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Mardi Gras, Masks, Murder!
$49.95
Add intrigue to your next party with this murder mystery game, set at a Mardi Gras party in New Orleans.
Format:
Mystery Party Kit
Setting:
New Orleans Masquerade during Mardi Gras
Time:
90+ Minutes
Ages:
Adult
Players:
A posh Mardi Gras Masquerade turns deadly!
Backstory
The guests play a mixed group of characters who have been invited to a Mardi Gras masquerade hosted by Marshall Inglewood, the Governor of Louisiana. The party will be held at the governor’s posh New Orleans mansion. Everyone is expecting an elegant evening with hor d’oeuvres, drinks, and dancing, but as it turns out, something mysterious is afoot!
This mystery is divided into two primary segments. During the first portion of the evening (Act One), the partygoers will have the opportunity to eat, drink and mingle at the governor’s mansion.
Murder!
At the midpoint of the evening, a blackout occurs, and one of the players makes a terrible discovery: someone has been murdered in the middle of the party!
Solving the Mystery
Act Two will begin with the grisly discovery of the victim’s body. In the area around the body, there are clues that point to what must have occurred prior to the death. It will now be up to the guests to figure out what happened.
There are 25 primary suspects in this game,however only 9 are required to play the game. The host or hostess will play the role of Tony Cour, the Head Caterer. Read the "How To Play" section for more information on how to play an expanded game with more than 25 guests.
* = Optional character
Male Roles
- The Governor - Marshall Inglewood -
Governor of Louisiana who is hosting a Mardi Gras party. He’s well known in New
Orleans for his constant fundraising and elegant parties. - *The Sheriff - Jacques “Jack” Le
Boeuf - Sheriff Jack is a fixture in New Orleans, as he investigates most
crimes in the city. He’s known for his down home approach. - The Deputy - Jeremy “J” Porter
- Deputy J is a notorious playboy, but is very loyal to the Sheriff’s Office
and his city. - *The New Man - Raymond Downings -
Raymond recently inherited a large estate on the outskirts of the city and just
moved back to town. - The Club Owner - Derek Nordhart
- Derek owns “Fantasy” a very popular club that is known for its exclusive
parties and open dance floor. - *The Good Guy - Harvey Daniels -
Harvey manages the day-to-day affairs for Leon’s construction firm and is known
for his “good ol’boy” attitude. - *The Architect - Leon D’Loupe - Mr.
D’Loupe runs the largest construction firm in town and is largely responsible
for most of the restoration to the city as it recovered from Hurricane Katrina. - *The Preacher - Joseph Grant -
Reverend Joseph is the preacher at the Sacred Heart, a rapidly growing mega
church. - *The Bodyguard- “Jack” - Heather’s
bodyguard, he doesn’t say much. - The Head Chef - Noel Bellenuit
- Chef Noelle is a dramatic, flamboyant and difficult man, but his food is so
good even the most conservative members of high society don’t complain. - *The Chef - Rene Le Boeuf - Rene
served in the war and returned home recently where he got a job as a chef.
Female Roles
- The Voodoo Queen - Dominique
LaBranche - Well known in New Orleans for her many “reading” parlors and
Hoodoo supply stores. Her readings are said to be very accurate. - *The Queen Bee - Blanche Le Boeuf -
The reigning social queen of New Orleans elite society. She is a member of the
prestigious Le Boeuf family and is well known for her iron fist inside a lacy
glove. - *The Lawyer - Gabrielle Le Boeuf -
Miss Gabrielle is known to be sharp as a tack and a terror in the courtroom. She’s
utterly ruthless behind her sweet Southern manners. - The Hippie - Celine “Luna” Schumacher
– Deputy Porter’s date, Luna is a big believer in “green initiatives,” but
appears to legitimately like Deputy J. - The Bouncer - Sarah Corrington
- Bouncer at “Fantasy,” many underestimate her in her high heels, but she’s
broken plenty of bones. - *The Socialite - Eloise Daniels -
Harvey’s mom is a well known socialite who always has a bit of gossip to share. - *The New Girl - Heather Le Bois -
A true practitioner of dark Voodoo, known for her lavish parties and the army of zombi she keeps as servants and bodyguards.
- *The Preacher’s Wife -
Lettie Mae La Terre - Reverend Joseph’s wife, and a member of his
church. There are hints of some sort of scandal in her past. - *The Showgirl - Amelie Belle - Amelie is a rising star on the stages of New Orleans and is famed for her long legs and graceful demeanor.
- *Waitress - Lily Porter - A waitress, she’s sometimes a little vague, but very hard working.
- *Waitress - Jo Ann Duluth - A waitress and member of the Sacred Heart.
- Waitress - Jaquelyn D’Argent - A waitress, she is a new staff member.
