Quick Start Guide

This is our comprehensive guide but if you’re looking for shorter instructions with just the key info, download our ‘Quick Start Hosting Guide’ here.

The Legal Bit

This game is licensed for personal use only. The materials are for one-time use and cannot be reused or reproduced without permission. Please contact Nobody’s Fool directly for information about using this game as part of a for-profit event. 

This mystery party is for entertainment only and Nobody’s Fool is not responsible for any injury, death, or loss. All characters and events are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.

About Your Game 

General Info

Once you purchase a game, you immediately receive a digital download containing everything you need to play in PDF format and MP4.

This is an interactive mystery where you play the game by asking questions. Players interrogate each other and try to identify who had the motive, means, and opportunity to commit the crime. Check out our ‘How to Play’ page for more details on the rules. 

Remember, the killer doesn’t know they’re the killer! This means the ONLY document that reveals the killer’s identity is ‘The Big Reveal’. 

Your game will include Suspects and Witnesses. Suspects are essential characters and the game will not work without them. Witnesses are optional characters with airtight alibis. They have information to share but no secrets to hide. Witnesses are a great option for players who may arrive late or might need to leave early. 

Your game will probably last between 1 and 2 hours, but you can adjust this to fit your needs: 

• 6-8 Suspects: 1 hour

• 10-14 Suspects: 90 minutes

• 16+ Suspects: 90 minutes to 2 hours

Yes, You Can Play Too!

You can absolutely participate! Don’t worry about skimming through the materials in your mystery pack. Everything is set up so that you, the host, won't encounter spoilers. The solution ("The Big Reveal") is in its own file and clearly marked to prevent spoilers. Each guest will receive their own Suspect Guide with their character details and clues. You can simply email these files to your guests without opening them. 

If you prefer not to play, feel free to read through everything in advance—it’s entirely up to your hosting style!

Host Checklist

Here’s everything you need to host your game:

• Suspect and Witness Guides: Send these to players before the party or hand them out on the night. We recommend sending them early so guests have time to prepare. However, our games are designed so you can keep things flexible and cast on the day. 

• Host Guide: That’s what you’re reading now!

• The Announcement of Murder: This spoiler-free document features a link to a Youtube video and transcript.

• The Big Reveal: This document reveals the killer and features a link to a Youtube video and transcript. 

• Character List: A list of all the characters, including character descriptions and notes to help you assign characters to your players. This also includes game-specific tips on recasting characters if you have a last-minute drop-out. 

Optional extras:

• Name Tags: We recommend purchasing a set of Sticky Name Labels and creating a name tag for each player featuring their character’s name. This helps players keep track of who’s who. 

• Pens: Players enjoy making notes, so it’s useful to have enough pens at the ready.  

• Accusation Forms: To keep things simple, get players to cast their votes on pieces of scrap paper or sticky notes.

Printing Your Mystery Materials

To minimise printing, use our “Printer Friendly” version of the Suspect and Witness Guides. In contrast to the colourful guides you can email to your guests, this is a single document that features all the suspect guides but removed ink-heavy cover pages. 

To really cut down on printing, you can print just the Summary information at the end of the Suspect Guide for each guest, or let them print their own guides. Pick the option that works best for you!

How To Use Your Mystery Materials

Unzipping the Folder

You will receive your materials as a zipped folder. Usually, accessing your files is as simple as saving them to your computer. But if you’re having any trouble, try using a free online file extractor like 7-Zip or Zipware.

If you still need help or have any questions, drop us an email: nobodysfoolmysteries@gmail.com. We are always happy to help!

Character List & Casting Tips

Your Character List includes character descriptions to help you match guests to a character they’ll be comfortable playing. Some characters have additional notes highlighting information that you may want to keep in mind while casting, such as characters that are in love or are related in some way. 

As mentioned in the previous section, drop-outs happen and sometimes you need to recast a character at the last minute. Check the character list for characters that have the note ‘DO NOT RECAST’. These characters are integral to the mystery and the game will not work without them. When recasting, make sure all these characters are assigned to players. 

Suspect and Witness Guides

Each Suspect Guide is a separate file that outlines a character’s role, motives, and clues. We recommend emailing these guides to your guests before the party to give them time to familiarise themselves with their roles. 

Each Suspect Guide contains:

• A Map of the crime scene

• Character Information to share with other guests

• Secret Information to keep hidden

• A Summary of all their key information 

• A notes page  

Each Suspect Guide contains:

• A Map of the crime scene

• Character Information to share with other guests

• A Summary of all their key information 

• A notes page  

How to Email Player Guides

Simply attach the individual Suspect Guides (.pdf format) to an email and send them to the corresponding guests. PDF files are universally accessible, so your guests should have no trouble opening them.

Video of the Announcement and the Big Reveal

Your mystery includes two optional videos you can play if you have a setup that allows you this. You can also play the videos through a speaker if you’d like to use the audio but don’t have access to a screen. 

Alternatively, transcripts of these files are also provided in case you would prefer to read these documents aloud. 

Assigning Characters 

Casting Ahead of Time

Once you’ve chosen a game and set a date, it’s time to assign characters to your guests. As mentioned in the previous section, you will get a Character List that includes character descriptions to help you match guests to a character they’ll be comfortable playing. 

Some characters have additional notes highlighting information that you may want to keep in mind while casting, such as characters that are in love or are related in some way. If these notes include light spoilers, this will be clearly stated. The document will be formatted so you can easily avoid seeing this information if you’d prefer to keep yourself spoiler-free. 

