University Games Murder Mystery Party Games - Pasta, Passion & Pistols, Host Your Own Italian Restaurant Murder Mystery Dinner for 8 Players, Solve the Case with Crime Scene Clues, 18 Years and Up

This game was so fun! I can't wait to play the other ones in the series! I read the reviews and all of the advice and this is what worked for us: -Tell your guests waaay ahead of time. I gauged interest a little over a month. -Give your guests their character name/description (or the invitation!) at least a month in advanced so that they can prepare their costumes. I just scanned the character descriptions and sent my guests a PDF via email. -Set the scene! I had a lot of fun decorating. I put crime scene tape all over my hard and outlined a body in my porch. I also had a mug shot back drop to photograph all of my guests. I also enjoyed using my nice dishes and linens. -I didn't use any of the menu recommendations. The menu has nothing to do with the script so if you wanted to go way out into left field, go forth. I served Pioneer Woman's baked ziti, garlic bread, caesar salad, and Italian love cake. It was spectacular. -When your guests arrive, prepare them. Someone is going to find out that they're the murderer immediately. I think that's important because I cannot keep a secret and would instantly smile. My guests were nervous about the same. We all agreed that we would read the first page with our faces covered and then all give our best "I'm the murderer" face. It worked like a charm. -We did not use the CD. I started to, but it was really lame. It didn't change game play at all. And I really liked that they gave us the option. -It's really a lot of information (especially or the host, who needs to know and explain the rules), but once you get started, it's easy. The first round really warms you up. -For us, the most confusing part was after each scripted scenes, you have to make accusations and then respond. It gets a little hairy, especially if the murderer doesn't have a good answer. The murderer needs to be a good liar and prepared to make up a story on the fly. BUT! Everyone else is reading their responses to accusations and the murderer is just making it up, it's definitely suspicious. To counter that, you should make sure your guests don't read directly from their booklets. They should read the page thoroughly, reference it while speaking, but shouldn't read from it. This is especially important in round 3. We also didn't realize that guests should form their own questions, not just the ones listed in the booklet. -Some reviews stated that it was difficult for the characters to understand when to reveal clues. It was obvious to us as the accusation says, "REVEAL CLUE!" Perhaps those reviewers didn't know that all accusations should have been made each round. It's confusing because anyone can make an accusation, but some of them feel like they should be in order. Sometimes we would piggy back on one another. For example, someone would say, "Marco, you did it because [some reason or another]!" And before Marco could answer, another character would say, "That's a good point, and Marco, what about [this other reason that you're probably the murderer]?" and Marco would respond. And maybe he could evade answering all of accusations. -Some reviews said that two characters weren't really critical and you could play without them. I don't think that's true. In fact, when it was time to make a formal accusations, Clair and Father Alfredo each got a vote. They were definitely involved and definitely good suspects. I almost didn't invite a 7th and 8th guest and I'm glad I did. The party may have been ruined. My version is definitely made for 8 characters. -I had prizes for each of my guests. The murderer obviously wouldn't win, so they received a prize, and then any guest who guessed correctly. Only one person did! I gave out a gift card, K cups, and little bottles of liquor. Overall, it was so fun. My guests really enjoyed it. I thought it was put together well. Now that I've played one, I'll feel better prepared trying out the others.

Game was fun, had everything we needed to play! There were even recipes :) invitations were cute and the character profiles came with costume ideas. It was my first time hosting a Murder Mystery dinner and I will definitely do it again :)

We loved this!! I had murder mystery party for my Dad’s birthday. We all had a blast. I am currently looking for another murder mystery box to use at another birthday!!

Great way to get off phones and enjoy some fun while trying to solve the murder!! We did use the audio as it was a great way to recap each round to bring it all together. We put some caution tape up and an outline of a body to kick off our party! Since it was Italian themed we had pasta for dinner as well! Definitely recommend. The killer does know who they are from their character book. The character books are easy to follow and tell you when to release clues or refute what a character says.

I hosted my first murder mystery dinner party on Saturday and we all had a complete blast! My husband and I weren't sure if our guests (two other couples) would enjoy this - none of us every having been to a murder mystery party before - but it turned out to be perfect, silly fun. I decorated the table with a red & white checkered table cloth, red plastic roses in a vase, long breadsticks, a plastic pistol, and fake cigar - all found at a dollar store. We played Italian music in the background. We served our own menu of Italian salad, eggplant parmesan, and cannolis + italian ice. My guests shocked me by showing up, totally dressing as their characters despite the last minute invitations! Since I read that this was better for six not eight, two of us doubled up on the roles. It made it a little confusing at times, but also pretty funny as characters had to start accusing their other character (themself) at the end. I suggest giving two roles to the better actors in the group. Also confusing is how all of the booklets are written in the 3rd person instead of 1st, which is why I give this 4 stars instead of 5. It made it kinda funny at the same time, especially with the cheesy writing, but was the only complaint I heard around the table. All in all, I definitely suggest this as a starter game for first timers. I'll definitely be doing another one in the future! If you're serving courses, make sure you allow at least 3 hours for the game. With chit chat, we didn't actually start the game until like 9pm and ended up wrapping it up closer to 1am, so people seemed pretty exhausted towards the end of the night. I'd start on the earlier side if you can and leave room for casual conversation. Also, we never used the CD since it was optional. Not sure if that would've added or subtracted to the night.