Custom vs. Off-the-Shelf: Which Murder Mystery Game Is Right for My Budget?

Thinking about hosting a murder mystery party and wondering if you should go bespoke or stick with a ready-made game? You’re not alone – we get asked this a lot.  So let’s break it down so you can see whether it’s worth it.

The Real Cost Difference (Let’s Talk Numbers)

Custom-written games are the Rolls Royce of murder mysteries. Every character is crafted from scratch – think of it as commissioning a portrait rather than buying a print. Unique characters take time to flesh out and create and so the starting price for something like this is roughly £100 per character.

As our dinner party games are the “simplest” form of game we write, with very specific structures, we have these prices already hard wired into the website available to purchase as a custom build and £600 will get you a bespoke dinner party game (with no video inspector)  Video inspector will set you back another £500 as these are recorded by professional actors and then edited by a videographer to make sure they work for your big day.

For more complex plots, you could be looking at £300-£500 or more per character. Why? Because building a character takes hours and hours of creative elbow grease (and a lot of tea and biscuits).

Sure, we can sometimes “borrow” a character from another game to save costs, but if you want them fully woven into your story, it’s usually a full rewrite. If you’re dreaming of a game where your Aunt Mabel is the prime suspect and your dog gets a cameo (yes, we’ve written pets into games!), that’s all possible with a custom write.

Off-the-shelf games, on the other hand, are much more budget-friendly. These are our tried-and-tested classics, written because we loved the idea or needed them for other events. The price is set, and you get a polished, easy-to-host experience without breaking the bank.  With set numbers, set characters and set formatting, we fronted the cost to create them ourselves.  Meaning you can now get a great game at a brilliant price.

Can I Get a Custom Feel on a Limited Budget?

Absolutely! If you want something special but don’t want to remortgage your house, we can tweak an existing game to add a personal touch, slip in a few custom comments, or rebrand the materials. It’s a great way to get that bespoke vibe without the bespoke price tag.

Cost for that?  You could be looking as low as £35 to rebrand the materials to include a specific photo (Merkister Hall you can already request this on check out – but we can do it with other games too – just ask.)

Real Results: What Do Customers Say?

This is genuine feedback from our most recent custom write (not including the wo we’ve just delivered that haven’t been played yet.

“The best 60th birthday celebration ever! Our bespoke Murder Mystery was brilliant, easy to follow and the actor was fab! Proper belly laughs from everyone and as the organiser it was nice to be involved. If you want something super special – this is definitely it!”

Which game did they have?  They asked for a fully bespoke dinner party game, but after chatting to us, combined the best of both worlds taking elements from our interactive style (evidence photos), escape games ( with padlocked boxes and puzzles they needed to solve to get to the evidence), and 20 unique characters from history which they chose themselves to fit their personalities, with a time travelling plot line.

Myth-Busting: Common Questions & Misconceptions

• Does someone have to play the victim? Nope! That would be a very dull party for them so no – unless you specifically ask fro one of you to play dead (and we have had one who did) then we write our games so everyone gets to be part of the action.
• Will it feel samey if I’ve done a murder mystery before? Not at all! Agatha Christie wrote dozens of mysteries, each one unique. We can craft a totally new vibe every time.
• Does it have to be set in the 1920s/30s? Absolutely not. We’ve written everything from hard-boiled crime and CSI to medieval mysteries (and yes, even games with pets).
• Can you write rude stuff? Yes, and we’re not easily offended. We did have one customer who sent us their request with redacted statements as they thought it might offend.  While Jo (primary writer) is a practicing Christian with a deep faith, she’s not easily offended.  We’ve written saucy nun plots through to some fairly controversial political satire, and have had been asked to write characters that could shoot ping-pong balls shot out of their woo-hoos before.  So no – we aren’t particularly flappable.  However we DO reserve the right to refuse to write something we consider particularly offensive or inflammatory.  (We had to do this for a book launch once where the publicist hadn’t realized they were asking us to write a game where the guests would have to interview a pedophile. No actor wants to play one of those, and no guests want to get into very sordid conversation or review evidence along those lines!!)