The holidays are coming up fast and more and more companies are turning to murder mystery games to liven up their Christmas parties. Rather than milling around with a drink in your hand for hours, colleagues can be immersed in a fun and interactive bonding experience. They are incredibly fun and whimsical, but also add elements of role-playing, team building and problem solving into the mix. Dressing up as outrageous characters and trying to find out the secret of every other player while simultaneously tracking down a killer is a lot of fun on any day.
So Why Are Murder Mysteries So Perfect for Christmas Parties?
I’ve been to tons of Christmas parties, and they usually amount to the same thing every year. You chat with the few colleagues you know well, and you make random conversation with the tons of other employees that you can barely remember the names of. This all happens while you down lots of drinks and occasionally dance to a song you like. It can be fun, but it’s the same thing each and every time.
When you add a murder mystery to the mix, everyone gets to play a unique and interesting character for 2-3 hours. They are each provided a secret that everyone else is trying to coax out of them, while they must track down a murderer. They’ll need to decipher what clues mean and ask each other questions to figure everything out. This helps quieter colleagues to get involved in chatting to others, and lets the more extroverted ones get to take center stage and show off their acting chops.
In our popular murder mystery game Shadows Over Shrouded Island, there are 3 victims that each need to dramatically act out their death, as well as one cunning killer. Every character is written gender-neutral, so they can be assigned to anyone, and no one need be left out. There are also no relationships of any sort between characters, so you can avoid any unwanted flirting.
Once the mystery is solved, there are awards for things like Best Detective and Best-Dressed, etc. Most murder mystery games come with printable award certificates, but you can also buy your own gifts to personalize the experience.
How Murder Mystery Games Benefit Team Building
Although murder mysteries are designed to be fun and comedic in nature, there are also a lot of skills that are transferable into the workplace. Skills that can be unconsciously learned while having a great time.
Communication Skills: Players have to ask questions and gather information from each other to solve the case. Any good murder mystery won’t let players simply solve the case by looking at the clues. They need to discuss those clues with each other and find out what each other person knows. Everyone will have a bit of information that could help. This type of teamwork and communication can go a long way in the workplace.
Problem-Solving Under Pressure: Everyone playing will have to quickly analyze clues and make quick decisions before the next murder occurs. This is a necessary skill in any high-pressure work situation.
Improved Team Collaboration: Colleagues need to work together, divide tasks efficiently and fully participate if they want to find the killer, or win one of the awards. Some ideas will work, and others will fail, but they will increase team cohesion regardless.
Uncovering Hidden Talents: In any good murder mystery, there are individual Actions that each player is recommended to do. This could be something like trying to sell something to another player, or something silly like randomly breaking into song. These types of actions could help show off leadership abilities, communication skills or even some creative problem-solving skills.
How to Add a Christmas Twist to your Murder Mystery Evening
While things like character personas and talking points are provided for each character – decorations, music and food are all up to you. You are free to decorate the venue with as much tinsel as you want, and blast your favorite Christmas tunes all night. If you’re having food catered for the event – there are usually Christmas-themed options that you can add as well.
While characters might be dressed up as librarians or doctors to play their part, there’s no reason not to complement that ensemble with a Christmas hat as well. You’re free to add your own twists to make the event as jovial as you like.
Murder Mystery Christmas Parties and Team Building
Murder mysteries make for great shared experiences and photographic moments. They are engaging, interactive and incorporate teamwork in a fun and casual way. Christmas parties are quickly forgotten, but the experience you have from a fun murder mystery will live on in people’s memories for years to come. Every single comedic moment and acted-out scene, that would normally be shared with friends, will now be shared between colleagues – fostering better work relationships and building unity within the team.
