Murder Mystery Party: A Whodunit For The Ages

If you’re a fan of whodunits, then chances are you’ve heard of Murder Mystery Party. The series of board games has been turning average citizens into armchair detectives since the first entry in 1984. From Murder Mystery Party: Lethal Luau to Murder Mystery Party: A Taste for Wine and Murder, this board game series has been a source of fun and intrigue that places a delightful spin on the classic murder mystery genre. Get into costume, learn your lines, and send out the invitation to your closest friends as you try to solve a murder.

Murder Mystery Party: A Taste For Wine And Murder

Murder Mystery Party: A Taste for Wine and Murder is one of the most popular editions of the series, offering you the classic setup with a backdrop of California Wine Country. Among these peaceful vineyards and picturesque wineries hides a plotting murderer. At the annual wine-tasting festival the attendees are shocked to discover the body of Barry Underwood, the local vineyard owner, beneath his wine cellar. Players will have to figure out who among them is responsible for this dastardly deed.

In this edition of Murder Mystery Party, the suspects are Otton von Schnapps, Marilyn Merlot, Tiny Bubbles, Ralph Rottingrape, Pape Vito, and Hedy Shablee. There are also two more optional characters for games of eight players. Each player (suspect) will get a Character Booklet that includes their roles and background information. The game also comes with a party planner with recipes and a menu as well as tips on music and decorating. It even comes with eight party invitations and envelopes to send to your unsuspecting guests.

Players will use eight place cards to mark their spot at the table, as well as six secret clues that can help point to the killer. A cassette tape (or CD in recent versions) will provide an introduction, summary of events, and the solution to the crime. The host will direct the players alongside the CD to act out their parts and read certain dialogue (while hamming it up as best they can). Once the game is over, everyone will make their accusations until the CD reveals the actual murderer.

The fun of the game comes from acting your part, as character booklets provide you with interesting character traits that can be fun to play around with. You can even try out an accent to impress (or annoy) your fellow players–it’s all up to you! All the important parts are scripted, so the essential parts of the game will all be kept intact. With this particular edition of Murder Mystery Party, the roles are delightfully campy and all in good fun.

More Murder Mystery Party

There are many other editions of Murder Mystery Party that have been released through the years. Murder Mystery Party Case Files: Fire in Adlerstein was released in 2018 with a shorter playing time and the ability to be played by 1-5 players. This edition comes with both physical and digital parts to be used for investigation. Players can either play in cooperative mode or competition mode to find the criminal. The game is designed to be like a realistic criminal case, making you feel like a real police officer as you conduct your investigation.

If you’re a disco fan, then you’ll love Murder Mystery Party: Stayin’ Alive. This edition is set in trendy Studio Manhattan, where dance sensation Jackie Fever has just been murdered. With hilarious characters such as disco champ John Revolting and martial arts expert Bruce Leap, you’ll have a blast you won’t soon forget.

Throw Yourself A Murder Mystery Party

Murder Mystery Party is usually playable by 6-8 players, so it’s a good game for a dinner party for small groups. Playing time is about three hours, so you should definitely plan to make an evening of it. Ages 16 and up can play most editions of Murder Mystery Party, which makes it a good choice for adult friend groups of most ages. Murder Mystery Party comes in so many varieties that you’ll be sure to find something to your liking. Buy Murder Mystery Party today and enjoy the thrill of the chase!

 

Dixit: The Surrealist Party Game

If surrealist art is your thing, then Dixit is the perfect party game for you. This fun and wacky game forces you to tap into your creative side to find the perfect clues for the images in front of you. Whether you’re the king of using your imagination or you’re more in touch with the logical side of your brain, Dixit is an incredibly fun card game that will bring out your playful side.

It’s Storytime!

Dixit is an excellent party card game that can be played in several fun-filled rounds. Every player gets a hand of six cards, each of which includes a single abstract picture without any text. On every round, a different player is designated the Storyteller. The Storyteller is tasked with choosing one of their cards and giving a clue about it before placing it facedown on the table. The clue can be either a word or a sentence.

Once the clue has been given, the other players will each choose one of their own cards that best match that clue. They’ll then place that card facedown on the table along with the Storyteller’s card. The cards are shuffled and then revealed face up on the table for everyone to see. The goal of each player is to try and guess which card was in fact the Storyteller’s card.

One of the best parts of the card game Dixit is the fact that it comes with large, beautifully illustrated cards. These abstract illustrations include things like ticking timepieces, unicorns and rainbow bridges, a sea of umbrellas, and fearsome dragons. All of the cards in the game are family-friendly, so you can easily enjoy the game with little kids or teenagers.

