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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.
Laurie Jay –
So much fun!!! We had 12 people and I was worried it would be difficult to follow but it was PERFECT!! Everyone loved it & I really went all out w/props, etc. this time which really added to the party. Definitely will do another one from your company again!
Natalie Garry –
We had 8 couples attend.
I had to rewrite too much of the clues and ideas for items. Did not like using “paper pictures”.
Made up our own.
Nonetheless the couples dressed up and really got into characters and very much enjoyed themselves.
Tooo many pages to the “party book “
Would have like to only dieload and print some Not all of the 149 pages!!!
Sherri –
I am overwhelmed by all the material. The clues don’t seem to go with the "murder". I don’t think we will be using it. Waste of money.
LeAnn Parsons –
My book club got together for a night of fun. There were 12 of us and we had a hoot! Everyone was great about keeping in character and mingling. Wr went all out with decorations and did a scavenger hunt to find clues in second act. We had themed drinks, food and appetizers. Everyone was greeted with champagne and their packet which had name tag, top secret notepad, money, magnifying glass and extra masks and beads. After the first act we had supper and stayed on character. The hardest part was understanding how to decifer who the killer is by clues. Otherwise, we had a blast and would do another party in a minute.
Sarah –
We had did the Mardi Gras themed murder mystery for Mardi Gras (not usually something celebrated in Canada!) It went so well! Everyone who came went all out with their costumes and character roles! So many laughs!
Only one guest was able to figure out the correct solution to the murder, but everyone had a very interesting theory about why they thought someone else had done it.
I really can’t say enough about how much fun this was to plan and host. Am already considering doing another one, but giving myself much more time to plan and make decorations
Laura Spence –
It was fantastic, everyone and I mean everyone came in costume, some used their accents everyone had a great time and already asking when is the next one. So much fun was had.
Sharon –
Wonderful time had by ALL! What a fun night! Everyone can in costume to match their character presented! By the end of the night the accusations were flying around to everyone in attendance. We had a traditional meal. We had jambalaya bourbon chicken, gumbo, red beans and rice, crawfish etouffee, macaroni and cheese, muffelatta sandwiches, corn bread, king cake, Binets and pralines. Yummy! Many of the guests were first timers and every one yes everyone is waiting for me to order plan and host the next party!
Lucas –
We got together to celebrate multiple birthdays and celebrate finishing some exams for college classes. It was super fun and relaxing. We ended up having only 9, but still all the required characters. I was the only one who had done a murder mystery before, and everyone else walked out wanting to do another. Mardi Gras Masks Murder provided everything we needed to have a very fun and enjoyable party.
Renee –
The participants were mostly 17 year old drama students which meant they stayed in character the whole night and loved the idea. In order to encourage them to mingle (some didn’t know many people very well) they only wore their character’s first name. Being busy teenagers, about half didn’t really read / remember their character descriptions so that made it difficult to share information and solve the mystery. We held off on the murder scene until well into the party, concerned that Act 2 would be quick. As it turned out they spent hours trying to solve the mystery so it didn’t matter! They all loved it and are now wanting to host one of their own.
Amanda –
It was a surprise 40th Birthday Party. It was amazing! The creators of the party gave me everything i needed to pull this off. Everyone came dressed to the nines and never wavered from their characters. I want to buy another one. Definitely worth the time & effort.
JBowron –
We had a great New Years Party, We had 15 guest take part in the Murder Mystery, it took us about 2 1/2 hours to play out . We chose to have the guests take part in a hunt for clues, The clues were rhymes, they had to figure out leading to the next clue. Voting for best dressed, best actor, and best character was a lot of fun.
A great time was had by all.
Dianna Z –
A very special birthday that was tons of fun. Guest went all out with their costumes and everyone stayed in character all through the party. It was a large group, but worked very well.
Trish –
We purchased the kit as a way to reward our seasonal staff for an excellent job in the middle of our season. We had a big group, and it was silly, but great!
Janet –
We had a 50th birthday party for a friend. It was such an excellent event. The characters were for the most part well developed and well thought out. The only real problem was that there needed to be more motivations for murder for the other characters. Even as written though it stumped a few of our guests!