- *The Bartender - Crystal La Terre - Crystal’s cocktails are legendary in New Orleans and so is her quick mouth and bad temper.
Male or Female Role
- Host/Head Caterer - Tony Cour - Tony runs one of the most successful restaurant/catering businesses in New Orleans. (Played by the Host/Hostess)
Extra Players
- *Investigator (male or female): Additional players have the option of playing the role of "Investigators". In this role the players are not suspects and do not have character backgrounds but can question the suspects and try to solve the mystery along with the other players.
What's Included
Mardi Gras, Masks, Murder! is a 155-page downloadable PDF file that you print at home. It includes the following features:
- An introduction that explains the basic principles of running a mystery-party and provides specific tips on props, menu items, sound effects, and special tips to help make your party exciting, memorable, and easy to run
- Step-by-step instructions on how to prepare for your party
- A detailed party guidebook that will walk you through the event in a simple, easy-to-understand format
- Instructions on how to run the party for a large group
- Nametags and character sheets for each player – the character sheets include tips on costuming and role-playing, as well as special goals and gossip unique to each character
- Fully customizable invitations, complete with RSVP cards and guest lists
- 14 illustrated clue cards the players can use to solve the mystery
- Voting sheets
- Customizable awards for your guests
- And much more!
Bonus Materials Included
With your purchase of Mardi Gras, Masks, Murder!, you will also receive the following:
- A separate “Customizable Documents” file that includes all of the invitations and awards in an editable format
- Step-by-step printing instructions
- Two MP3 audio effects for use with your party
- Instructions on how to use these audio clips to best effect
Follow these steps to host this mystery:
- Each guest will each assume the role of a particular character
Mystery Parties involve a combination of improvisational acting, storytelling, and creative problem solving. Each guest will play the part of that character throughout the course of the game. Each character has specific personality traits, goals, secrets, and information, all of which are included in the character sheet; a big part of the fun is getting into character and taking on a new, exciting role. - A mysterious Event will occur
At some point during the party, an Event will occur that will force the players to come together in order to solve a problem or unravel a mystery. Traditionally, the Event in question will be the murder of one of the characters (as played by a guest), but the parties crafted by Playing With Murder often use this basic framework to accommodate different types of Events, thereby ensuring that your guests will be surprised and entertained (even if they are veteran murder mystery party players). - Solve the mystery!
Your guests will need to use the information that their characters know (as well as additional clues that are provided during the game) to solve the mystery or overcome the problem posed by the Event. Typically this culminates in the guests voting on the identity of the murderer, but again, different parties will have different specific goals. All of our parties also come complete with additional subgames (treasure hunts, unique character goals and special puzzles) that are guaranteed to keep the action intense and your guests motivated and focused.
Expanded Game For Large Groups
If you have extra players, there are two ways that you can accommodate everyone:
- Investigator Role – Additional players have the option of playing the role of “Investigators”. In this role the players are not suspects and do not have character backgrounds but can question the suspects and try to solve the mystery along with the other players. Expanded Games include a PDF guide that explains how to use the Investigator role, as well as printable character sheets and name tags for anyone that is playing an Investigator.
- Multiple Groups – It is also possible to break your guests up into groups and play multiple instances of the game at the same time. The game will more or less happen the same way; the host makes announcements and each group moves their game forward simultaneously based on the host’s instructions. It’s good to have one assistant in each group to answer questions and facilitate gameplay within the group. This method provides a more intimate experience for your guests, who get better acquainted with a smaller group and participate in a more digestible story.Please contact us if you’d like more information about how to run your party using the Multiple Groups method.
Both the standard and expanded games are included with the purchase of any game kit.
Read more about Expanded Games here
First time hosting a murder mystery party?
Visit our How to Host a Mystery Party page to get step-by-step instructions on how to prepare for your murder mystery party.
Content Rating:
This party is rated adult. While there is no explicit material, the party does contain references to the following:
- Voodoo and pagan religions
- Occultism
- Mind control
- References to criminal activities, including drug running and human trafficking
- Suicide
- Alcohol and drug use
- Divorce
- PTSD
- Infidelity and extramarital affairs
- Murder
Difficulty:
This party is moderately complex to set up. We recommend a venue with at least two rooms and a sufficient area to hide clues for the scavenger hunt.
This party is difficult; the solution involves multiple steps, and may not be intuitively obvious to most players.
Bill Benson –
We did the Mardi Gras Murder with our church young adult group and they had a great time. It was simplistic, but we know see how we can expand it for next time. We learned a lot about the process while working everything, but even with our inexperience, it went very well. We are looking for the next murder mystery event to be even better! thanks!
