Murder Mystery Ultimate

3 - 6 players
30 - 45 min
Age 12+

This is a twist on the classic murder mystery party game, where zero preparation or script is needed because the players construct the story collaboratively using their imagination. The foundation of the game is that everything a player says about another player becomes true simply by stating it. Players can also say anything, except that another player was the murderer or is innocent. Because of this, nobody knows until the end who the murderer is, so no deception skills are needed: it only takes deduction, attention to detail and memory to win the game.

Game Components

1 Evidence Bag (a paper bag or any non-transparent bag will do the job)
6 Pieces of Evidence (scraps of paper/tyvek, 1 for each player)
6 Character cards
6 Cheat Sheets
30 Detective reputation tokens
Paper and pen for each player to write down their Suspicions
Optional: Website with everchanging random evidence ideas to inspire you

The components of the game: an evidence bag, 6 pieces of evidence, 6 character cards, 6 cheat sheets, 30 reputation tokens, pen+paper

Preparation

Each of you choose a Character card and figures out a name with that color (e.g. Bob Green). Then take the matching Piece of Evidence, crumple it and throw it in the Evidence bag.

Gameplay

The game begins with the premise of a murder. All of you are connected to the victim, and one of you is the murderer. But exactly who remains a secret until the final round. The game is divided into three parts: Introduction, Investigation, and Resolution.

Example game state in the middle of the Investigation phase with six players

Introduction Part

You introduce yourselves, then describe your relationship to the victim, and finally share one piece of information about the crime. The round goes clockwise, starting with the player who woke up latest today:

The first player discloses WHO was murdered.
The second player explains HOW the murder occurred.
The third player states WHEN the body was discovered.
The fourth player reveals WHERE the body was found.
The fifth player describes WHAT was found with the body.
The sixth player identifies WHO among the players found the body.

If there are fewer than six players, you can share the remaining details during the Investigation Part. All information provided in the first round is truthful .

Once everybody introduced themselves, each of you should write down his/her first suspicion in secret in your notebooks.

The next round begins with the player seated to the left of the previous starter.

Investigation Part

In this part, at the beginning of each round, all of you draw a piece of evidence from the evidence bag and check if it matches your suspicion from the previous round. If it does then you can reveal it to earn one Reputation token. However, once you reveal that, the information you share could be viewed as true or false because now everyone knows you are motivated to tell something spicy and push about the drawn player. So be careful!

Then starting from the first player in the round, each of you can either contradict the previous player or share a new evidence . If you want to contradict you should start with the word “No” and contradict one - and only one - part of the information shared by the previous player. For instance if they told “Bob Green played volleyball with the victim at the night of the murder”, you can contradict and change either the subject (Bob Green), the action (player volleyball), the object (the victim) or the time (night of the murder). Alternatively, you can leave the previous information true and rather, start with the word “Yes” and introduce a new detail about the character you drew.

Player draws a Piece of Evidence from the Evidence Bag, this indicates the character they will have to share information about.

The new evidence shared must:

Not be direct evidence of guilt or

innocence.

E.g. "You can’t say 'I saw him killing

the victim'”

Be considered truthful when discussing

others, but may be true or false when

discussing yourself or if you revealed that you are sharing information about the player you’ve found suspicious.

E.g. "She and the victim were friends"

is always truthful, however "The victim

and I were friends" can be contradicted.

Always mention one specific information from the previously shared and build on that.

E.g. Since Lora and the victim were friends (previous information) they went also to the cinema together (new information).

Introduce new information only about

the character drawn and the victim, not

about a specific other player.

Yes: "He was driving the victim home"

No: "He and Mr. Black were driving the

victim home"

You should be alert for inconsistencies when it’s not your turn. If you spot an inconsistency, you should call it out to receive one Reputation token. This is because a good detective needs attention to detail to win a case. If you find an inconsistency, the information and its cue card are removed from the game and the other player cannot share another evidence in this round. A challenged inconsistency leads to a group vote, with the majority ruling.

Inconsistencies are defined as:
When a player starts their information sharing not with the words yes or no.	E.g. So what you said is true – not starting with Yes
Information that the new evidence connects to is not true.	Either it was removed because of an inconsistency OR it was contradicted by another player OR is different from how the player remembered it
An evidence that contradicts previously shared information, except for information that can be considered true or false.	E.g. if it was already shared that Ms. Green worked as a blacksmith, saying she worked as a taxi driver later would contradict that.

Once each of you shared their new evidence for the round, you all write down your new suspicions in the notebook. The first 5 suspicions are secret, but you should reveal your current suspicion from the 6th suspicion onward.

Player writes down their suspicion

At the round's conclusion, all Pieces of Evidence are crumpled again and placed back into the Evidence Bag.

Resolution Part

From the 6th suspicion onward, the murderer is found when either (1) at least half of the players deems the same player suspicious or (2) you draw your own character from the Evidence bag.

From the rest of the players, the one who most frequently suspected the murderer becomes the detective and constructs the murder narrative. In a tie, a draw from the Evidence Bag determines the detective from the tying candidates. All of you, except the detective, receive one Reputation token for each Suspicion you wrote down for the murderer.

The detective earns one Reputation token for each accurate memory cited from the ones about the murderer from the investigation phase. If the detective manages to put this in a consistent story they get additional two Reputation tokens.

After the detective's recounting, the accused murderer may attempt to demonstrate their innocence by citing more evidence about the detective than were cited about them, earning one Reputation token for each. If they are successful, then they got away with murder and managed to frame the detective.

You can gain further Reputation tokens by identifying inconsistencies in both murder stories. However, you may only earn points for actual inconsistencies; the detective and the murderer are permitted to include new details in their narrative.

Winning the Game

The player with the most Reputation tokens wins. In the event of a tie, you can either celebrate the rarity of the outcome or play another round to determine the superior detective.

Special Remarks

If a player is revealed as the murderer due to a self-draw and no previous Suspicions were cast, they escape and win immediately.
Defining one piece of information is difficult, you should discuss either before the game some guidelines or use every voting as a precedent.
If multiple players identify an inconsistency simultaneously, a coin toss shall select one at random to resolve the dispute.
An inconsistency includes instances where a player may have simply forgotten a detail that they are now contradicting.
While relying solely on memory is encouraged, players are permitted to take notes if they prefer just make sure to discuss this before the game.
You can play the game so that the information you say about yourself in an evidence about somebody may also be claimed a lie later (see truthfulness rules above e.g. when you say “I saw him driving the car” then the part of the information when you saw him can be true or false but the fact the he was driving the car is true).
Decide collectively before starting the game whether to interpret inconsistencies strictly or leniently, and play in a manner that maximizes the group’s enjoyment.
The players may use an hourglass or timer to set an upper limit for thinking before sharing an information
If you want to play a longer game, then just increase the number of rounds where the suspicion is secret
If you want to play competitively, then it helps if players do not repeat information when asked, unless it’s about information shared in the introduction part.
The shared information cannot curse people: e.g. you cannot say that another player cannot speak or tell only non-sense.

FAQ

Do we know who the murderer is?

No, and that makes this game special: nobody knows who the murderer is until the very end. That means everybody can focus on figuring out the story of the murder from the seemingly unconnected details that the other players share.

Could it be that there are multiple murderers/accomplices?

No, in the game there is only one murderer, the other players are innocent (at least in the murder of the victim).

How can I tell about any evidence when there was no info before?

Use the helper words on the support website and just figure out something. It's maybe not so interesting now but may become the cornerstone of someone's suspicion later.