Thanks for great site - I'd like your advice for my first party.

by Barbara
(Massachusetts)

What a wonderful site you've pulled together! Thank you so much. Very helpful.

I'll be hosting my first "murder mystery birthday party" in about five weeks. I anticipate about 35 to 40 guests, most of whom are engineers (i.e., very good at problem solving, so I'll need a complex game that'll hold their interest) and 8 of whom are teenagers. We'll have a catered buffet dinner, with much of the meal being passed around on trays. Party will run from 6:30 PM to 11:00 PM or thereabouts, so we'll have plenty of time for a long, complicated game.

I am intrigued by both The Auction" and "Casino Fatale" but would like your advice. Are both games challenging? Should I consider another? Should my decision be based solely on the number of guests? If "Casino Fatale" is the superior game, can I adapt it for a larger group? (How does "partnering" spouses or kids with their parents work out?)

Any advice you can give me would be most appreciated.

My Response:

In general, I would definitely base my decision on the number of guests - but mainly because it's a lot of work to make changes to the games.

So, although Casino Fatale is the more complex it is only for up to 20 guests. If you want to use it, you'd have to write an awful lot more characters - which is quite a lot of work. (And yes, you can do a bit of doubling up, but I wouldn't do that for many characters.)

(And if it were me, I wouldn't want to try adding characters on my first ever party.)

If I were you, I'd start with The Auction. The game is tried and tested and the murder isn't immediately obvious (I couldn't work it out) - and it's for up to 40 people so you don't have any extra writing to do. You'll be plenty busy anyway - you won't want the chore of writing extra characters!

Click here to learn more about The Auction.

Click here to learn more about Casino Fatale.