5 Quick Murder Mystery Games To Play In 1 Hour
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Want to solve a murder mystery, but don't have hours to spend? There are plenty of quick murder mystery games that will stimulate your problem solving skills.
We'll discuss some of the fun games to help you find a board game, app, or website that helps you brush up on you r ability to use clues to solve a murder mystery.
But first let's talk about how we chose the games.
How We Chose The Best Quick Mystery Game
We chose the best quick murder mystery games by reviewing available games for the following characteristics:
Time To Play: Each murder mystery should take less than 1 hour to play.
Cost: The lower the cost the better because you'll go through the games faster.
Features: Some games have more features than others that make them more entertaining.
Best Quick Murder Mystery Games
1. Murdle (Free)
Murdle is a free daily murder mystery game that take 5-30 minutes to solve. You have 4 characters, murder weapons, and locations, along with 7 clues and have to solve who committed the murder with what item in a specific location. Overall, I enjoy the game more than the others, but wish it had a leaderboard.
2. 5 Minute Mystery (Free)
5 Minute Mystery is a story based murder mystery game where you have to review the evidence and identify who the suspect is out of four people. You also need to identify the evidence that makes each of the others not guilty. 5 Minute Mystery releases two mystery stories per week and has 30 day and 12 month leader boards.
3. Playing With Murder 30 Minute Mysteries (Paid)
Playing With Murder has made hosting easy with their 30 minute mysteries that you can play using any device. They have 11 murder mysteries that are under 30 minutes including vampire themed, mob themed, magical themes, spy themes, and Christmas themes. Each comes with a host guide, character sheets, name cards, introduction handout, and invitation template. Each mystery costs $39.99 to play.
The app allows a host and guests to all play. Check out their app guide.
4. Clue
Clue is a quick and easy murder mystery board game you can play with the kids in less than an hour. It's good for two to six players. You'll have to figure out who the killer is, what murder weapon they used, and where the murder took place in the mansion. It's fun and easy to play. Best of all you can buy it's only around $20.
5. Murder on the Mystery Express
This WhoDunnit game by TheGoGame takes 60 minutes to play virtually. Solve puzzles to unlock rooms in Murder on the Mystery Express. The game costs between $399 and $11,000 depending on the number of participants.
Looking For A Longer Murder Mystery Party Game?
There are a ton of great murder mystery party games, but many of them take between two and six hours to play. Hosting a murder mystery party involves preparation, including choosing a theme and inviting guests.
Games often include character backgrounds, invitations, clues, and the solution for the host. You can find 19 of the best murder mystery party games in our other blog.
Short Murder Mystery Game FAQ
What is the most fun murder mystery game?
Hunt A Killer: Death at the Dive Bar is the most fun murder mystery game. They are one of the more reputable kit creators, provides lots of materials, and are fun to play with a group. Over 9,600 people have left a review of the game on Amazon with a 4.7 star rating. Try Death at the Dive Bar for your next game night!
Is 5 Minute Mystery Free?
Yes. 5 Minute Mystery is free to join.
How to make a short murder mystery game?
To make a short murder mystery game you'll want to:
Choose a Premise: You'll want to come up with a creative mystery that needs to be solved.
Create Characters: You'll want to create several characters including a detective, the victim, and suspects. Create a description of each, personalities, and backgrounds including drama with the victim.
Outline the Plot: Your plot should include an introduction, the crime or incident, the actions and clues to take the reader or participants to the answer, the revelation, and a conclusion.
Create Suspense and Tension:Â Reveal the clues gradually to keep people interested. Make sure to include some distractions to help throw people off.
Include Details and Clues: Hide clues throughout the storyline. If you're using a virtual or in-person murder mystery game have the be physical or visual elements.
Include the Environment In Story Telling: The setting of your murder mystery is a major part of the theme. Take the time to help bring it to life.
Write a Dialogue:Â Create a script for yourself as the host of a murder mystery party or all the characters if the player is the detective. Use the dialogue to reveal character traits and help tell the story.
Revise: Have other people review the story and see if they can solve it. Are the instructions clear? Is there missing information? There might be plot holes or the game play is too fast or slow. Revise based on their input.
Publish the Murder Mystery Game: Once you're ready to release the game, create everything that's needed to play including things like invitations, character packs, clues, and even costumes.
Pro Tip: Take the time to review other murder mystery games, stories, and ideas to understand the techniques people use. Inspiration can come from anywhere. You might want to try an AI prompt to help you get started like the one below.
Write a murder mystery based on the following introduction. A (INSERT ADJUECTIVE) (INSERT CAREER) is found dead in (LOCATION), and the only clue left behind is (DESCRIBE CLUE) with a cryptic message. Make it a point to include the following character names (Name 1), (Name 2), (Name 3), and (Name 4)
How do you throw an easy murder mystery party?
To throw an easy murder mystery party you can either hire a company that specializes in hosting murder mystery parties or you can get a murder mystery game kit that comes with everything you need to throw your own murder mystery party.
At a minimum you'll need to:
Choose a theme.
Choose a date.
Invite friends.
Prepare everything for the night.
That means you'll want invitations, character descriptions, costume tips, and suggestions for how the guests should prepare for the party. Successful murder mystery parties often involve interactive questioning and mingling among guests during the game. Throw a potluck to make hosting easy and keep guests fed if your event is going to be longer than about two hours.
The evening can be a great time for the group, but you'll need to take the lead unless you hire a company to manage it. Make sure to do your research to ensure success.
Closing
Murder mystery games can be fun to play, but some of them take a long time. When you're in the mood for an investigation, sometimes you don't want to decide what type of game to play, consider costume suggestions, dress up, and go to a party. You just want to get to the person getting killed and find the murderer.
We provided five suggestions of quick & short murder mystery games to play in half the time of a normal murder mystery party. Two of the games are completely free and you don't even need to download anything or gather materials.
Did we miss fun murder mystery games you can play in less than an hour? Let us know! We'll add them in the future.