Making Guesses

The clue that the Storyteller gives is meant to be indicative of the picture on the card, but it shouldn’t be too direct. This is because the Storyteller wants at least one player to guess their card, while not wanting everyone to correctly guess it. The Storyteller will earn zero points if either everybody or nobody guesses their card. However, if one or more players guess their card, then both the Storyteller and the guesser will earn three points.

Players can also earn points in the event that another player guesses their card instead of the Storyteller’s. Once all of the guesses have been made and the points have been tallied, the next person in the circle becomes the Storyteller and the game continues. The game ends either when all of the cards in the deck have been played or when a player earns 30 points. If all of the cards are played, then the player with the most points wins.

Points are scored with a game board that comes with little rabbit tokens. Players will move their tokens around a track at the bottom of the game box as they earn points, watching their bunnies inch closer and closer to victory.

Dixit Expansions

Dixit comes with a couple of expansions and standalone games that take the simplicity of Dixit and expand it into something much more whimsical. Dixit: Journey allows your clue to take the form of a story, a song, or a movement that is associated with the card. Fortune favors the brave with this card game expansion, as you’ll have to put aside your stage fright and put on your dancing shoes to make your clue really stand out!

Dixit: Odyssey works as both a standalone game and expansion that features the same gameplay as the original Dixit in addition to 84 new cards. This expansion includes additional rabbit storing tokens, allowing up to 12 players to play.

Let the Art Do the Talking with Dixit

Dixit is playable by 3-6 players, so it’s a good party card game for small groups of people. However, if you forego the scoring board and simply keep track of the points manually, then you can accommodate more players. It’s also suitable for ages 8 and up, as it’s very family-friendly and easy to follow. Playing time lasts around 30 minutes, so you can easily fit in a round or two before dinner.

Buy Dixit today and let your imagination run wild!

 

Bananagrams: Quit Monkeying Around!

Bananagrams is one of those classic word games that almost everyone has an edition of sitting around somewhere in their closet. With the trademark little felt banana bag and those user-friendly letter tiles, you can easily mix and match words to create your own crossword and be the first to shout out “Bananagrams!” If you’re a fan of classic word games like Scrabble or Boggle but are looking for something a little more fast-paced, you’ll love Bananagrams.

Arranging the Tiles

Bananagrams is an incredibly simple and fast-paced game that uses small tiles to form words in the shape of a grid. In this sense, it is incredibly similar to Scrabble, although Bananagrams gets rid of the game board and speeds things up by allowing each player to make their own grid. To make their words, players get to use 144 tiles that all come in a cute little bag shaped like a banana.

Bananagrams begins with all of the tiles being flipped and placed in the center of the table. Each player then takes 12 tiles and begins arranging them into words in the form of a grid, similar to the way a crossword is set up. Once a player uses up all of the letters in their bunch, they shout “peel!” and everyone has to take a new tile from the pool in the center.

If you’re stuck with a bunch of bum letters that you can’t place, then you can dump one of your tiles and draw three more. While this can help you dig your way out of the hole, beware! You may only find yourself deeper in the pit with more tiles you can’t use. Once the pool in the center of the table is almost empty, then the first person to use all of their tiles shouts out “Bananagrams!” and wins the game.

Variant Rules

Bananagrams is incredibly simple, with hands usually taking as little as 5 minutes. However, there are different variant rules within the game itself that you can use depending on where you are and how complex you want the game to be. The Banana Smoothie of the board game gives everyone their own bunch of tiles right at the start of the game, dividing it equally among everyone. This allows you to plan out your whole crossword right at the beginning.

The Banana Cafe version of Bananagrams is meant to be played in public when waiting for service. Players play with 21 tiles and are allowed to dump tiles and draw more if they need to, but they don’t have to “peel” and force anyone else to draw more tiles. You can also play the Banana Solitaire version of Bananagrams to play the game all on your own, competing against your own best time.

Bananagrams Sequels

There are several sequels to the original Bananagrams board game that allow you to play it with new and complex rules. Bananagrams Duel! turns the board game into a two-player word game that uses both letter cubes and Banana cards. Players use any side of their 12 letter cubes to try to create a crossword grid, competing for Banana cards to see who can win the most rounds.

Bananagrams Party adds 14 more “party power” tiles to the original game. These tiles range from The Re-Gifter to The Thief to Switcheroo, with each giving you a special power to use against your opponents. Bananagrams WildTiles adds 6 wild monkey tiles to the game, each of which can be used as whatever letter you like. This is similar to the wild tiles in Scrabble, which can help you make a new word when you can’t seem to find the letter you need. 

