New Year’s Eve
Midnight at Grouse Lodge
December 31, a mountain lodge cut off by snow
- 6 adult players
- about 2 hours of play
- PDF you print at home
- the host plays too
$27.90See the game
Pass the Alibi, a Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving murder mystery for 6
Thanksgiving Day, a turkey farm in Vermont, in a sleet storm
The turkey was perfect at 4:41. Dot never came to take it out. Dot Haskell, seventy-four, turkey farmer, nineteen straight blue ribbons for her grandmother’s maple pecan pie, lies at the bottom of the cellar stairs, and the phone that never left her apron pocket is gone. One of you six knows why.
- 6 adult players
- about 2 hours of play
- PDF you print at home
- the host plays too
$27.90paid once, instant PDF download, $4.65 per player
Buy and download, $27.90- 1:15pmThe bird goes in. Walter, the new smart probe, starts logging.
- 3:22pmDot, in the group chat: “Bird’s beautiful. Nobody open my oven.”
- 3:30pmSleet rolls in over the farm.
- 4:41pmWalter chimes: ready to pull, 161°F. Nobody comes.
- 5:06pmDot is found at the bottom of the cellar stairs. Her phone is gone.
- 5:30pmThe troopers are ninety minutes out. Six guests, six secrets. Your move.
The prologue
The opening of the text the host reads aloud. The rest is in the game.
Every year Dorothea “Dot” Haskell hosts what she calls the Strays’ Thanksgiving, at Haskell Farm outside Middlebury, Vermont: a table for the people who, for one reason or another, aren’t at somebody else’s. Her rules are famous. No politics. No phones at grace. No store-bought pie. And nobody, ever, opens her oven.
Dot bastes on the hour and on the half hour, “like church bells,” and pulls her bird at exactly 161°F. This year her grandkid gave her a wireless meat probe. She named it Walter, after her late husband, “because it also tells me when things are done.” At 3:30 pm, a sleet storm rolled in.
At 4:41 pm Walter chimed: ready to pull. Nobody pulled. At 5:02 the bird came out at 170°F, next to a green bean casserole scorched. At 5:06 Dot was found at the bottom of the cellar stairs. The state police are ninety minutes out on the ice. Nobody leaves, and nobody eats, until the table knows who did it.
The cast
Six roles, one victim. This is what each guest may know about the others before the party; the rest is in the booklets.
- Dot Haskellthe victim
- Kit Thibodeauruns the turkey barn, knows all forty-two birds by name
- Quinn MarshDot’s neighbor and eternal second-place pie rival
- Rowan HaskellDot’s grandkid, flown in from Seattle, set up the smart probe
- Peyton Ashbyhead pie judge at the county fair for twenty-two years
- Emerson PikeDot’s new tenant, spends the holiday on a turkey emergency hotline
- Sutton VanceDot’s star pupil, now the most famous baker in Vermont
In this game
For the mood
Flannel and cardigans, canned cranberry sauce with the ridges, a pie for act 3.
- Host guide11 pages
- Six character booklets60 pages
- Clues, solution, ballots and name tags34 pages
- To print105 pages
Plan on ten envelopes: six with the character names, four marked 1, 2, 3 and S. The cards are cut out with scissors.
Preview: the layout of the PDF pages, text hidden.
Six players, no more, no fewer
Who knows the killer?
- no : the host
- no : the other guests
- yes : the killer alone
Every role holds a piece of the story: without one of the six, the case cannot be played. You are one of the six, the host plays like everyone else.
A guest cancels?
If you find a replacement before the start, they take the open role. The host guide has you hand out the booklets on arrival, with fifteen minutes of reading. The six roles stay essential: the game does not work with five. Better to know that before you send the invitations.
No game master
Nobody runs the game from the outside. The host hands out roles without knowing which one is the killer’s, and the host guide does not say.
Clues arrive in envelopes at set times, and the solution waits in envelope S until the vote. Everyone learns the ending at the same moment.
How do you play a murder mystery at home?
Plan on a 15 to 30 minute welcome, then about two hours of play: the host guide times every step. Each act opens a clue envelope, and everyone reads, alone, the next part of their booklet.
- Rules and prologuethe host reads aloud
- Act 1introductions, first accusations
- Act 2searches, private talks, alliances
- Act 3last clues, closing pleas
- Votesecret ballots
- Revealenvelope S, confessions, points
In the host guide
- a ready-to-copy invitation
- an outfit idea for each role
- roles to hand out by each guest’s temperament
- the running order, act by act
More for the same night
More printable mysteries
1920s party
The Blue Parrot
Paris, Saturday, October 30, 1926, a speakeasy hidden behind a tea room
- 6 adult players
- about 2 hours of play
- PDF you print at home
- the host plays too
$27.90See the game
Pay and download
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Questions
A guest cancels: what now?
If you find a replacement before the start, they take the open role: the host guide has you hand out the booklets on arrival, with fifteen minutes of reading. The six roles stay essential, the game does not work with five.
Who plays which role?
The host guide describes the six roles and suggests an outfit for each. The names are unisex: every role works for any gender. Choose by your guests’ temperament: the guide does not say who the killer is.
How long does it take?
About two hours of play, plus arrival and dinner. The host guide times every step, from the opening to the reveal.
What do I print?
The host guide, the six character booklets, the clue cards, the solution, the ballots and the name tags. Letter or A4, black and white is fine. Plan on ten envelopes: six with the character names, four marked 1, 2, 3 and S.
How do I get the game?
The download links appear on screen right after payment. Nothing is shipped: you print at home.
How much is a game?
$27.90 for six players, $4.65 per player. Paid once, no subscription.
Is it for kids?
No. The games are written for adults: a murder, secrets, a few glasses of champagne.