Theme

General

Type

Games

Number of Participants

4+

Timescale

1-5 minutes

Quick overview

A simple game where the detective must catch the infamous murderer before everyone dies.

Supplies you’ll need

None.

Game run-through

Begin by having the group stand in a circle.

Introduce the game’s concept. In a moment, one of them will be picked as the murderer whose job is to try and take out the rest of the people in the circle. They do this by winking at the person they wish to take out. If the others in the circle see the murderer wink at them, they have to ‘die’ and can do this as dramatically as possible but basically results in them sitting down. There is one person though who’s task is very different; that person is the detective. Their job is to try and catch the murderer before the rest of the group has been taken out. If you are playing several rounds of this game you can say that the winner is the detective who saves the most amounts of people.

Once the basics are explained, ask for a volunteer who is going to be the detective.

Send the volunteer out of the room.

Ask for another volunteer who is going to be the murder. You may want to ask them to volunteer silently so as not to alert the detective outside, as sometimes the detective will be trying to listen in.

Once a murderer is picked, invite the detective back into the room and position them in the centre of the circle. It’s important to keep them in the centre as this makes it harder for the detective, as well as making the game more enjoyable for all.

The detective has 2-3 guesses as to who they think the murderer is and the game ends when either the murder is caught, the detective runs out of guesses or the murderer takes out everyone in the circle.