Frequenty Asked Questions

How to Host

Are you hosting? Great! Create an account. Only the host will need to use the app.

Create you party

Once you’re logged in, start planning your party. On the Parties page, click Create New Party. Give your party a name and the usual important details, like date, start time and place. Decide who you want to invite. All participants need a name, email and phone number. You can add more guests even after you’ve created a party!

Invite your friends

Once you’ve entered everyone’s phone number and email, click Send Invitations. This triggers an email invite and allows your guests to RSVP with their engagement preferences. Newbies or introverts might prefer to be a Wallflower, in which case you can assign them a side role (this is also a good role for guests whose attendance is uncertain). Others might have a flair for the dramatic and request to be one of the more Engaged characters. Don’t hesitate to give those guests main character assignments, including the murderer or the victim. You can track RSVPs, assign roles and resend invitations on your party’s details page.

Customize your story

Once you’ve gotten a sense for how many guests will be attending, it’s time to customize your story. You can choose from one of our preset stories, modify them or create your own. Typically, these stories follow a theme to make decorations and costumes more fun. You can set your party in 1950’s Hollywood, the wild west or prohibition era Chicago, and create characters to match. If using one of our preset stories, you can remove or add characters based on your guest list.

What does a guest see?

Before the party, the guest will receive their character name and description, as well as the Story Details summary which includes relevant information about the theme and tone of the party. Encourage guests to show up to the party dressed in character! Guests will also see the clues delivered to them each round via SMS.

What are rounds and how do they work?

Rounds are the number of times you send a new clue or piece of evidence to all participants via SMS -- essentially, each round is a different phase of your party. While all clues scheduled for the beginning of the round are sent simultaneously to your guests, each one is different, containing a new piece of information about their character, another guest, or evidence for the impending murder. You can remove rounds for shorter games or more improvised play, or add rounds to extend the game. You can also add optional clues that can be sent to individual characters by you at any point during a round. Here are some ways that you can utilize optional clues sent during a round:

• Send a clue to the victim during the last round that says, “Surprise! YOU ARE THE VICTIM. Make the sound of a gunshot and fall over dramatically in the kitchen.”
• Send a clue for a side character during the middle of Round 2 that says, “Look under the sofa” if another character failed to notice a key piece of physical evidence.
• During the middle of Round 1, send a clue for a main character who has forgotten that they are supposed to be obnoxious that says, “Act belligerently drunk!”

Tips for customizing stories

We wanted to give the host as much control as they want over the murder mystery story. Modifying a story to better suit your guests and their personalities can make the experience more fun. If you customize a character, you’ll need to make sure that other characters’ knowledge or perception of them is updated accordingly. Here are some tips to make that process go smoothly.

• As the host, you’ll want to read through all of the character clues to make sure that they make sense. Remove any references to characters that you haven’t included.
• Even though side characters are made to be easily removable, this doesn’t mean that they have to be boring. Update their clues to help create red herrings, stir up drama or cause chaos.
• Reciprocal relationships are more rewarding! If a side character is supposed to be a main character’s best friend or lover, make sure that the main character’s clues acknowledge these details as well.
• Need more gender neutral roles? Feel free to change a character’s gender or make them androgenous.
• Think the murderer is too obvious? Make someone else the murderer -- just make sure that they have a reasonable motive as well.

Does the host play too?

Absolutely -- we highly recommend that the host take the form of one of the characters. In fact, we’ve already selected one character to be the host in each of our preset stories with clues that are a mix of mingling objectives and directional reminders. If you’d rather play as a different character, you can do that too. Just make sure to remove details that reveal the murderer’s or victim’s identity!

How to facilitate the party

Once all of your characters and clues are ready, it’s time to host. Open thrillr.club on your mobile device to control the action more discreetly. Select your party and click Start Party. Remind everyone at the party to have fun, stay in character, mingle and pay attention to every detail -- it might be a clue! Once you click Share Round #1 Clues, the party has begun. All guests should receive an SMS text with their first clue. You can mingle as well and keep a close read on your guests. When conversation starts to dwindle or the energy starts to die down, it might be time for optional clues or the next round.

What if someone does not receive a text?

Double check that their phone number was entered correctly by going to Back to Party details > Edit Guest list. Then go back to round #1 clues and share them again.

What happens after the murder takes place?

Deliberations! Sometimes it’s fun to ask all “living” guests to go around and share what they know about the victim and who they think the murdered them. You can also ask all guests to text you their vote. We recommend playing where the victim and murderer also don’t know who the murderer is for added mystery.