Bananagrams: Wordplay Never Tasted So Sweet

Bananagrams is playable by 1-8 players, so you can easily play it with the whole family or just on your own when you’re killing time. It’s suitable for ages 7 and up, as anyone can grasp the simplicity of the rules. Playing time lasts around 15 minutes, although you’ll definitely be playing best of 5 or best of 10.

Buy Bananagrams and add this classic tile game to your collection of word games!

 

Munchkin: The Card Game for Monster-Killers and Backstabbers

Does the idea of killing monsters and stealing from your friends sound like a good time to you?  If so, you’ll love the hilarious card game Munchkin, a D&D-inspired game that takes the dungeon experience and flips it on its head.  Grab the Horny Helmet and vanquish the Plutonium Dragon to level up in this fantastic card game that will keep you laughing the entire time.

Kicking Down the Door

In Munchkin, each player begins their turn by “kicking down the door”, which involves drawing a Door Card from random.  Door Cards belong to several different categories.  The first are Curse Cards, which give you a certain negative effect.  If you have the bad luck to draw a Curse Card, you may end up having to forfeit your turn or go back a certain number of levels.  These usually come with funny little drawings such as the “Duck of Doom”, which curses you for being silly enough to pick up a duck in a dungeon (what were you thinking?)

Door Cards can also be Item, Race, or Class Cards that you get to add to your hand to be played at a future time.  These can be helpful in attacking opponents during their turns or in giving yourself a valuable boost in fighting monsters.  The last kind of Door Card is a Monster Card, which pits you against a ferocious creature in an opportunity to either level up or suffer the consequences.

Level Up but Don’t Get Killed

Munchkin begins with all players starting at level 1.  Whoever is the first to reach level 10 is declared the winner, but you’ll have to fight off some monsters if you want to level up.  Monster fights will pit your total level against the level of the monster to decide who wins the round.  The real excitement of the game comes from the fact that your fellow players can either choose to help you defeat the monster (in exchange for Treasure Cards) or add another monster to the mix to try and crush you.

If you win the fight and defeat the monster, you can draw a certain amount of Treasure Cards and level up.  If you lose, however, you’ll have to roll the dice to try and get away.  Anything less than a five will force you to deal with the “Bad Stuff” on the monster card, which can result in losing levels or Treasure Cards.  You may even die as a result of losing the battle, which doesn’t disqualify you from the game but does force you to end your turn and draw a new hand for equipment.

Munchkins Sequels and Expansions

Munchkin has spawned countless sequels that can be played on their own or added to the original game for an even wilder good time.  Munchkin Adventure Time is based on everyone’s favorite show on Cartoon Network, incorporating art and characters from the series.  Munchkin Booty sets the game on the high seas, forcing you to battle vividly drawn pirates drawn by Guest Artist Tom Siddell.  Expansions such as Munchkin Apocalypse add natural disasters, zombie takeovers, and alien invasions in addition to new mechanics for more complex gameplay.

Kill, Steal, and Stab: The Munchkin Way

Munchkin is playable by 3-6 players, so it’s definitely well suited for small to medium groups of friends who’ve grown tired of playing the traditional Dungeons and Dragons card game.  Newcomers to card games will also find plenty to love with the simple rules and amazing illustrations done by John Kovalic, which add a unique level of style and fun to the game.

Munchkin is suitable for ages 10 and up, so families can definitely get a kick out of all that it has to offer.  With a playing time of one to two hours, you can make an entire night out of a game without losing interest.  Thanks to its potential for cooperation and ruthless backstabbing, Munchkin is a game that can make or break friendships in an instant.  If you’re looking for a game with humor, strategy, and excellent artwork, Munchkin and any one of its numerous expansions will provide countless hours of fun.

 

Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition (Yep, for the Little Ones)

If you’ve ever played a round or two of Cards Against Humanity at a party, then you’re well aware of how hilarious it can be to play around with absurd wordplay. The adult humor of the game combined with its competitive nature has made Cards Against Humanity a hit all around the world. But while this game is certainly one of the funniest party games on the market, it’s definitely not fit for younger players.

Luckily the creators of the original game have decided to create a brand new game for kids and adults alike. Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition is a family-friendly party game that keeps all of the same wackiness and humor of the first game without losing any of the fun. If you’re looking for a party game the whole family can enjoy, look no further than Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition.

