it for you - more on that below.)

If you take this route, I suggest you look at my tips for hosting. While I've written them with a domestic market in mind, they apply equally to a commercial event.

My tips include:

• Adding characters to a murder mystery game: Maximise your income by adding extra characters.
• Creating a memorable atmosphere: Ideas for creating an atmosphere for your party.
• Finding the perfect murder venue: Tips for choosing a venue for your murder mystery party.
• Party Introductions: How to introduce your party to start with a bang instead of a fizzle.
• Planning your murder mystery party: A suggested schedule for planning your party.
• Preparing a Murder Mystery Party: Hints and tips for preparing a murder mystery party.
• Prizes: Prizes are a great way of finishing a murder mystery party.
• Reporting the News: Tips and suggestions for journalists to report the news.
• Tips for hosting large parties: Hosting a game for many guests can be very different from hosting a smaller party.

Click here to read my tips for hosting murder mystery games.

Become a professional host

Or you may find you enjoy hosting murder mystery parties and want to hire out your services to other people.

There are many things that you will need to consider:

• Marketing - how will you spread the word?
• Website - I can't imagine doing business as a service provider without a website. (My choice would be Site Build It!, which I use for Great Murder Mystery Games.)
• Insurance - you will need insurance.
• The scope of your services - are you just organising the game, or will you manage the venue, catering and everything else?
• Your target audience - domestic or commercial?

Plus, of course, the murder mystery game you want to host.

(If it were me, I'd be doing the interactive ones - but I doubt that's a surprise to anyone reading this!)

If you run murder mystery games professionally and would like me to include you in my list of murder mystery party organisers (click here), please contact me and we can discuss it further.

charity events

Events raising money for charity are slightly different again.

I've always found the publishers very happy to allow their games to be used for charity work (although you must ask first).

I should point out that the publishers are wary of giving their games out for free for charity work.

Instead, treat the cost of the game as part of the cost of hosting the event.

(And the cost of the game will likely be one of the smaller costs - food and hiring the venue may be more expensive.)

I've written on charity events before - click here to read Fund Raiser Ideas.

Commercial Licences

Commercial licences are available from all the publishers, but they all have slightly different terms and conditions.

You can contact them yourself or, if you let me know which games you are interested in, I can contact them on your behalf.

Click here to contact me.