So AMAZING!

[Guest]

I had a Murder at the Four Deuces party for my 14th birthday party. (It actually just finished about an hour ago, but it was so amazing that I can't sleep!)

Anyway, about an hour before the party, two people called and told me that they were very sorry, and they couldn't make it. I was totally freaking out at this point, because I didn't have any extra people, and it would be impossible to ask somebody to play two parts. One of my friends however, saved the day by calling somebody totally last minute to fill in. I ended up taking a role myself, even though I had previously read all of the secret sheets to be the host. I just had to pretend that I didn't know who the killer was, etc. It worked out as well as it could've.

The party itself was AMAZING! When everybody arrived, they weren't in character, which was fine, as we just hung out until everybody got there. I read the Hosts Announcement and told people to get started. We had a bit of a rocky start as people immersed themselves in their character...it took about 15-20 minutes for people to really get into it.

Everybody had an amazing time just fooling around and playing their part, although many people made up different twists to the plot and disregarded certain things on their Secrets Sheets. People would sometimes come in and out of their character...if they had a question about who's who or if something funny happened. But it worked out great anyway, we had a few additional murders...some people were even murdered multiple times!

Like I said, we didn't exactly follow the directions PERFECTLY, but in the end, everybody had an amazing time and they were all telling me how much fun they had.

My suggestions? Tell everybody to COME IN CHARACTER, as this will ease the transition and won't make it as difficult as it would be to just say "Okay, now get into your character!" Also, PLAN for one or two people cancelling last minute...have a sibling or a neighbor or just an extra friend who's willing to fill in at the last minute. This will save you a lot of stress and hassle. And also, don't worry too much if people aren't doing things exactly "right", as most of the fun is in DOING the party, not guessing who the murderer was.

[2coolbaby]

Thank you for your review. I know the panicking of having last minute people not show up. This is why I do many of the things I do with my site. This is why I provide a toll free number & I check my email messages every single day. So if anyone ever has the bare minimum guests and then a couple drops out at the last minute call or email me immediately & I will work it out for you.

Unfortunately some people are not considerate of the work and planning a host goes to with any large party. I understand true emergencies, but when you have those that just cancel at the last minute, it is very upsetting. Thankfully it doesn't happen often & now I try to make sure my guest list is larger than the bare minimum to avoid this problem completely, but sometimes you cannot.

In regards to people dropping out of character. It is natural for people to go in and out of character. Say the guest playing Jenny just had a baby & this is the first time everyone has seen her since. People at the party are going to inquire about her baby. It is natural to do so. It is natural for people to have non-game related conversations. This is a social event. This in no way hurts the game or the party. People will still be in character about 90% of the time. I can undestand staying in character all the time when your group of people spend a lot of time together, but for infrequent get togethers, it is unreasonable to expect this. I have murder mystery parties about every 3 months. For many of my guests this is the first time they have seen each other in the previous 3 months. Some of them live a distance away. It is natural for the guests to talk a little outside of their characters.

You are correct that the fun in these parties is playing. At every party I have last minute people running to look at the evidence at the end. This is because they have been so caught up in their character and their schemes that investigating the murder slipped their mind. These guest don't care that they don't solve the murder; they were having a blast just playing their character. I have played games by other companies that only involved solving a murder. There was nothing to do but solve the murder or look at clues or read from a script. Talk about boring. Even someone that solves the murder would not call this a fun party. A great party needs lots of intrigue that has nothing to do with the murder. You need sub-plots and you need people scheming against each other. You also need to give your characters the ability to create their own schemes. People need the freedom to be bad

[shakethatchickenbooty]

Ohmygawd.
Thank you so much for posting this!!
My 13th b-day party is in a week.
I'm totally physced.
I hope mine will be AMAZING too.

Gaby[/u]

[2coolbaby]

I am sure it will. Just let us know if you need anything.

[mymurders]

hi,
i really want to do 1920's themed 4 Deuces Tame for my 15th party, but im only having girls. I was thinking maybe i could buy the female extra card pack and substitute. What do you think i should do?
Jenny

[2coolbaby]

Hi Jenny,

We have had a lot of all female groups do Murder at the Four Deuces Tame. Have half your girls play male parts. These are actually fun strong parts to play. They are mob bosses, big politicians. Actually the best parts are guy parts, so girls should enjoy playing them and since it is all girls, no reason to be uncomfortable. The tame one really makes it easier for you to do this.

Hope this helps!