Fill-In-The-Blank

Just like the original Cards Against Humanity, Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition is a fill-in-the-blank party game. Each player will collect seven white cards for their hand, which are all populated with silly phrases like “Squirty cheese” or “A big wet kiss from Great Aunt Sharon”. Then, the game goes in turns where each person gets a chance to be the judge of who’s the funniest.

Each turn, one person will pull a black card, which will have on it a fill-in-the-blank sentence. These include phrases such as “Foolish child! Did you think you could escape from _____?” The fun of the game comes from filling in the blanks with one of the goofy white card responses. Each of the players (with the exception of the one who pulled the black card) will play one of their white cards to try and get their card picked as the funniest.

This is where it pays to read the room. While you may think that “The dentist” is the funniest response to that question, the judge might be inclined to go with something silly like “Filling my butt with spaghetti.”  You’ll have to know the sense of humor of whoever that round’s judge is if you want to collect the most black cards and win the game.

One of the best parts of Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition is that, for the most part, it doesn’t really matter who wins. You’ll be sure to spend the game cracking up over the wacky combinations that your friends and family manage to come up with. Even if your card doesn’t get picked as the winner, you can still rest happy knowing you made everyone laugh.

Consulting The Experts

Cards Against Humanity is known for being a party game with some seriously adult humor. When crafting Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition, the creators of the game didn’t just go through the original and remove all of the adult references. They wrote the game from scratch, consulting child development experts to make sure the humor was age-appropriate but no less funny than the original.

The creators of Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition also playtested the game with thousands of families to ensure that it was a hit. The game has been a major success, allowing kids and adults to engage in absurd wordplay and share a laugh at cards like “Climbing into a cow’s butt.”

Cards Against Humanity Family Expansions

Cards Against Humanity has been known to release many expansions that can be added to the original set to expand the humor and keep the jokes rolling. While Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition does not currently have any expansions, the creators have announced plans to release one soon.

Get The Kids Cracking Up With Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition

Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition is playable by anywhere from 4-30 players, so it can accommodate parties or family gatherings of all sizes. It’s suitable for ages 8 and up, which means that kids of all ages can take part in the fun. The playing time lasts around 30 minutes, although you can always extend it with a few more rounds. Buy Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition and get ready to laugh until you cry!

 

Kill Doctor Lucky: Where Clue Gets Turned Upside Down

The classic board game Clue throws you smack dab in the middle of your classic murder mystery: aloof guests, a glamorous mansion, and a dead man for whom everyone is a suspect in the killing. Kill Doctor Lucky takes the mysterious fun of Clue and turns it on its head.

Instead of scouring the mansion for clues to find out who the killer is, Kill Doctor Lucky has you planning the murder ahead of time! With a thrilling story, dynamic gameplay, and a wickedly tongue-in-cheek premise, Kill Doctor Lucky is a board game that will have you channeling your inner assassin.

What’s Your Motive?

In Kill Doctor Lucky, players compete to be the one to off the eponymous Doctor Lucky. Did Doctor Lucky cut you out of his will, betray you, or leave you for another? In this game, everyone has a motive, whether it’s money, hatred, or love. At the end of the day, all that matters is that you be the one to strike the blow to end the good Doctor’s life. The game begins with the power to the mansion being cut, and each player fighting to get a weapon, corner Doctor Lucky, and commit the deadly deed.

Strike To Kill

Kill Doctor Lucky comes with a playing board that shows all of the rooms of Doctor Lucky’s mansion. It also comes with standees for each of the seven characters as well as Doctor Lucky and his pet dog Shamrock. Players will play move around the mansion, collecting murder weapons and failure cards in an attempt to off Doctor Lucky and prevent others from beating them to the punch.

Each turn gives you several options. You can either take a free step or to play a move card, which will allow you to move either yourself or Doctor Lucky to another room. You can also draw a card, which can help you stack up on weapons and move cards. When you’re alone with Doctor Lucky and ready to make your move, you can announce a murder attempt.

Weapon cards will make your murder attempt more powerful, but your opponents can play failure cards to try to overpower your murder attempt with a higher value. If you fail at your murder attempt, however, you earn a spite token that can increase your murder value by one point for all your future attempts.

Getting Doctor Lucky alone is a difficult proposition, as you can only make your attempt when you’re out of the line of sight of the other players. Even Doctor Lucky’s dog can prevent you from making your kill, so you’ll have to make sure to separate the Doctor from his beloved pooch if you want to succeed.

