On my birthday, I spent the day accusing my closest friends of murder over chocolate and cheese—and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
The idea of a murder mystery party with a few close friends seemed like a unique way to celebrate my friend’s birthday.
While the price, intensity, and overall format of a Murder Mystery game can vary widely, the premise remains the same: a group of participants must gather enough information about other party-goers to piece together an imaginary murder.
University Games was recommended to me by a friend who had played Slice of Murder. When I first heard about her experience, it stood out from other sets I’d heard of because of the level of detail and audio that accompanied their game.
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Prepping the Murder Mystery Game and Dinner
I ordered the Death by the Chocolate game a week and a half before my birthday and booked an Airbnb that sleeps seven — a quick train ride away from my apartment — to set the scene for the big mystery dinner.
Because of this, I was able to assign the game without revealing anything about the characters in the invitations (which were sent out via email).
Because the characters’ names were based on well-known people and characters, like Billy Bonka (in keeping with the game’s chocolate theme) or Sigmund Fraud, it was easy to figure out who each character was and which friend to assign to him or her without reading the descriptions.
For the game night, we had to prepare more than just food and characters. Everyone came dressed as their favorite character, and some even had their character’s accents ready to go, which made for even more fun and festive evening.
I’d gotten some fake cigarettes and tape to make a body imprint on the floor earlier in the day after thrifting my beauty queen outfit.
Playing the Game
To begin, we used a friend’s phone to access a link in the party planner’s booklet that took us to a video. Characters read lines of dialogue before we get into the free-ranging part of our conversation.
Before the end of the round, each character has a list of things they must bring up and new facts they must reveal if they are challenged.
I liked that my friends didn’t all know each other before the crime, because it made the game feel more authentic and served as a great icebreaker, as the story had only a few characters who knew each other before the crime.
Although the game relies on players being confrontational to identify a murderer, making sure everyone is comfortable enough to question each other makes the game more enjoyable. ‘
Since there are so many different suspects and so much information to sort through in each round, it can be difficult to keep up. In the storyline of Death by Chocolate, every character was given a reason, a doubtful past, or a plausible opportunity to be the killer.
It was a great way to end the night, forcing everyone to explain who they thought was the killer, see who had picked up on what details, and make one final accusation.
