sixty seconds of darkness. two hundred witnesses. nobody saw a thing.
THE HUNDREDTH EPISODE
A printable murder mystery party game for 8–20 players, about three hours. A true-crime podcast is taping its hundredth episode live in the theater where its case began — and when the lights come back up, the host is dead at the podium and nobody has left the building.
Instant digital download · 4 PDFs + 1 ZIP · US Letter, black-and-white friendly
"Seven footfalls walked toward him in the dark. Everyone in this room can explain where they were."
Four killers. One box. The host doesn't know either.
Most party mysteries hand the host the answer and ask them to keep a straight face for three hours. This one doesn't. Four complete sealed cases ship inside the file, and the setup procedure picks one without ever showing you which.
Someone else picks the number
Before the party, a person who isn't playing picks a number from one to four. You print only the pages that number names — the four spans are unlabeled, identical in length, and nothing on the picker page hints at what's inside them.
So you get to play too
You take a character, work the evidence, and argue alongside everyone else. Nothing the host does all evening requires knowing the killer — you find out when you open the sealed solution and read it aloud, with the room.
Three cases are still sealed
When the group wants another night, three unopened cases are sitting in the same file: same twenty people, same sixty seconds of dark, an evidence trail that convicts somebody else.
What's in the download
Five files — four PDFs and one ZIP — delivered instantly by Etsy the moment you buy.
START HERE
Host only. How the evening runs, the five-minute picker procedure, and the spoiler map that says exactly who may read what.
HOST MATERIALS
The complete host guide — every line you read aloud is written out — plus the picker page and the four sealed cases behind it.
CHARACTER PACK · PRINT
All twenty character guides, two pages each: secrets, three objectives, one costume line, and an on-the-record statement to read aloud.
CHARACTER PACK · PHONE
A ZIP of the same twenty guides as separate files, so you can text each player exactly one. Players never need a printer.
EVIDENCE PACK
Nineteen pieces of printed evidence — logs, diagrams, transcripts, photographs — plus name tags, voting cards, awards, and an invitation template.
How the night actually runs
About three hours, arrival to verdict. The host guide reads the whole evening out loud for you — nobody needs acting experience, and every costume is one easy line.
Arrival
Name tags, drinks, everyone in character. Every guide carries three objectives and the social ones point at named people, so the room warms itself up while you do nothing but enjoy it.
The blackout
You turn the lights off for one real minute and nobody moves — it's atmosphere, not a re-enactment. When they come back on, you read the discovery script and hand the eight primary characters their sealed cards.
On the record
In character order, every player reads their printed statement aloud. No interruptions. From that moment the statements are testimony, and anyone may quote them for the rest of the night.
Three evidence waves
THE ROOM, then THE SYSTEMS, then THE PAPER TRAIL — what the building was, what the machines heard, what people carried. You flip a face-down stack at the top of each wave and keep time while the room argues.
Accusations and the vote
Thirty seconds each, in character: name one suspect and one piece of evidence. No passes. Then everyone votes by card, secretly, and you tally it aloud.
The sealed solution
You retrieve the folded page and read it top to bottom exactly as printed. It walks the dark minute leg by leg with timestamps and reads the proof — which was printable and on the table the entire time. Awards after, win or lose.
What the host has to do
One setup session before the party, and then the guide runs the evening for you.
Send guides two days ahead
One file per player from the phone pack, or their pages from the print pack. They read their own guide privately and arrive as somebody.
Run the picker, then print
Five minutes: someone else names a number, you print that span and nothing else. It isn't difficult — it only asks you not to peek.
Sort and hide
Sort the evidence face-down into three station stacks by the corner mark, pocket the sealed character cards, and put the folded solution under the centerpiece. It leaves that spot at the reveal.
Keep time and play
Flip a stack per wave, call the occasional press conference, and otherwise be a character in the room like everybody else.
Good to know
Characters 1–8 are required and the mystery is fully solvable at eight; 9–20 join in number order, and nobody in the fiction dangles uncleared when a seat is empty. Only the host needs a printer. You'll want a room where the lights can go off for a minute. Print it as many times as you like for your own game nights.
Content note: a man is killed on stage and a fifteen-year-old death is reopened; named characters carry grief and years of public blame. No gore, no assault. Adults and older teens. The evening includes one minute with the lights out — anyone who would rather not can simply close their eyes. Created with AI assistance under human design direction and review.
THE ORPHEUM FILE
The same town, fifteen years earlier — the night that started all of this. A printable cold-case mystery for 1–2 detectives: seventeen exhibits, four objectives, graduated hints, a sealed solution, and one evening at the kitchen table. Each game stands entirely on its own, and neither spoils the other's answer.
Open the case file — $6.99The room investigates itself.
Twenty people. One minute in the dark. Four ways this ends.
Get The Hundredth Episode — $24.99