Murder Mystery

Summer Camp Murder Mystery Party Game

★ MURDER AT CAMP MATTAQUIN — a 1987 summer camp whodunit for 4-12 players ★

Get it on Etsy → Instant digital download · print at home

Camp Mattaquin runs eight weeks a summer on ninety acres of pine and one long cold lake, and it had been run for twenty-six years by Hal Brewer, who rowed out to the raft alone every night at eleven with a thermos of coffee and sat there until he felt like coming in. On the second Thursday in August 1987 he did not come in. He was found at six in the morning in four feet of water at the end of the dock — and the last plank on that dock lifted clean out of its bolt holes when the state trooper put his weight on it.

🎭 THE TWIST THIS ONE IS BUILT ON

Two things were done to him that night. Four of the infirmary's sleeping tablets went into the thermos the kitchen filled at nine. Four bolts were backed out of the last plank on the dock and the plank was laid neatly back in place. Neither one of those, on its own, would have killed anybody at all — and that is the whole evening. Your guests are not looking for one person with one plan. They are looking for two people who never spoke to each other.

🖼 FULLY ILLUSTRATED — NEW EDITION

• 12 painted character portraits, one on every character sheet

• A "Meet Your Characters" page so your guests can see the whole staff at a glance

• A painted cover of the end of the dock at first light

Nobody hands out a plain sheet of text any more. Your guests get a face to play.

👤 12 CHARACTERS, EACH WITH A REAL SECRET

The 6 at the centre carry the mystery — the kitchen girl who applied three times before they took her and has never told anybody why she wanted it, the waterfront director who was on duty the night a boy drowned off that raft in 1985, the cook who has known since July exactly whose sister is working in her kitchen, the head counsellor who holds the second waterfront key and keeps it in an unlocked drawer, the nurse who wrote the first page of the 1985 report, and the maintenance boy whose unlocked shed holds every wrench that could have backed those bolts out.

6 more of the camp staff each get a full sheet of their own: a motive, an alibi, something they saw, and a reason to be nervous. Nobody at your table just watches.

📄 WHAT YOU GET — instant download, 25 pages

• Host Guide — how to run all three rounds

• At a Glance — the whole game on one page, safe to read even if you are playing

• The Tangle — who is covering for whom (host only)

• The Story — read aloud to open the night

• Meet Your Characters — the illustrated cast

• 12 Character Sheets — secret, alibi, what you know, and what to say in Round 3

• Clue Cards for all three rounds

• Accusation Sheets and printable invitations

• The Murderer’s Envelope — hand it to one guest, or leave it sealed and play along yourself

• The Solution — sealed at the back, read aloud at the end

🖨 HOW IT WORKS

1. Print. A4 and US Letter are both included — print at 100% on plain paper.

2. Hand out. One character sheet per guest. At 4 players you use the core 6; at 12 you hand out every sheet in the file.

3. Play. Three rounds, roughly 90-120 minutes. Clue cards go out at the top of each round.

4. Accuse. Everyone fills in an Accusation Sheet. Read the Solution page aloud — whoever names the murderer, the method AND the motive wins.

You can host AND play. No character sheet tells its owner they are the killer, so read your own and leave the last two pages — the Murderer’s Envelope and the Solution — in an envelope until the vote.

★ GREAT FOR ★

Dinner parties, game nights, girls’ nights in, birthday celebrations, Halloween gatherings, and evenings when a group of friends wants something to do together — small groups and large.

Teen & Adult · Instant digital download · Nothing is shipped · Print it again for the next party.