What changes when you run it in house
An agency sells a package priced per attendee, with performers, a script and someone to run the room. A printed file is one price for the table: $39.90 for a kit that plays six to twelve players, or $39 for a case file that plays up to seven investigators.
So the cost per head falls as the group grows, instead of rising. What you take on is the preparation, an hour or so of printing and sorting, and one person who does not play. The four kits are on the murder mystery kits page.
What an agency gives you that a file does not
Three real things, and it is worth naming them before deciding. Performers, who carry the energy when a group is tired or shy. Zero preparation, which for a company event is not nothing. And someone external to blame if it goes flat, which matters more than people admit.
If your event has stakeholders, a stage and a schedule pinned to the minute, an agency is the safer purchase. If it is forty colleagues in a hotel function room after lunch, a printed file does the job at a fraction of the cost.
Running forty people
Not as one room of forty. Split into tables of up to seven and run a cooperative case file at each one: same file, one set of exhibits printed per table, every table starting at the same minute. Six tables of seven need six sets of exhibits and one purchase.
That format also removes the two things that make corporate mystery events awkward: nobody has to perform a character, and nobody has to deceive a colleague. Everyone is on the same side of the table against the documents.
The evening version, and the offsite dinner
For a dinner where the point is the atmosphere rather than the exercise, use the format with roles: six to twelve players plus a host, about three hours, character packs with secrets and personal objectives. At a larger dinner, run several tables of twelve with a host each.
Cast the roles yourself instead of drawing lots publicly, keep participation optional, and tell people beforehand that nothing requires acting or costumes. Those three precautions handle almost every objection an HR lead will raise.
When to commission something written for you
If the event marks something specific, an anniversary, a merger, a retirement, a scenario written around the company reads differently from a stock file. Up to twenty-five players, $219 up to fifteen and $279 up to twenty-five, with an outline submitted for approval and the print-ready file delivered within 72 hours of the brief being approved.
Name the guardrails in the brief: subjects to avoid, nobody who should be the culprit, no joke aimed at a person. See the custom murder mystery page, and allow a fortnight overall. For a working afternoon rather than a dinner, the detective case files are the format to run at several tables.
Frequently asked questions
How does the cost compare with an agency?+
An agency prices per attendee, so the bill grows with the guest list. A printed file is one price for the table: $39.90 for a kit of six to twelve players, or $39 for a case file, printed as one set per table however many tables you run.
Who hosts if we do it ourselves?+
One person per table who does not play. They read the guide beforehand, release the evidence, answer for characters nobody is playing and read the ending. The cooperative case file format needs no host at all.
Is it suitable for a mixed-seniority group?+
Yes, and better than a quiz: no general knowledge is required, since every fact needed is in the exhibits. Cast roles yourself rather than publicly, keep participation optional, and say in advance that nothing requires acting.