Bayder –
We did this for my mums 80th birthday as she only wanted a small family dinner for her birthday and it was fabulous. She and everyone had so much fun and it will be highly memorable for years to come. Would have helped to have a few more characters – we only had 11 – but it worked fine. Best dinner ever!!!
KAK –
It was great fun. The only thing we didn’t really like was the people who weren’t main characters felt like their roles were pointless and they felt lost during the game BUT they were good sports and played along anyways. Due to Covid we had to do it outside and so we just did desserts but it will still great fun.
DebRas –
Had 15 guests age 24 to 78 and we had a great time. The party went better than I thought and everyone participated more than I thought they would. It really was funny and creative. It was my birthday party and I wanted to do something different – this hit the spot.
Sarah –
I held Mardi Gras, Masks, Murder for a birthday party and had a blast! Everyone came ready to party and had fun dressing up and being the different characters.
chel13 –
For my birthday which was the day after Mardi Gras, we held the Mardi Gras Masks Murder party with some of my closest friends and family. We had so much fun and it was such a hit! It was great to see all my friends come dressed up and in character for this event. I definitely recommend this and me and my friends are going to through another party like this again!
Mardi Gras Masks Murder –
What great fun! Everyone absolutely loved the event. We did a crawfish boil Murder Mystery. Lucky enough to have friends who totally committed to their roles and being in costume was such a hit! Dinner gave everyone time to socialize and get to know their parts a little better, definitely critical for adding to the overall ambiance. I even put the “Governor” on the spot to give a surprise toast!
Lynelle –
It was a family event with 11 participants from the ages of 16-55. Everyone had a great time and the details and characters were great. Some of the feedback I did get was that the female characters (aside from Voodoo Queen and Sarah) could have been a little more exciting. Also, our family has done other murder mysteries before where different characters had different objectives. The objective here just seemed to solve the mystery. Overall great time!
Betsy –
We had our Mardi Gras Masks and Murder! Party last night- it went amazingly well to have such a large crowd! I ended up having to write an extra 22 characters into the story, which was an undertaking, but i piggy backed characters onto main characters story line and that worked well. That being said, we used Newk’s to cater and rented the tables and linen- the photo back drop we found on Amazon and the columns on Shindigz.com. At the end of the larty i gave out various awards and all in all a huge success!
Linda L. –
Love, love, love this! This was my first murder mystery party and it turned out great. I manage a condo association and threw this party for the residents. I had approx. 60 people attend and the roles were spoken for quickly the other people played roles of guests at the party. The decorations were awesome and most people came dressed for their part. I had a movie projector playing a mardi gras parade in the hall prior to entry to “The Governor’s Mansion and a lightning machine on the windows when the blackout occured! I asked everyone to bring appetizers to share to cut down on my kitchen time and had the wait staff serve some of these throughout the evening.
Mardi Gras Murder at Marshall’s Mansion –
We had our Marti Gras party last night, and it was exceptionally fun.
People were really in the mood and came dressed I costume and were prepared to play their roles. I was Sarah The Bouncer, but people assumed I was a hooker with my skimpy clothes and because I was overly made up. One man offered me $0.50 but I wouldn’t go for less than a dollar.
At our dinner table, Rene flirted with the preacher’s wife and was told in no uncertain terms to back off.
When one table went up to the buffet a woman left her oversized rings and bracelets at her place. A thief came over and stole her jewelry. She was upset at first, and told me about the loss. I just shrugged my shoulders and she realized it was part of the play. So she approached the sheriff, and he looked into it.
After dinner, the caterers had a brawl outside the door, knocking on the walls and roaring at each other. Eventually, they threw in the body, which was pillows and towels dressed in a suit. I screamed, we all ran to the body, and then it was bedlam.
Now people were standing up, accusing each other, calling each other names and giving their alibis. This lasted for awhile.
Now, we did not do this according to the instructions. Governor Marshall Inglewood was not present at our party. Since we were in his mansion, we often wondered aloud why he was not there.
The way we found who was the murderer, was that the sheriff drew a name from a hat.
PsychTeacher –
I purchased this Murder Mystery game for my High School Psychology class. We used it for our Research Methods review and it was a major hit. My students and I both loved it. I’ve never had such engagement from EVERY student. It was a fun theme and easy to follow game. I can’t wait to do another one!
Cortney –
We had an event with some friends over dinner, and it was so much fun! It was great to see everyone get into character and we’re definitely hoping to do another this year!!
1st time murder mystery host –
We had the best time with our murder mystery party! It was the first time we had participate a murder mystery, and none of our guest had ever done one before either. It took some prep, but I loved every part of the planning and party process, and this kit helped so much! We will be hosting an annual Playing with Murder party now!
murder_hostest –
My first time hosting a murder mystery party, and it went well! This was for a group of graduate students (23-30), it was a great way to get to know our classmates instead of the typical icebreakers or house parties. I had three friends help and we all played the role of Tony (the host) since we had 24 people attending. It was helpful to have the four of us all “in” on the story to help with questions from the guests and setting the scene.