When casting, prioritise casting the Suspects over the Witnesses. Suspects are essential characters and the game will not work without them. Witnesses are optional characters with airtight alibis. They have information to share but no secrets to hide. Witnesses are a great option for players who may arrive late or might need to leave early. 

Casting on the Day

If you would prefer to cast on the day of your party, simply print the suspect guides and hand them out when your players arrive. Our guides are designed to be quick to read so players usually only need 5 minutes to get acquainted with their character. 

We recommend sharing a general theme and dress code with your guests so players still have the opportunity to come in costume. 

Unlimited Participants

Your mystery can accommodate unlimited participants. Extra guests can be Detectives who question Suspects or pair up with a Suspect. Print an extra notes page for them and they can jump into the game. 

Optional Expansion Packs

Mysteries may have optional Expansion Packs that include additional characters. The number of extra characters varies from game to game. Small Expansion Packs are great if you have extra or last-minute guests and you can purchase them separately from the main mystery package. Because Small Expansion Packs only include Witness characters, you can choose how many you’d like to add to your game. For example, you can buy an expansion pack featuring four new characters and only use three of them. 

If you're in a bind and you need a lot of extra characters, contact us—we'll do our best to help!

To buy an optional Expansion Pack, go to the ‘Small Expansion Packs’ or ‘Large Expansion Packs’ section of our shop.

Managing Drop-Outs and Recasting

As mentioned in the previous section, drop-outs happen and sometimes you need to recast a character at the last minute. Check the character list for characters that have the note ‘DO NOT RECAST’. All suspects are important, but these characters are particularly integral to the mystery and the game will not work without them. When recasting, make sure all these characters are assigned to players. 

If you don’t have enough players to cover all the suspects, you can read aloud the Summary information of the missing characters approximately half-way through the investigation. This means the game will still work as all the necessary information to crack the case will be shared. 

Hosting the Game 

What to Expect at Your Party

Here’s a basic flow of the mystery party:

1. Guests arrive and mingle. If you’ve printed guides for your players, hand them out now. 

2. Play The Announcement of Murder Video or read aloud from the transcript.

3. Going over the rules.

4. Guests investigate the mystery by questioning each other to gather clues.

5. Guests cast their accusations and discuss their theories.

6. The killer is revealed in The Big Reveal.

Getting Started: The Announcement of Murder

To kick off your mystery party, start with the Announcement of Murder Video. If you don’t have access to a screen or prefer to keep things low-tech, simply have someone read the transcript provided. 

Explaining the Rules 

You can summarise the rules in your own words or read directly from this guide: 

This is a social deduction game and no acting is required! Using the information in your unique guides, you play the game by asking each other questions e.g. do you have a weapon and did you hate the victim? The goal is to identify the murderer and conceal your own motives as best as possible.

Remember, the killer doesn’t know that they are the killer. So no one can ‘spoil’ the game by accidentally revealing they are the murderer! 

There are only three rules that you must follow for the mystery to solve:

Share your Character Information with everyone. It’s full of information vital to solving the mystery so you should blurt it out at every opportunity

Don't lie about your Secret Information. This is a logic game, not a lying game. If you are asked a direct question about your Secret Information, you MUST answer honestly. For example, if you possess a dagger, you must confess when asked do you have a weapon. 

Don't make up information. For example, unless your Character Information says “You saw Charles slap the victim”, don't say it! 

If you’re asked something that isn’t remotely related to anything provided to you in your Character or Secret Information, simply say “I can’t help you with that”. It’s our code phrase so your fellow players understand you honestly don’t have the information they’re looking for. 

And that’s it! Follow these three rules and you’ll have a killer night cracking the case!

Running the Investigations

After the announcement, guests will begin investigating. You have two main options for guiding this phase:

1. Free For All: 

Allow guests to mingle freely and move on to the accusation phase when most players are ready to vote. This is the simplest option and is great for smaller groups.

2. Structured: 

This option creates urgency and keeps the mystery moving at a fun pace. Tell your guests to get into small groups of 3-6 players. Give them 5-8 minutes to talk in their groups and then instruct them to move to a new group. Repeat this step 4-8 times until most people have spoken to each other. Then have one final ‘free for all’ round where people can talk to whoever they like. 

Don’t worry too much about the groups being perfect. The final ‘free for all’ round means players can find anyone who they didn’t meet during the previous rounds.

Here’s a basic flow of structured rounds:

• Round 1: 6 minutes 

• Round 2: 6 minutes 

• Round 3: 6 minutes 

• 10 minute break 

• Round 4: 6 minutes 

• Round 5: 6 minutes 

• Free for all: 15 minutes 

Accusations

Once investigations are complete, hand out pieces of paper for guests to write their accusations on. Guests will fill out who they think the killer is and why. If you're awarding prizes (e.g., for “Best Sleuth” or “Best Suspect”), announce the time limit for casting accusations.

For larger groups, use a ballot box to collect accusation forms. For smaller groups, it’s fun to have each person announce their accusation and reasoning in front of the group.

The goal of having written accusations is to prevent guests from changing their answers after hearing others’ guesses.

The Big Reveal

After all accusations are cast, it’s time for The Big Reveal - when the killer is identified! You can either play the “Big Reveal” Video or read the transcript aloud. 

Once the killer is revealed, you can look through the accusations and hand out any awards or prizes. Enjoy the big moment and let your guests bask in the glory of their detective work!