Murder mystery games for Guides, Scouts and other youth services
7 min read Updated 10 November 2025
How to Choose the Right Murder Mystery Game for Your Youth Group
When the office team get three emails in the space of 24 hours all asking about help with games for girl guide groups then we know theres a big poacher or jamboree camp due imminently!
Planning a Guide or Scout Camp is no small feat, and hats off to you all! It’s not the sort of thing I’d personally want to do over a weekend… But I do run a youth group myself, so I know that flexing numbers, flexing genders, and having a game thats easy to run is your top priority!
Murder mystery games are a fantastic way to bring youth groups together for a bit of fun. But when it comes to choosing the right game for your group size, it can be tricky to know where to start.
Here’s a quick guide to help you find the best fit for your upcoming youth group event:
Option 1: Large Group Dinner Party Style Scripts
If you’re hosting a larger group and want to keep the event manageable and fun, this is the ideal option for you and the one I use with my group as it’s much easier to adjust the number of players on the day. You’ll be eligiable for a not-for-profit discount too – so do make sure you apply for that as it reduces the price of the game by 65%
- How It Works: A smaller group of players (e.g., 6-8) takes on the main suspect roles, while the rest of the group participates as detectives. Detectives ask questions, solve the mystery, and stay engaged throughout the event, but they don’t have a “character” of their own. It is possible to generate invitations and give them a character to dress up to – we provide our games with editable invitations so if you want to allocate them to a “role” as a detective you still can, but on the night they’ll just join in asking questions rather than participating reading the “script”.
- Why It’s Great: This setup ensures everyone is involved without making the gameplay too long or complicated. Leaders can facilitate or even take on roles themselves to guide the event. You can pull characters on the night, meaning if numbers drop – there’s not a big problem.
- Time Commitment: With 8 suspects, the game typically lasts around 80 minutes; with 6 suspects, it’s closer to 60 minutes, 10 suspects 100 minutes. (I’m sure you get the picture)
This format is perfect if you’d like to involve everyone without assigning a role to each person in the youth group. It’s also a cost-effective choice for larger groups.
Option 2: Small Dinner Party Games for 6-20 Players
For smaller youth groups or if you’d prefer every participant to have an allocated role, then this option is a great choice.
- How It Works: Each participant takes on a character role. For groups larger than 20, you can double or triple up on roles, allowing two or three players to share one character. For example, one person acts as the character, while the others ask questions during each round – but they all dress up as that character for the purposes of the game.
- Why It’s Great: This approach gives you flexibility if numbers change on the day. Leaders can step in or you can move from doubling up to everyone taking their own character.
- Time Commitment: As above – the game play time roughly increases by 10-20 minutes with every additional pair of suspects added. so for a full 20 player game – expect it to last around 2.5 hours.
This format works well if you want everyone to have a role to dress up for and fully immerse themselves in the mystery, but its less flexible than the option above.
Custom Options for Larger Youth Groups
If your youth group is larger than 20 players and you’d prefer everyone to have a role, there are additional custom options available:
- Witness Roles: These are simpler roles with no scripted dialogue. Witnesses still have their own character to dress up and are given a booklet on the night which gives them a character background – BUT depending on the option selected they either only take party asking questions, or can take lines in the scripted dialogues as well, or for some, we can include some opening and closing lines. Costs vary depending on how included the witnesses are – but we can usually generate 10-12 witnesses who just ask questions for around £35 more. If you need them fully included with lines – you’re looking at around £50 per character.
- Adding Characters: For youth groups that want fully integrated new characters, additional roles can be created. However, this involves extra costs and time for development and and will extend game play time – costs are around £100 per additional character, so it’s worth considering whether simpler solutions like witness roles might work better.
A note on Content Ratings for Youth Groups
When hosting a youth event with a wide age range, it’s important to pick a game that’s fun, engaging, and age-appropriate for everyone.
Teen-rated games are a safe choice for mixed-age groups as they avoid mature themes like affairs or inappropriate relationships. These games provide a balance of intrigue and fun that’s suitable for younger players while still being engaging for adults and older teens – BUT do check the content ratings. We provide content information to help you avoid sensitive topics for certain vulnerable teens.
Recommended Teen-Rated Games for Youth Groups:
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- Murder at Merkister Hall: A classic mystery with tame love tangles and engaging roles.
- A SteamPunk Murder: Not only great dressing up potential – but fully gender neutral so incredibly easy to select roles!
- Once Upon a Murder: A nursery rhyme-themed game perfect for dressing up and familiar characters.
- Which Guide Lied: Specifically designed with Girl Guides in mind! It’s a fun engaging plot that’s incredibly tame.
- The Great British Bump Off: A family favourite with a fun and engaging theme.
- Murder at the Music Awards: Once again a nice tame plot suitable for teens – though there are many song lyrics in the game – so if you want to tone those down – just ask for a word copy and amend. Many teens miss the 80s lyric references so removing the line from the mixed gender version “The bitch is back” isn’t an issue!! This is available as all girl or mixed gender.
- It’s a Wonderful Death and other Gender-neutral option that works well for any group at Christmas.
Recommended MATURE rated games for Youth Groups:
Mature rated games are often mature rated because of specific reasons, not because they’re completely inappropriate for teenagers. While there are definitely some games we wouldn’t recommend there are some that still fit the bill.
- Murder at Gatsby Manor: Another classic theme – and as the characters are all gender neutral, while there are some mature plots – nothing is interpersonal so it’s more comfortable for teens. HOWEVER it is Mature rated due to the plot lines… the tennis coach is helping arrange love affairs, and one of the characters has a sister who was impregnated by the deceased. However for OLDER teens, they will enjoy this one and it’s nowhere near as bad as some of the stuff they watch on TV these days!!
- You Only Die Once: as a spy spoof – the dead spy’s love tangle shenanigans are sort of expected.
- Gangsters Guns and Garters: Its often best to check out the love tangles on this one – but it’s a fun one to dress up for. Just be aware that characters are “dating” – which can sometimes make things awkward for teens. I’ve played it with my group and manually “toned down” the liaisons so that it wasn’t so obvious.
- Death at the Distillery: A lighthearted and funny plot with minimal love tangles.
Tips for Success
- Plan for Your Group Size: Consider the number of participants and whether you’d like everyone to have a role or prefer a mix of suspects and detectives.
- Keep It Flexible: For youth group camps where numbers might change last minute, using the large group version is definitely the easiest!
- Engage Leaders: Leaders can facilitate the game or take on roles themselves to keep things running smoothly.
Ready to Choose Your Game?
Explore our range of murder mystery games, including options for large youth groups and small dinner parties. Whether you’re hosting 6 or 60 Guides, there’s a game to suit your needs and bring your camp to life.