The instructions could be clearer and took some time to read through and understand what we needed to do during the party, particularly during the murder scene.
Make sure you assign the key roles to people you know can pull it off. The scavenger hunt was too easy for our guests but we had a fairly small space. I was nervous everyone knew who the murderer was too quickly but we were lucky that our guests all got into their characters and really elaborated on their talking points which created more complexity.
CJClass –
We hosted this party at the library on Valentine’s Day, it was a lot of fun. There were 22 people who participated. This packet was really easy to use and it’s great that it includes the sound bites they help create an even more immersive experience. I will definitely be using these packages for more events.
Michelle –
Our party was amazing! Everyone had so much fun and wants to do it again. The script and rules were very easy to follow.
Mebike –
We hosted this as a dinner party for some friends! It was amazing. Everyone had so much fun and wants to do it again!!
The Revolution Group parties –
We did the Murder Mystery Mardi Gras, Masks & Murder. It was alot of fun.
We kept flickering the lights to simulate the power outages and everyone was getting into their characters. Definitely want to purchase another murder mystery.
Patti –
This party was part of an annual get away with family. We had age ranges from 10-82. It was a hit! Everyone got into their characters, dressed up and enjoyed the whole event! There were 21 of us so we could have used a bigger space, but we made it work. The whole game was easy to follow, even for the younger kids. Being the facilitator, you really need to read the instructions carefully and often! We will definitely do another party again next year.
Christine Dickenson –
We just hosted a “Mardi Gras, Masks, Murder!” party last night. We had 18 attendees and it was a hit! Everyone got into character and made the evening so enjoyable!
Donna –
I bought the game for a friends 60th birthday party and it was fabulous! We all had a fantastic time! It was so easy to follow and so great getting into character! The guest ranged in ages 22-60 and everyone really enjoyed themselves!!
ARPridge –
We decided to try something new for New Years Eve and did the Mardi Gras Murder Mystery. It was a lot of fun, and everyone had a good time getting into character. (A little alcohol also helps!) It was a fun way to spend the evening, and everyone is already planning what we should do for our next one!
Crystal Castle aka Tony Cour –
My Mardi Gras Murder Mystery birthday celebration was a hit! Everyone even the skeptics had an amazing time! Hey me if the biggest highlights was the Voodoo Queen Dominique LaBlanche!
AMBRAw –
It was a fantastic party as usual and because we are close to Christmas the majority of the people decided to dress up Christmas style. I love the games of playing with murder, I think I’ve played pretty much all of them. Everybody were super happy during the night and as all the game here it was super easy to understand also for time comer, there were around 8 people that has never played before
Gigi –
The party was a hit with our friends and the prep work and characters were fun. The only negative feedback we got, and agreed with, was that the clues were not connecting. They seemed random and putting together the end result with the murderer(s) was difficult, unless you got very deep into a couple of the characters.
Amanda –
We picked this Mardi Gras themed kit for our second murder mystery party. I sent out character information a month in advance and set up a Facebook event to communicate with all the attendees and keep up the excitement and anticipation. We served Gumbo, Debris Po’boys and red beans and rice finished with banana cream pie. We transformed our dining room into the study and even found a desk online for $5 to add to the room. Everyone had a blast!
Lois Cochrane and Judy Heathcoe –
When Rene turned 18, he wanted a party like no other. He wanted a murder mystery party. We are from New Orleans so it was easy to transport our guests back in time to Post Katrina New Orleans. Our friends and family fell into their parts as soon as they put on their masks and the party became more like a play. The well planned theme worked out so well with instructions every step of the way and there was no fumbling even though some things were modified to fit our situation. The whole evening was more fun than folks had had in a while and people are still talking about it. I hope for the opportunity to do it again.
Flyingfrog75 –
My son and his friends are in drama. Gave everyone their charaters sheets 2 weeks before. They were all so excited. They came dressed up and in character upon arrival. They stayed in character the whole time, played up all the gossip etc. They really strethed the game out for a few hours because they were so into it! Best birthday ever!!
Flyingfrog75 –
This was my son’s 16th birthday party. He and his friends are in drama and had a field day with this. I let the kids pick their characters a few weeks before the party. I gave everyine their character info and act 1 sheets 2 weeks before so they could prepare. All kids came dressed and ready as their characters. It took about 4.5 hours to complete because they were having so much fun with all the side objectives and gossip. This was such a sucess that now the drama booster club wants me to host another as a fund raiser. I highly recommend this mystery. We’ll be trying another soon.