Murder Mystery Party Guest Count – How Many to Invite
Your murder mystery dinner party is going to turn out wildly different depending on how many people you invite. It determines that amount of time you’ll need to invest, costs, venue, and the type of kit you’ll have to use. Most kits are designed for 8-20, with 10-14 as the sweet spot, but you can potentially have games of 50+ people if you want to.
Once you’ve worked out how many people you want to invite for your dinner, be sure to check out our full murder mystery dinner party guide that covers everything else.
The most common mistake hosts make is buying the kit before confirming the number of guests. You see a kit that you love the theme or story of, pick it up and find out that it won’t cater for all of your friends, or that it requires a certain number of male/female guests in order for it to work.
Number of Players vs Hosting Difficulty
| Players | Best Setting | Kit Availability | Host Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6-8 | Home, seated dinner | Limited – as there are fewer suspects | Easy – guests can talk across a single table |
| 9-14 | Home dining room, small function room | Wide – most kits cover this range | Easy to moderate – can be done solo |
| 15-20 | Large living room, hired venue | Good – many kits cover this range | Moderate – might consider a co-host |
| 21+ | Venue hire, multiple large rooms | Good – some kits sell extra guest extensions | Co-host required |
What Happens With Too Few Players
There are some games that cater for a minimum of 4 players, but your suspect pool is so small at that point that there’s not much fun to it. It also affects the story. Our games have 3 murders that take place over the course of the night. This gives guest constant surprises throughout the night, but it would be impossible with a very small group.
If you have 4 or fewer people who want a mystery experience, you might want to a different product entirely. Murder mystery case files to solve at home are built specifically for solo players and for small-groups. There’s no acting, no costumes, just an evidence pack and a murder to solve.
What Happens With Too Many Players
Above 20 players, you’ll definitely need a co-host to help manage the chaos. Communication of clues across such a large group becomes more difficult. For this reason, dinner game kits that cater for excessively large groups have to simplify the story in order for it to make sense to everyone, and be completed within a set time.
Why 10 to 14 Is the Sweet Spot
At 10 to 14 players, there are enough players to have a decent pool of suspects to work with. Guests can move around the room and talk to everyone to compare notes without getting overwhelmed. Must most importantly, there are enough guests that if someone has to cancel or leave early, you can still complete the game, as you’r above the minimum number. It’ll mean someone else taking on one of the primary characters roles, but that’s not very difficult.
It is also the range that has the widest selection of kits. You can choose from 1920s speakeasy games, Victorian manors, modern day mysteries and anything else you can think of. In this range, you’ll always find extremely well-written and polished games, as designers also know that this is the sweet spot.
For more info on large group games and kits, check out our guide to murder mystery group games for 8 to 20 players.
- Plenty suspects
- Lots of kits and themes available
- Manageable for a solo host
- Fits a standard home’s dining area
- Designers add more depth to stories for this range
- Make sure you have enough standing and seating space
- A little extra planning and food costs
Dealing With a Changing Guest List
The biggest headache when inviting a large group of people, is when guests cancel or simply don’t show up. While a normal dinner party can continue as normal when guests cancel, murder mystery dinner parties require all primary characters to be there in order to complete the game. Primary characters are generally the minimum number on any kit. So if a kit is designed for 8-20 people, the first 8 characters are your primary ones.
For a standard kit, you can easily cover a single no-show by taking on a second character. As the host, you do need to be prepared for this with every game.
If you’re worried about flaky friends and your guest list changing last minut, check out how to minimize issues when guests cancel last minute.
Does It Have to Be an Even Number?
No. Odd-numbered guest lists work just fine. Each person is trying to solve the murder on their own, not in teams.
The one exception: if you’ve bought a kit that’s designed for couples or pairs, then you’d obviously want to keep the numbers even. The majority of kits are not designed for couples, but read the kit description for more info.
Choosing the Right Kit for your Guests
Once you have a confirmed number of guests, it’s time to choose which murder mystery dinner party kit you want to buy. It goes without saying that you’ll want to choose a theme that your guests would enjoy.
If you’re the only person in the group that enjoys sci-fi, then it probably wouldn’t be a good theme choice for your party. Ask everyone what type of theme would interest them. You’ll make the final choice on the story and publisher to choose, but the theme should be something that the majority of players will enjoy.
We’ve got a full breakdown on how to choose a murder mystery kit if you need help.
We design murder mystery dinner party kits and host them regularly. All advice on this site is based on our experience running games. Browse our dinner party kits.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people do you need for a murder mystery party?
Most kits are designed for 8 to 20 players. The best number of people to invite for your first party is 10 to 14 guests. If you have 1 or 2 cancellations, you’ll still be above the minimum to play the game.
Can you do a murder mystery party with 6 people?
There are kits that cater for 4+ people, so you definitely can. The scope of the mystery won’t be huge because of so few suspects, but it’ll work really well for a seated dinner with everyone around a single table.
What happens if a guest drops out right before the party?
This requires the host to take on a second role in order to complete the game. It’s always best to invite a few additional players and have them swap roles with any main characters that might cancel.
