HT Games
Scavenger Hunt
A scavenger hunt is a traditional game commonly used as an icebreaker. The success of the game is all in the details of the clues and prizes. In a good scavenger hunt, the goals should be easy enough to accomplish, but difficult enough to force the hunters to think together. The prize, most importantly, must be worth working for. When setting up this game at home, use clues to lead the hunters around your house, through the backyard or even around the block if you think it is safe to do so. Refer to landmarks in your neighborhood, such as particularly odd-looking trees, large, colorful houses or other things that stand out. You can also have hunters perform small tasks, such as picking three leaves from the odd-looking tree and bringing them back to the hunt organizer to obtain the next clue. Finally, leave trivia questions at certain stops in the hunt that hunters must answer to move on. The group that accomplishes all of the tasks and solves all the clues first wins the prize. You may consider having runner-up prizes ready so no one feels like a loser.
Murder Mystery
Sit party guests around a long table or in a circle on the ground if you do not have a table large enough to seat everyone. As the narrator, you will ask guests to close their eyes and then pick two "murderers" by tapping them on the shoulder. Have party guests open their eyes and announce that you will now be picking two policemen in the same fashion. All other guests are civilians and keep their eyes closed. Now ask the policemen to open their eyes and pick who to arrest. The two policemen will agree on a person they think might be one of the two murderers. Next, ask the policemen to close their eyes and the murderers to open their eyes. The two murderers agree on someone to kill, hoping it is a policeman so that they lessen their chances of being arrested, which equals being taken out of the game. Finally, all the kids open their eyes, and the narrator announces who got killed. Now the civilians vote on who to run out of town. If the civilians run the cops out of town, the murderers have free rein to kill the civilians and will end up winning the game. No one knows who is who except the two policemen and the two murderers. The civilians must guess who is good and bad as they choose who to run out of town. This game can be played for many rounds at a mystery party.
Ghost Hunt
Prepare for this game by setting up your house or backyard like a haunted house. Hang skeletons, ghosts, aliens, monsters and other scary figurines all over the scene of the haunted house. Write a fictional ghost story about your house and pretend that the tale is true for the duration of the game. Next, ask party guests to solve the mystery of your house's ghost story to rid your house of the ghost forever. As party guests walk through your house to find the ghost, have other adults positioned strategically in places to jump out and scare them. You may also use scavenger hunt clues to help your hunters think through the search. If you have adults willing to act as zombies, mummies and other monsters, position them throughout the haunted house and let them act as characters in the ghost story, giving guests further clues to solving the mystery. Practice this game only with guests of an appropriate age and maturity.
Guess Who?
"Guess Who?" is a classic mystery board game you can use to entertain kids if you do not want to throw a live mystery game. You can also make your own version of this board game if there are too many guests or you do not want to purchase the Hasbro board game. In this game, each participant picks a character with specific characteristics such as hair color, eye color, gender and clothing. Each character has a name that is not his own name, but the name of the character he chose. Pair participants and have them try to guess who the other is. The rule is that you can only ask "yes" and "no" questions of your partner. Whoever guesses correctly first through questioning wins. Switch partners with each round.