YOU THROW THE PARTY, WE'LL BRING THE MYSTERY!
At one of our Aha! Escapes murder mystery cocktail parties, there’s no sitting around a table reading from a script. Search for clues, share information, and mingle as you would at a regular party, all while trying to solve a complex murder mystery.
What We Provide for the Murder Mystery:
An in-character representative to guide the party
Physical clues
Instructions for the participants
A themed music playlist
What You Provide for the Murder Mystery:
The specified number of guests (each mystery requires a set number)
A location easily accessible from Colorado Springs (or choose to host it here at Aha!)
HOW MURDER MYSTERIES WORK
STEP 1: CHOOSE A MYSTERY
STEP 2: CASTING AND PREP
The host fills out a quick survey to help us best cast each role. Then we send out a character list and individual character secrets so guests can come in costume and the murderer can prepare their lies.
STEP 3: SET UP
If The Party Is At An Off-Site Location: On the night of the party, an Aha! representative arrives and hides clues. They remain present as a minor character and guide the party by providing prompts to guests so the host doesn’t have to worry about anything but solving the murder.
If The Party Is At Aha! Escapes: We will have already hidden the clues and set-up the murder mystery before your party arrives. An Aha! representative will remain present as a minor character and guide your party by providing prompts.
STEP 4: PARTY TIME
Over about 2 hours, guests gossip, lie, cheat, and steal to achieve their character’s goals. Periodically, the rep hands out individualized prompts encouraging guests to find a clue or share a secret.
STEP 5: ACCUSE A MURDERER
The group votes for who they think the murderer is and the answer is revealed!
MURDER MYSTERIES FAQ
Generally, around two hours, but the participants set the pace, so it varies. Expect it to take between one and three hours. However, you’re welcome to have the party continue out of character afterwards if you so desire!
Technically, yes. If you manage to collect the right information from the right people (a hard task, as there are things some people will be very hesitant to reveal), you can figure out who did it. Most of the time, however, there will be a fair amount of guesswork involved, and we promise that’s no less fun.
Nope! You get instructions and prompts about what you can tell people, but you come up with the words yourself. It allows for a lot more flexibility: you decide when you lie and when you tell the truth and what you share with the other characters.
We are SO not expecting you to be. Just have fun, follow your instructions (and instincts), have a few drinks, and be willing to participate, and you’ll do just fine.
Well, we can’t MAKE you, but it’s sure going to be more fun if you do. How all-out you go with it is totally up to you, though.
No, each character plays an important role and thus everyone must be present for the game to continue. If anyone fails to show up, the game will need to be cancelled, for this reason we suggest you have backups arranged.
Please believe us when we say that would be incredibly awkward.
It’s pretty freaking hard to break the game. As long as you don’t blatantly disobey your instructions or read someone else’s, you’ll be just fine, no matter how much you lie, cheat, steal, deceive, seduce, etc. In fact, we encourage you to get as creative as you like in your attempts to solve the mystery (or not get caught yourself)! And if you DO manage to find a way to actually derail things, your friendly local Aha! Escapes rep is there to get things back on track.
Aha! Escapes operates in Colorado Springs, CO and we can go anywhere in Colorado (will include a travel fee outside of Colorado Springs). If you’re outside of Colorado Springs and would like to know more, please email us at fun@ahaescapes.com .
Not at all! If your guests aren’t friends at the beginning of the night, they certainly will be by the end.
Our Mysteries are meant for mature audiences, but none of our content is overly obscene. If you have further questions about the content in any particular mystery, please feel free to email us at fun@ahaescapes.com.
Since we’re working with genre tropes, most of our characters are written with specific genders. We kindly ask that the characters that are assigned genders be played as that gender, even if the person playing them does not identify as that gender (which is just fine by us), in order to maintain the integrity of the storytelling.
Not at all. There are some repeated elements, but having done one Murder Mystery will not in any way give you an advantage in solving others since the personal interactions change drastically every time.
Please feel free to email us at fun@ahaescapes.com with any further inquiries