Murder By Midnight is best described as a real-life version of the board game Clue.
Making its debut in Victoria this year, the interactive murder mystery challenges participants to put on a detective badge and solve the mystery in front of them.
The story begins with Justine Thyme who has been plagued with death threats. She’s narrowed down the suspects to three and needs the public’s help to uncover the killer, stop the crime and save her life.
The murder mystery unfolds over a three-course dinner.
The night begins with cocktails or drinks at the bar, where participants can start with puzzles and get a feel for the setting.
Over the buffet dinner, there will be a chance for participants to speak to the suspects and Thyme, and piece together the information and solve the mystery through brain teasers, word associations, and visual and physical puzzles.
During dessert, participants can vote for who they think is sending death threats and the four local actors will act out the scene based on what the audience has decided.
“There’s plenty of chances for people to play detective and talk to the actors,” said producer of the event Chris Rudram, who has been running murder mysteries for almost a decade in the U.K. and Victoria.
Rudram said murder mysteries have increased in popularity in Greater Victoria recently, noting he has done roughly two dozen of them in Victoria, mostly as team-building exercises for office and Christmas parties.
“The idea of doing more game-type events is starting to come back. You’ve got murder mysteries, board game cafes, escape rooms,” he said.
“People are interested in gaming in the more physical way than just it being associated with sitting on a computer. There’s a level of interaction that we can give people by taking them to a different world for a period of time and playing a game.”
Interaction is optional if people are more interested in watching how the mystery unfolds as well.
The all-ages event runs on Fridays and Saturdays from Jan. 30 to Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ambrosia Event Centre (638 Fisgard St.)
Tickets are $68 and include a detective kit and the three-course dinner. For more information or for tickets visit murderbymidnight.ca.
