Host a mystery party at home with less preparation

Choose investigation or roleplay

HuntGig is a cooperative investigation. Players explore rooms, inspect evidence, and solve connected puzzles together. You do not receive a secret character script or have to act as a suspect. If your group specifically wants a traditional murder-mystery dinner with assigned roles, explain that this is a different format.

The Midnight Diamond is a hotel theft mystery, which makes the premise easy to introduce: a diamond is missing, details do not quite agree, and the team needs to assemble the evidence. Costumes are optional decoration rather than a game requirement.

Set the table for participation

Give each player their own browser if possible, with chargers and a reliable connection nearby. Seat people so they can talk easily without needing to look over one person’s shoulder. The private room supports 2–8 players, including the host.

For a shared-device setup, rotate the person controlling the game and ask others to point out a detail before you move on. You can put a simple handwritten ‘current theory’ note on the table, but do not copy answer guides into the play space.

A host checklist that fits on one page

Do the administrative setup before your guests arrive so the party does not begin with password creation.

1. Try the free demo to learn how inspection and answer entry work.
2. Create the group room, choose its mystery and length, and check any personal message.
3. Keep the room in the lobby until every player has joined.
4. Offer a hint when the group agrees it is stuck, instead of supplying an answer from outside the game.
5. At the end, invite one person to retell the chain of evidence before sharing the result.

Handle returning detectives

A player who already knows a solution should say so before the case starts. Pick a different mystery if you can. Otherwise ask that player to help with navigation and leave deductions to first-time players. Replaying can be fun, but it should not be presented as the same challenge as solving blind.

Before you invite everyone