Jennine –
It’s was my birthday (which is a week before Halloween). The event was AWESOME! Everyone got into character and owned their parts.
The host should say at the beginning the gossip topics are different on everyone’s page. My group didn’t understand that and didn’t share the gossip until I noticed a bit later and urged them to talk to everyone again. LOL
Overall a huge success, my niece wants to make it an annual event (so I will buy more 🙂 – Another tip I separated the PDF for each character- it would be awesome if it could come that way (Easier to email then). Anyway, thank you we loved it!!
Angela –
The Masonic Lodge had a Christmas Ball to fund raise for Reuben’s Retreat, a local charity who’s goal is to provide a retreat in the North West of England countryside that will relieve the distress of families and their close friends who have suffered the bereavement of a child or have a child suffering from a life limiting or life threatening illness.
Jennifer E –
This was amazing! Everyone had a great time. It was my new boyfriends first time to meet the extended family, and it was a great way to break the ice! Everyone also dressed their part, as well as I bought my own cheap masks for everyone to wear. Our dinner consisted around a crab and shrimp boil and a "Hurricane" to drink. We also had a thunderstorm that day, in July, which made for an even better story! The picture I have posted is of me (Tony Cour) and my boyfriend (Derek Nordhart). It will be an evening we will always remember! Thanks!!
Stu Hastings –
We ran the PWM Mystery night and we called it "Murder in the Mansion" as we had access to a wonderful old two storied wooden homestead that fitted the bill perfectly for our youth group event.
The teenagers got dressed up to the max with girls in ball gowns and guys in suits. They spent the first 15 minutes mixing and mingling with each other before we started the game in earnest and when we did it was like flicking a switch with all getting famously into character and going for it! We had a breather for desserts before our planned power outage and it was during this time we set the murder scene and what a scene it was. The youth didnt want the night to finish and cant wait for our next PWM Murder Mystery Night!
Jill –
We celebrated my mom’s 80th birthday over the Memorial Day weekend, and wanted something different for one of the nights. None of us had ever participated in a murder mystery before; most people were excited.
I did assign and send out the character information a week in advance; most people did take the opportunity to prep a bit. I knew all 15 people would attend the weekend, thus it was easy to be assured that there would be no last minute dropout.
The party was great; everyone really got into their part, even those I thought would be wallflowers. I provided masks and beads for everyone; some dressed in costumes and others did not. I did not decorate much as we had the party at my parents house.
The jazz music on the audio files was great, and added a fun touch. I did not use the scream audio because it was too hard to coordinate the audio, lights and the victim. Instead I had one of my "kitchen staff" scream, which was effective and an extra bit of "acting" for that person.
A great night.
Maria –
It was a great time. I was a little intimidated at first because it was a great deal to manage, but my suggestion is having the characters be a separate PDF or after you print them just going through and separating that from your packet. Organize your other paperwork into packets so you only have to read the party directions at one time. It seems like a lot less to read through then.
It moved smoothly and was a good time. I was happy and so were my guests. They are ready for the next one!
Vivian –
I decided to have a murder mystery event for my birthday this year, Mardi Gras style. I will say it took a lot of planning and work to put together but it turned out amazing! The script was super helpful and all 23 guests thoroughly enjoyed themselves and got into character since they walked out of th door. Majority of the guests did not guess the murderers correctly so we had some cold killers on the lose!
kristen –
This part was a surprise party for my sister. When everyone walked in I had the Mayor announce them and give them beads. Everyone was dressed up and had Mardi Gras mask on. We used the music cd but had the person that got killed scream instead of the cd. Everyone had a great time and we are already planning our next one.
Kristen –
The party was a surprise for my sister. everyone was dressed up and had masks. everyone played their parts GREAT we even had a real bartender that played that part. The mayor gave everyone beads and announce them as they walked in. we had so much fun that we are planning another one only bigger.
Rachelle Johnston –
The party went great! Everyone seemed to really get into character and wanted to figure out the clues once they found them on the scavenger hunt.
I made sure to put my theatre friends on the characters with the most important information to share so that everyone had the facts.
