Murder in the Dark

Murder in the Dark is a parlor game played with 6 or more people.

Played in the dark, a randomly selected "murderer" attempts to commit at least one murder without being noticed. For, if he's noticed, the (also randomly selected) detective may have enough clues to lead to a proper accusation.

GAME PLAY: First, establish the play area. Usually this is played in a house, but it can be played anywhere that is dark enough. You will want to establish areas that are off limits if any.

Prepare a deck of cards, one per player. The player who secretly, and randomly, selects the ace of spades is the murderer. The one that selects the King is the detective. All others are civilians.

Once these cards are secretly looked at, and replaced, a countdown is done, and the lights are turned out.

At this point all players may wonder about freely. Some may hide, some may go out looking for evidence. As the murderer, you may walk up to someone and say "You're dead". Once they've heard this they're dead, but they may also scream before they've been killed. A "dead body" can be lead wherever the murderer would like to place them, and they must stay there until the end of this phase.

One may also, regardless of the role, touch someone and ask "are you dead?". This is the only time a dead person may speak, "yes" they would say. At this point "body body body!" is yelled. Someone turns on the lights, and now we try to discover who the murderer was.

All gather in a common area. Those who are dead indicate as such, and where they were found is established. It is best for the dead to sit away from the main area. It is VERY IMPORTANT that the dead not speak at all, or give any indication who killed them.

If the detective has been killed, then the murderer has won. Otherwise, the detective will start asking questions of the living. Some play that the detective may only ask "yes" or "no" questions. The murderer may lie about anything, and also make false accusations. Once the detective has an idea who the murderer is, they formally accuse them, the murderer may not lie at this point.

If they're wrong, the lights go back out, and play continues. The dead are still dead. But, of course, now the murderer knows the detective's identity.

If they're right, the murderer has lost.

ALTERNATE PLAY: Some play with more than one detective, which is a good idea if the group gets above 8.