The only thing we require is that everyone portrays a character – but the host can cast you in a very minor role or bit part.   The level of your participation is up to you.  If you want to stay in the background and watch the extroverts go at it, you can do that.  The only time you will be required to be in front of the group is to simply introduce yourself in character.  You will not be forced to be on stage or recite lines or do anything that will make you uncomfortable.  We tell you the history of your character – how you choose to play that character at the party is totally up to you.  

You will be surprised.  At our parties, the guests are no longer accountants, researchers or computer programmers – now they are pirates, gangsters or rock and roll stars.  We have done our parties with a variety of types of groups and they have always “been into it.”  

Frequently, guests are astonished because the person who never says a word in the office is the one who is the most outlandish.  (This is frequently because the creation of his character gives him a shield – it’s not him that is being outrageous, it is the character…)  

There are no scripts to memorize or lines to recite.  You can take your character summary to the event and refer to it at anytime (though we ask that  you do not show it to others.)

However, you will want to read your character summary a few times so you don’t have to refer to it all the time.  You will have plenty of time to think about it since you will get it a week ahead of time so you will have plenty of time to absorb the material.

Yes, everyone must play a character.  However, we recommend the host not assume a major role unless he or she has someone to help them with drinks, food and the other aspects of hosting an event.  

Yes.  We prefer to provide the music at our parties, but we are flexible.  Our parties work very well with any type of additional entertainment.   We also have a complete PA system, microphones, etc. that we provide at no cost. We like to provide the music because we have period music to match the event (Roaring 20s music, Island music for the pirate party, rock and roll for the rock party, etc.)  

Prizes are the responsibility of the host.  We don’t know how many people may get it right – 1 or 10 – so it is difficult to have prizes for those who guess the killer.  We also prefer not to give expensive gifts to the person or people who solve the mystery – we do not want to encourage the killer to tell his/her friends that he is the guilty party so they can get an expensive gift.

A better solution is to award prizes for best costume, best actor, most creative, etc.  If more than one person solves the mystery, you can put their names in a hat and draw for a single prize.  This is best accomplished by asking people to vote on the categories instead of letting one person decide who will win.

Our parties work well with or without decorations – but obviously, fun decorations add to the ambiance.  We have suggestions on how others have decorated for our events.

Most people have the makings of a great costume for most of our themes already in their closets.  Here are our tips on costumes for our themes:

Rock and Roll: This one is easy to dress for regardless of which character is selected.

 Pirate: Most people have something in their closets they can make into a pirate outfit.

Soap Opera: This is standard business attire (though the ladies usually take it a step above that and wear a lot of jewelry as they do on the daytime soaps.)

Holiday Party:  This one is difficult to pigeonhole regarding costumes because the characters are so diverse.  The mayor of Frigid (the town near the North Pole) can come in typical business attire, but of course if you are Santa’s friend the Easter Bunny it will take a little more to put your outfit together.

Roaring 20s – This is our elegant party – Ladies especially love to dress for this event!  Guys can get away with a dark shirt and white tie, and if possible, a hat.    It is also a great theme for New Year’s Eve events.  Some people can pull this off without having to go to a costume shop.  However, we have more store rental costumes show up at this theme than any of our other events.

Science Fiction: People get pretty creative with their outfits for this theme – but it is not store-bought stuff.  They usually create costumes from scratch with a lot of tin foil and other types of off-the-wall silly stuff to make their homemade costumes.  

Nobody Talks Shop: Nobody talks shop at our events because they are all playing characters.  

Anytime you can get your team together for a few hours to have a good time and really not talk business, it is good for team morale.  Laughing with your coworkers helps solve a lot of company morale problems.

Spouses Love It!  Spouses and significant others don’t have to stand around and listen to people talk shop.  

It Breaks Up the Typical Cliques:  Our parties break down the typical cliques that develop at most company functions where the same people always talk to the same people.  

Company Titles Disappear: The boss doesn’t have to be the boss anymore and the new person doesn’t have to feel awkward – everybody in the same boat but with something new in common.  It also breaks down age barriers.

We have done these parties everywhere – country clubs, ships, private homes, resorts, hotels, restaurants, trains, pubs and even party buses.  Anywhere you can get your group together, we can do one of our parties.  About half of our parties are done in private homes, and half are done at clubs, pubs and other venues.

We have a few extra actors at each event who will take on rolls should illness or an emergency prevent a major character from attending at the last minute.  The host is to treat our actors like any other guest with the same food and drink arrangements.  If all the guests attend, then our actors take bit parts and help encourage guests to stay in character.

Only a few of our parties go up to 80 characters, but all of them go up to 50.

We can write custom themes about your industry or company.  Please contact us for a proposal. 

We recommend hors-d’oeuvres. food stations around the room or a buffet instead of a sit down dinner.  We want guests moving and mingling throughout the event, not sitting at a table if possible.

Since the guests arrive in character, we do not want to present company awards or birthday cakes etc until the murder mystery is completed.  We prefer to leave time after the mystery is solved for presentation of company awards, birthday presents, etc.