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Malachai Stout’s Family Reunion – Virtual Edition
£39.95
Host this reunion-themed game over video chat as a “virtual” party.
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Everyone predicted a bad reunion. Few expected murder…
Background
Your guests are going to be playing the roles of the largely dysfunctional members of the Stout family, who have gathered at their ancestral home for a family reunion, hosted by the elderly Malachai Stout. None of the Stouts have ever gotten along particularly well with each other, but the promise of a substantial inheritance has encouraged them to at least put on their friendly faces and attend Malachai Stout’s occasional gatherings.
Murder!
Now, however, something awful has happened. This morning, when you came downstairs for breakfast, the door to Malachai’s bedroom was ajar, and Malachai’s lifeless body was crumpled upon the bed, his contorted purple features a mute testament to the fact that he had been smothered in his sleep. Further, the wall safe in Malachai’s study has been opened, and the precious Stout family jewels are missing!
Solving the Mystery
The obvious course of action would be to phone the police or travel to the nearest town, but last night’s storm has knocked out the phone lines, and the tremendous rain has washed out the mountain road to town. It appears that it will be up to the guests to solve the mystery of Malachai Stout’s murder!
There are 8 primary characters in this game. Read the "How to Play" section for instructions on how to play this game with more than 8 people.
* = Optional character
- Grandma Winifred Stout: Stately and stern, Winifred Stout, Malachai's wife, isn't the sort of grandmother who bakes cookies for the little ones; she's more the sort to scream at them to stay off the furniture.
- Penelope Clarington: Icy cold and snobbish, Penelope Clarington, Malachai's daughter, is far more concerned with maintaining proper appearances than anything else.
- Harrison Clarington: Penelope's husband Harrison is a drunkard and a cad. He never got along with either Malachai or Winifred, and he's only here because Penelope insisted.
- Mortimer Stout: Malachai's son and eldest child, Mortimer is stuffy, conservative, and driven primarily by his own financial interests.
- Monica Stout: Mortimer's trophy wife, Monica is a bubbly, talkative, sweet-as-saccharine woman who has always done her best to stay on good terms with all of her in-laws.
- Sabrina Stout: Mortimer and Monica's only daughter, Sabrina is a spoiled-rotten college student who is more interested in partying than in anything to do with her father's side of the family.
- Uncle Edwin Stout: Malachai's brother and the black sheep of the family, Crazy Uncle Eddie was never quite right after the war. He has lived on the Stout estate with Malachai and Winifred for years, keeping almost entirely to himself.
- Sebastian Seward: Malachai's long-suffering and much-maligned butler, Mr. Seward is responsible for keeping the Stout household running smoothly and putting up with nearly endless mistreatment from Malachai and Winifred.
Extra Players
- *Investigator: If you have more than 8 players, 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.
the virtual Game Night Host –
Headline The Emmy for best performance by a cast goes to...
Nickname the virtual Game Night Host
Theme Highlights I asked the cast to dress the part of their character and have fun with it! The theme is Game Night, so I did some promotion to get people to come out and have fun! We held a dress rehearsal with the cast about 15 minutes before the start in Zoom to ensure that folks could be seen and heard clearly. We changed the names on the Zoom window to the characters names. Once we finished I introduced the cast and we gave them a great round of applause. I then wrote to them personally thanking them for a great job and sent them a picture of an Emmy for their OUTSTANDING performance!
I hold a weekly virtual Game Night, live on Facebook, and decided to do a mystery edition. I purchased Malachai Stout’s Family Reunion and promoted the event for 4 weeks in my Facebook posts and stories. (see pics attached)
The cast was in Zoom and we tried broadcasting to FB LIVE where the rest of the Game Nighters could participate. Tech issues prevented that so we quickly brought everyone into Zoom.
We had a BLAST! The cast came through with OUTSTANDING performances. Not only did the cast dress the part, we heard outstanding accents, on point characterizations, as well as ad libs and embellishments. Oh, how we laughed! Those who joined us as investigators asked lots of insightful and crazy questions, which made it even more fun.