Heather –
We had 16 people show in character and we all had a ball, We had an appetizer table with wine which started the evening. We had lots of cajun food with the sit down meal where a lot of questioning and talking occurred. The Sheriff kept taking out his pad and pen writing down everything we said. One of the guests gave a song after the meal then the lights went out and the murder occurred. The house was filled with our voodoo artifacts we put together. The night was a complete hit and the guests are still talking about who will have the next one. At the end of the evening we had king cakes and pralines. What else would you have in New Orleans?
Jackie –
When getting together with friends, we decided it would be fun to have a murder mystery party to bring in the new year. All together we had four adults and nine teenagers. We purchased Mardi Gras mask to represent each of the characters in The murder mystery. We followed the directions of the game by allowing everybody the opportunity to read about their character and the important information that they were to share. After time to get oriented to the game, the fun begin!
The most enjoyable part of the evening for me was watching all of the teenagers and adults get into their characters. The interactions between all of the players was very genuine and there were some actors in the group I didn’t know about! In the end, as a group no one was able to solve the murder. This did not discourage anyone and the conversations about what each person was thinking were quite interesting. When the game was over, the adults were relaxing and could still hear the teens.talking about how much fun they had. We enjoyed making this memory as a group..teens and adults! We have already decided to do another murder mystery party next year!
Janet –
We hosted our party as a New Year’s Eve Party. None of the guests had ever done a murder mystery before, so it was new to everyone. We had a blast!! Some of our characters went all out with costumes and playing their parts and it added so much more to the whole game.
Loralie Austin –
We used this murder/mystery as a fundraiser for my son’s memorial fund. This was our very first one, and we had over 100 people in attendance! I purchased the extended party, but we did omit a few of the non-essential roles.
Can I tell you that we had so MUCH fun, and received such rave reviews that we are already planning next year’s event???!!
First, we held the event in a renovated barn on the property of a local lobster bakes & bbq caterer. It fit the “mardi Gras” theme, since lobster was the closest we could come in the Northeast to craw fish. The barn was split into two rooms, by “half walls”, so that worked out well for having a room to display the objects we needed as part of the mystery. This room also held all of our raffle items, our photo booth, and our bar…so it was well visited. I assigned roles to certain people that I knew would “play it up” and act the part. They surely delivered! I think the key with these things is to make sure that you give the right roles to people who will really ham it up, and give lesser roles to people who are a bit more subdued as a whole. Any one who was not playing a role was a detective, and the tables were each “teams” of 6 detectives. We taped a small favor bag of gold doubloons under one seat at each table. Whoever sat in that seat was the lead detective for that table, and also won the centerpiece! That person was in charge of filling out and turning in the who done it part of the paperwork.
Having to play the caterer, Tony Cour, was the perfect role since running around and making sure everything was going smoothly was perfect. Thanks for writing it that way!
The governor was played SO well in our version of it, that some people didn’t even know who he REALLY was until halfway through the night! Our Sherrif and his deputy played their parts to perfection, and even actually carried the dead body out of the room! One waitress handed out prayer cards all night, and another had real “guest checks” in her apron pocket that said, “You know you just ate chicken, right?” Every person who was assigned a role really went the extra mile! The hints on how their particular character would dress/act really gave them an edge!
Caty Patterson –
This party was really great! We loved the natural feel of interaction between characters rather than a scripted/task oriented night. Aside from the few self-induced hiccups we really enjoyed the game. The best part was undoubtedly the fact that everybody nailed it on their masks!
Becca –
We decided to do something different for a 10th wedding anniversary so why not a murder mystery! Everyone had a great time and I was surprised how much effort people put into acting their character and dressing up. I think it was really important for the host to make an effort (I tried my best new Orleans accent) to make guests more comfortable playing their own characters.
When it came time to review the clues everyone had very quickly guessed the murder so I spent time going around the room casting suspicion on every other person in the room, this helped create more discussion and confused people so we ended up with wrongly accused which I think made it a bit more fun.
Everyone had a fantastic time and said how nice it was to do something different – I will definitely host another murder mystery party!