A Murder Mystery for a Team of 17 in 90 Minutes, With No Hired Host

A team of 17 can play a full murder mystery in 90 minutes without hiring a host. Buy one game for the group, send everyone their reading two days ahead, and run the night from a written clock. For a work group, our pick is The Tenth Winter from Cold Ledger Games, written for a company's year-end party:

• Players: 8 to 20. At 17, characters 1 to 17 are all cast, and the host plays one of them.
• Time: 90 minutes with the written 90-minute format, or about three hours for a full evening.
• Before the day: every player reads their own character guide and the shared case file two days ahead, about thirty minutes of reading. It is required.
• The host: plays a character, blind. Four sealed versions ship in the game, and the host never learns which one is in play.
• Teams: the room can split into two or three detective teams, each handing in a written verdict.
• Printing: the printable needs only the host's printer, black and white on US Letter. The digital edition needs nothing printed.
• Price: $34.99 for the whole group, on this site or in the Cold Ledger Games shop on Etsy. The players pay nothing.
• Ages: 16 and up. No gore, no sexual assault, and nobody has to drink alcohol.

The other way to do it is a hired host or a hosted virtual event, usually priced per person or per group, often in the hundreds of dollars or more. A kit is one price for the room, and someone on the team runs it from written pages. The rest of this guide is how.

Why the Reading Happens Before the Day

Ninety minutes is not enough to read a whole case file at the table, so the 90-minute format moves the reading, not the mystery. Two days ahead, the host sends each player two files: their own character guide, and the case file every player gets. Nothing is cut.

Every version of the game shares that case file, so reading it early gives nobody the answer, not even the host. The documents that change between versions stay with the host until the game starts. Expect about thirty minutes of reading per player, and treat it as required: the host materials are firm about that. A short recap on the night covers anyone who skipped it, but a team that has read spends its ninety minutes arguing, and a team that hasn't spends them catching up. Say "required" in your message.

The 90 Minutes, Block by Block

The host materials write out the whole clock. In outline, for The Tenth Winter at any table size, counted in minutes from the toast:

Minute	What happens	Length
0	The toast. Everyone raises a glass, whatever is in it	3
3	The round begins. Sealed cards go out and are read privately	6
9	Statements. Each character reads their printed statement, in number order	11
20	Recap. The host reads a one-minute summary aloud	1
21	Introductions. Every document is put out for the whole table	10
31	Open discussion. Everyone reads, argues and works the worksheets and their own objectives	30
61	Press conference. Each player gets fifteen seconds for a single public claim	6
67	Accusations. Twenty seconds per player, followed by a secret vote	10
77	The reveal. The host reads the sealed solution aloud	8
85	Awards, with a few minutes to spare	5

One deadline matters: every document has to be on the table by minute 31. Four rules keep it there. Statements are read word for word, with the performance saved for the accusations. A document is introduced, not discussed: its header read aloud, then down it goes. Once trading opens, nobody holds a document longer than two minutes. And the host calls out the time, since people argue faster when they can hear the clock running down.

Who Does What When There Are 17 of You

At the introductions every player introduces at least one document: hold it up, read out the lines set apart at its top exactly as printed, then put it down face up for everyone. Nobody summarizes and nobody gives an opinion yet. With 17 people that is quick, because everyone has one or two.

Then the five players with the highest character numbers each take a table job, which at 17 means characters 13 to 17: one keeps the clock with the host, one fills in the roster, two run the worksheets, and one hands out the voting cards and reads the count. Everyone else reads and argues. Nobody sits out.

Detective Teams for a Big Room

For a group that wants to compete, The Tenth Winter's host materials add detective teams, and they are the mode a 17-person team can run in ninety minutes:

• Split the room into two or three teams by dealing team letters around in character order, so each team holds a spread of the cast. Three teams at 17 is 6, 6 and 5. Each team picks a name.
• Everyone still plays their character, and the killer is on somebody's team. Steering your own team wrong is fair play.
• Give each team its own evidence. Print the evidence pack once per team, and the version's first eight pages once more per extra team. Each document is still introduced once, to the whole room.
• Before the accusations, each team fills in a verdict card, folds it and hands it to the host, who keeps them unread. In the 90-minute format this takes the press conference's six minutes.
• After the reveal, the host scores the cards, a point for each right answer. The highest score wins.

At 16 to 20 there is also a second mode, two tables: two full games running at once, with 8 to 10 players at each table and a sealed version of its own. Pick it if your group would enjoy a race between tables; it doesn't make the evening shorter.

Setting It Up

Two days ahead: send each player their character guide and the case file. With the printable, both come as separate files in the download, so you can email or message each player their own. On the day: someone who isn't playing picks a number from one to four, and you print only the pages that number names, so you never see which killer you printed. Print the evidence pack too: it holds the name tags, the voting cards, the verdict cards and the awards. Set a clock where everyone can see it.

With the digital edition there is nothing to print. You start a room from your host page and choose the 90-minute format, players join with a link and a name, and each phone shows that player's own guide privately. Everyone needs a phone. If some of the team is remote, How to Run a Murder Mystery for a Remote Team covers the call.

For a workplace: every guide is written without pronouns, so anyone can play anyone; every line the host reads aloud is written out; each costume is one line; and the toast is any glass, with two invitation designs, one for a party with a bar and one without. The story is a company party at the founder's lake house that goes wrong at the toast, so judge it for your team. Running it for paying guests, such as a ticketed event, needs our written permission first.

The Hundredth Episode, for a Different Story

If your team would rather not play a company party, The Hundredth Episode runs the same way: 8 to 20 players, a 90-minute format with the case file's nineteen documents sent two days ahead, the host playing blind, and, with the printable, competing detective teams with verdict cards. It is set at a true-crime podcast's live taping in an old theater, with one minute in the dark. Same price, $34.99, printable or digital. Still choosing between a murder mystery and something else? Our office-party comparison weighs four options.

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