Kill Doctor Lucky Spinoffs

Kill Doctor Lucky comes with several expansions and spinoffs that can make the game even more wacky and fun. Save Doctor Lucky is a spinoff prequel that flips the script once again, casting you as a passenger on a sinking ocean liner attempting to save Doctor Lucky instead of killing him.

Kill Doctor Lucky: The Director’s Cut adds a second playing board to the game as well as new rules that allow players to kill each other or Doctor Lucky’s dog. Kill Doctor Lucky Online can be played on the internet against either live players or computer opponents, whereas Get Lucky turns the board game into a murderous card game.

Take Your Shot With Kill Doctor Lucky

Kill Doctor Lucky is playable by 3-8 players, which makes it well-suited to parties or large family gatherings. It’s also suitable for ages 12 and up, mostly due to the murderous nature of the game more than the difficulty of the game. Playing time lasts around 45 minutes, which is a decent chunk of time for getting a round or two in at a party before the main event.

Kill Doctor Lucky definitely stands out for its dark humor and its unique combination of luck and strategy. If you’re a fan of the board game Clue but you’re looking for something a little more humorous, Kill Doctor Lucky is an excellent addition to the murder mystery genre. Tap into your inner assassin and buy Kill Doctor Lucky today!

 

One Night Ultimate: Werewolves, Vampires, And Aliens

While most card games involve hours of play time and dozens of cards to manage, One Night Ultimate gives you a fast-paced game you can play in only 10 minutes. Pick your card and take on a secret role to figure out who your friends are and who you’ll need to eliminate in order to win the game. Whether you go for the Werewolves, the Vampires, or the Aliens, One Night Ultimate is sure to have you pulling out the cards at every gathering to liven things up.

Werewolves

Each of the One Night Ultimate games can either be played on its own or added to each other for a fast-paced game of fun. One Night Ultimate Werewolf is the first game in the series, providing you with a ten-minute game full of horror and paranoia. In One Night Ultimate Werewolf, you take the classic tale of a wolf haunting the villagers and you set it all in one terrifying night. Each player gets their own unique role at the beginning of the game, which will then have major consequences once you reach the night phase.

Whether you’re the Troublemaker, the Seer, or one of the evil Werewolves, you’ll find that horrific things have happened in the middle of the night that the whole village is going to have to reckon with. You may even find that, although you started out an evil Werewolf, overnight you became one of the innocent villagers! When everyone wakes you in the morning, each player is tasked with figuring out who they are and who the Werewolves are so that they can stop them before they kill again.\

The twist of the game comes from the switching of the roles that leaves you unsure of where your loyalties lie. Unlike most role-playing games where you’re fully aware of which team you’re one, One Night Ultimate Werewolf keeps you guessing at all times.

Vampires And Aliens

One Night Ultimate Vampire is the next edition of the One Night Ultimate Games, which introduces a brand new “Mark” system. While players begin with a plain mark at the beginning of the game, you may wake up to find you’ve become bitten and are forced to endure immortality as a Vampire. One Night Ultimate Vampire raises the stakes of One Night Ultimate Werewolf by adding deeper levels of deduction and complexity.

One Night Ultimate Alien is the next game in the One Night Ultimate lineup that is very similar to One Night Ultimate Vampire. This game features less role switching but introduces two bungling aliens who have to fight to be the last one left surviving. Figuring out everyone’s motivation for why they want certain people dead can help you piece together the clues to their identities and win the game.

Werewolf Daybreak Expansion

While One Night Ultimate Werewolf can be combined with either the Vampire or the Alien edition, there’s a special expansion called One Night Ultimate Werewolf Daybreak that takes the original Werewolf game and allows you to play up to 10 players. There are no more basic villagers—each of the 11 new roles has a secret hidden ability that can make this fast-paced game even more of a wild ride!

Take Your Pick Of Monster With One Night Ultimate

One Night Ultimate Werewolf is playable by 3-7 players, although some of the other editions and expansions allow you to fit up to 10 players. This game is absolutely perfect for parties of all sizes, and you don’t have to worry about choosing a moderator or having anyone get eliminated. With a playing time of 10 minutes, you can easily fit a game in before dinner or drinks as a fun icebreaker.

One Night Ultimate Werewolf is also suitable for ages 8 and up, so younger kids can join in on the fun without getting confused by complex rules or adult themes. Still, One Night Ultimate games are all fun and interesting enough that adults will be able to enjoy the deeper strategy of the game. One Night Ultimate is the perfect game for anyone who loves monsters and using their skills of deduction.

Grab your flashlight and put on your thinking cap for an adventure tonight!

 

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