Murder! Mystery! and Mayhem! – September 14, 2015

Murder at 614 Scarlet Court, A Block Party to Die For

Get ready for a fun time at our September meeting. This party is an exciting murder mystery where the players act the roles of intriguing personalities while sleuthing the captivating story line.

The Dawson family moved into their new home at 614 Scarlet Court nearly two months prior to hosting their first annual block party for the residents of the small town of Shady Oaks. Isabella Dawson was an experienced party host and after only two months of living in Shady Oaks, she had earned the infamous title of town gossip. Nonetheless, the townspeople still flocked to the scene, ready to enjoy an evening of great company, good food and fun.

After everybody arrived to the Dawson’s home, Isabella got the party started with delectable appetizers and fun icebreakers. The guests mingled about and caught up on the recent events in town as some guests revealed their true feelings about one another. Rumors of blackmail, backstabbing, and revenge surfaced as some guests got into heated altercations. Tension saturated the air so thickly, it could have been sliced it with a knife.

Isabella did her best to distract the troubled guests with a delicious dinner along with exciting party games but to no avail, the guests were mortified to discover that a murder had occurred. The guests rallied together to figure out whodunit before the murderer could escape or even worse, claim another victim.

Following an intense murder investigation, the group submitted their best guess of whodunit and took turns making accusations of who they believed was guilty. The guests then took turns confessing their involvement, if any, with the crime and to everybody’s shock, the murderer confessed! After a brilliant escape attempt by the murderer, the guests settled into enjoying a lovely dessert while playing a party game to get everybody’s mind off the night’s stressful happenings. Isabella knew it would be difficult for her to top off this memorable night when she hosts the 2nd Annual Dawson’s Block Party!

The Character List:

Click here for a detailed description of all characters. Scroll down to the middle of the page.

Isabella Dawson (F) (FILLED)
Addison Shade (F) (FILLED)
Dakota Drumley (F) (FILLED)
Kendal Kennedy( F) (FILLED)
Ben Dawson (M) (FILLED)
Quentin Maddox (M)
Basil Cross (M) (FILLED)
Gaven Phoenix (M)
Robby Charles (E) (FILLED)
Margo Presley (F)
Liam Williams (M)
Nigel Sage (M)
Sadie Dawson (F) (FILLED)
Officer Nelson (E)
J.R. Sage (M)
Pepper Crenshaw (F) (FILLED)
Earline Crenshaw (F) (FILLED)
Major Pauli Tishon (E) (FILLED)
Pat Couric (E)
Tanya Claus (F)

The Party will be played in three rounds.

Round One is Pre-Murder Clues.
Round Two is the Murder and Whodunit.
Round Three is Solution.

HELPFUL HINTS ON HOW TO PLAY A MYSTERY PARTY

GUEST INSTRUCTIONS

You’ve been assigned a character and you’ve come to the party dressed in the most awesome costume and have been told to play your role. So now what?

The mystery is separated into three main rounds of party play. During the party, you will receive an envelope that contains the clues necessary for your character for the round. The clues for the characters at the party provide everything that you need to solve the mystery. However, during the investigation segment of the game, you will need to ask the right questions and pay close attention to everyone’s clues to get the whole picture of what has happened.

In each of your clue cards, there will be some information that you can reveal in casual conversation with other guests. It is just like real life! You can elect to have some of those clues as information that you should be ‘asked’ by other guests in order to reveal. You can hide the truth but do not lie and make up clues. This could alter the mystery for the other guests. Some of the information in your clue cards might be for actions to perform during certain rounds or it might give you personal information to explain to you how your character feels about certain issues involving other characters or situations. This personal information is given to you to enable you to act as the real character. As in real life, each character should know a little more about their character above the rest of the group. Therefore, these types of clues do not need to be revealed to the other guests – unless you want to tell your secrets! Don’t worry, others will figure your secrets out on their own in later rounds if it is vital to the mystery.

Just as with any normal dinner party, most of the party play will involve mingling with the other characters and finding out about each other’s characters and the clues you all have received. As the game progresses, you should have quite a bit of information to filter through to figure out the motive and whodunit! Read your clue cards thoroughly and take your time discussing issues with other guests. Make sure you speak to all guests in each round. Any guests who you feel might be hiding something – make sure to ask him or her loads of questions! You will be asked to submit a guess of ‘whodunit’ and why they did it at the end of round two. Watch out…YOU could even be the murderer and won’t know it until the end. Therefore, if you feel you are the guilty party by the end of Round Two – by all means, accuse yourself!

From this point forward, you are to remain in character until the mystery is solved. If you are playing a ‘hypocritical police officer,’ then that is who you are until the end! Undoubtedly, your host cast you into a character that you are comfortable playing. Some characters are designed to be played more reserved than other characters that should be played more boisterous. Feel free to play your role however you feel comfortable. Embellish your character’s personality if you would like. However, if you are feeling more reserved tonight, you can opt to allow the other guests to approach you or you can simply listen in on others’ conversations to get your information.

For More information, or to see a more comprehensive Character List, visit https://yourmysteryparty.com/scarlet

Also, you can click here to contact Sandra Clarke for any additional questions. For those who want to fill a character role, please email Sandra with your choice and include “Mystery Party and the character name in the subject line of your email.