In my Game Night you get ONE MILLION POINTS, if you guess correctly, but we upped the ante for this game. Winners received a whopping THREE TRILLION POINTS for guessing whodunit!
We finished in about an hour, only because lots of folks asked questions. We absolutely would do this again!
LisaT821 –
Headline Zoom works great for this!!
Nickname LisaT821
We had a great time!! Did this over Zoom and it was really fun—it’s best if everyone is really willing to get into character.
Muskoka Jim –
Headline a good way to spend time with friends and family y
Nickname Muskoka Jim
Theme Highlights Sent out emails over a three week period to get all interested
We had a Zoom Malachai Stout’s Reunion with the 8 characters , one investigator and me the host. It was a little rocky at first, but then all got into the swing of it and all had a great time. By the time it was over everyone kept talking and as their characters. All but 2 of the people were family and said it was a great to get together in these times (covid).
Jennifer S –
Headline New Year's Eve Murder Mystery & Fondue
Nickname Jennifer S
Menu Highlights Cheese fondue with vegetables, crackers and breads Broth fondue with shrimp, beef and chicken Chocolate fondue with fruit, angel food cake and pretzels
Theme Highlights New Year's Eve theme
My family had a great time doing this Murder Mystery with another family virtually during COVID on New Year’s Eve. It was easy for the kids ages 12+ to follow and we did a fondue dinner in between the “Acts.” We had a great time!
LZun –
Headline Nice change to virtual meetups!
Nickname LZun
Theme Highlights Costumes are a must! It was so fun to see how everyone showed up!
This was a nice change from a regular zoom call with friends! Sending the character sheets prior and getting into character definitely added to the laughs!
Overall the game is short and felt like it was over too quickly. If we did it again, we would start with, or break halfway through to hold a “mixer” to get to know the characters better.
The instructions and info packages are really easy to follow and the download of each individual character is great to ensure no spoilers!
Would definitely recommend for anyone looking to change up their virtual chats or have a laugh with friends far away!
We offered a small prize for best dressed to make sure everyone looked their best!
Mark –
Headline It got better and better
Nickname Mark
Theme Highlights Hat and neckwear.
We had a church youth group Murder Mystery Party over zoom.
I made a rule of a minimum fancy dress items being a hat and some sort of neckwear.
Through putting two particular people together as the squabbling Penelope and Clarington, lots of laughs were had!
It took us a while to get into it (we weren’t sure what questions to ask at the end of each round and whether it was O.K. to make things up), but by the final round accusations and banter were being flung around with abandon.
The solution was good because some people guessed it but most didn’t.
Dale –
Headline This was a fun interactive event online
Nickname Dale
Menu Highlights Some participants dressed up or had props to enhance the story.
Theme Highlights Everyone was invited to prepare for their part and some used props and dressed up.
We had an awesome murder mystery party. We all had a great time. It was very easy to follow the scripts. We have monthly events and this was an idea to get together online during CV19.
katesmom99 –
Headline Lots of laughs
Nickname katesmom99
Menu Highlights Virtual game, so no food served, but we did each bring our glass of wine.
Women’s social church group that meets monthly for fun. We’ve been meeting via Zoom for the last few months and wanted something a little different. Used the Malachai Stout game. It was great fun. Even though all our participants were women, some took on the male parts with enthusiasm. The best role play was the woman assigned the part of Harrison (womanizer and cad). Even though I didn’t ask the suspects to show up in costume, several did, and that inspired the others to grab a prop of some kind. It was great that Zoom allows you to change your display name, so the players could keep track of who was who. (We had about 14 people, so some were inspectors.) I didn’t play, and I think it was helpful that as the person directing the game, I knew the outcome. The accusations were spread over 3 or 4 of the suspects, including the actual murderer. Everyone had a good time–the more outgoing people volunteered to be suspects, but I think the quieter ones who were inspectors had just as much fun.