A Christmas Cracker Killing – Large group script

The inspector/facilitator role is essential for the game to work. He/she facilitates the entire evening.

The other characters can be taken from the audience and briefed before game play starts, OR you can select a group to play your suspects in advance of the night and give them time to get fluent in their roles and answers.

The rest of the guests are fully included in the game as they’ll be asking questions throughout the night.

Essential Cast:
Inspector Chris Mass – The policeman sent to solve the crime
Efficient in his own peculiar way, Inspector Chris Mass has an unusual method of solving crimes – he involves everyone!

Paula Kracker – Socialite and wife of the deceased
Still trying to act as the perfect host despite her recent loss, Paula has an eye for fashion and has picked the most fabulous jewellery to make the most of her “mourning” black number.

Phil Stockins – Columnist for International Geographical
Eloquent and persuasive, Phil is a remarkable wordsmith who knows how to dress well for a dinner party and looks extremely dapper.

Gaye Garland – Interior Designer
With an eye for colour and texture, Gaye is pleasing on the eye and her accessories are exceptionally coordinated.

Rudolph Snose – Wine Merchant
Full of bon viveur as well as Beaujolais, Rudolph may have austere taste in clothing – but he really goes to town on his ties.

Holly Sprig – Race horse breeder
With refreshing country style, Holly has an attractive figure whatever she wears, but really brushes up well when invited out.

Frank Incense – Musical Conductor
Used to wearing tails, Frank dresses incredibly formally for any dinner gathering – but looks extremely dashing because of it.

Additional characters in the 9 cast game:

Candy Cane – Actress
Desirable and delectable in anything she wears, Candy looks almost good enough to eat.

Robin Redbreast – Retired MI6 operative
Still suave and sophisticated, Robin just loves his electronic gadgets.

Additional characters in the 11 cast game:

Dee Coration – Wedding Planner
With a handbag that contains every conceivable item – Dee is a woman with means, and a fabulous sense of style.

Si Lentnite – Merchant Navy Captain
With nautical bearing, Si Lentnite always ensures he looks ship-shape at any gathering.

Additional characters in the 13 cast game:

Rita List – Business Coach
Bright, enthusiastic and buzzing, Rita is energetic and snappily dressed, keen to engage anyone in conversation.

Evan Song – Vet
Slightly homespun but well turned out, Evan is a novice at these social gatherings and slightly underdressed.

These games require 7-13 cast and involve the rest of the audience by getting them to ask pre-set questions – which are provided to them on paper by the inspector at the start of each round.

They run in a similar way to a dinner party, so are an ideal first choice for novice hosts and acing teams with little or no experience running large scale events.

These games work best as a sit down event with 6-12 tables of guests, with a suspect on each table.

As a rough guide these mysteries take approximately 2-3 hours to complete with a three course meal.

During the game the audience will listen to five short sets of dialogue from the cast and pose pre-scripted questions (which the cast answer with pre-scripted answers). There are three rounds which can be evenly spread throughout the night or, if preferred, the question and answer rounds can be bunched together into one large round.

At the end of the final round the guests are given time to decide who is the murderer, and once the guests have decided who did it, how and why (i.e. the murderer and motive) they will complete the answer sheet and hand it in.

How these games usually run.

Introductory Round: Introductions by the cast and the facilitator “inspector character”.
Rounds 1, 2 and 3: Scripted dialogue from the cast, followed by pre-set questions and answers.
Concluding Statements and solution: conclusions by the cast and denouement from the inspector.

There is one “inspector character” who acts as facilitator during the event and is essential to the cast.

Reducing the cast size will reduce the length of time required to solve the mystery.

We can customise this game.  However, sadly we do have to charge for this service as even minor customisations take between 1-2 hours to process in the office and we need to buy toilet roll and biscuits as much as the next person…

It’s hard to give “ball park” figures for what different customisations would cost however we’ve attempted to HERE.

Remember… if you just need 1 extra person, or 1 less person, why not add in the inspector as your extra guest.  The inspector can usually be male or female as the “for real” inspector can simply invent a new name for themselves.

Some hosts prefer to play the inspector role as it means they can work on the catering while the round plays out amongst their guests.