Emailed Feedback

[2coolbaby]

This topic contains feedback or comments that were emailed to me. If I feel an explanation may help you the viewer I will post it in red here.

Enjoy! Mary Lee

[2coolbaby]

Mary Lee,

I just wanted to email you to let you know we had our party and everyone had an awesome time!! We only had 1 person solve the actual murder so I think everyone just didn't dig deep enough or didn't get everything connected to figure it out. Plus, I think only 2 people actually looked over the evidence so there wasn't too much talk about the will even though it was read aloud. What you will find is that everyone gets so caught up in their own scheming and backstabbing that they could care less who commited the murder. That says a lot about how fun these really are. People are too busy trying to keep their own secrets hidden, accomplish their own desires and stay alive! There are many kits out there that are only about solving the murder. Outside of that there is nothing else to do. Ours are filled with secrets and sub-plots. Those other kits seem like an empty shell compared to our fun filled, exciting parties!

We had 4 other murders in our game. Shortly after the secrets were revealed Mary Toosteal informed the congressman she would be leaving him. Afraid this would hurt him in the Presidential election he hired Al Capone to take her out. The Congressman also was threatened by Vicky Raviloi and he told the Baroness about it and pushed her to take care of the problem. So he gave her some money and she hired Rhett Bumbler to take out Vicky. Toto found out that XXXXXXX (we don't reveal secrets here!) and had him taken out. And I can't remember who did it but Don Wannabe was also killed.

I told everyone there was a sequel and everyone was excited about it so I'm sure in a few months or so we'll put another one of these on.

Thanks again it was a blast!

Kyle F.

[2coolbaby]

I just ran the 4 Deuces Party and wanted to mention how awesome it turned out. The instructions were clear, the characters were awesome, and the mystery challenging yet logical. Everybody had a fantastic time.

Thank you for making such a great product. I'll be buying other packages for sure!

Christy F.

[2coolbaby]

Since my New Year's Eve Parties were getting very stale I decided to Host a Murder with your Murder at the 4 Dueces.

None of us had ever been to a dinner and a murder. At the last minute a few of us had cold feet that we would not be able to pull it off. We thought we wouldn't know what to do, etc. I, as the host thought no one would do anything and I didn't know what to do since I wanted to play and did not read all the parts.

I was amazed that the guests came in great costumes. Many even with props. The victim bought a fake gunshot wound from a magic store. The party truly took on a life of its own. I am so amazed how the guests got into character and carried out their agendas and even managed to murder a few more guests. It was truly the best party I ever had.

Everything went exactly as you stated in the brochure.Even down to the timing. After my work in printing, decorating and cooking everything else happens because of the guests. They had as much to do with the party as I did. And they really enjoyed that. Even my husband really got into the decorating and created a casino and speakeasy out of two rooms. It was just wonderful. Thank you for creating such a wonderful package. Even all the PDF files were easy to use and attactive.

And since its never too early to think about this New Year's Eve I'd love to do a pirate party. I see it is one of the items on your list and I'm looking forward to it. We all want to be pirates!

Once again thank you for your great product.

Best regards,
Carolyn F.


Thanks for the terrific feedback Carolyn! I am always happy to get it. You would not believe how many people go into these with cold feet. Almost like stage fright. I can tell them over and over that they have nothing to worry about, but they just won't believe me until it's over:-) 4 Deuces has been done thousands of times & works great every single time. No matter who you are or how shy your crowd is, it will work & be one of the best parties ever experienced by all. I can tell people that, but it is just so hard to believe it. When I write these I do a lot of button pushing to make things happen and the guests run with it.

I provide a lot of information. It is the guests who decide what to do with it. They are free to handle situations how they want. You would not believe how freeing it is to everyone. They can act out, steal, bribe, murder, lie, blackmail, cheat & have a blast doing it all with absolutely no guilt. Once they start to realize that, all guests just jump in with both feet!

The fun thing about our kits are that you can play them again & again. Just assign people to different characters. The only thing that will be the same is the original murder. Everything else will be different because the characters are being played by someone else who will use their information differently and create different situations.

I am happy to hear from someone who realized that the party is really run by the guests. It is everyone working with or against each other that makes it all happen!

I have posted your comments in the feedback forum. I did not use your last name.

Thanks Again! Mary Lee

[2coolbaby]

Hi Mary Lee,

This was a HUGE hit with my friends last month. 10 of us get together for Pot Lucks every other month or so. Hosting Murder at the Four Deuces was such a thrill. We'll be talking about it for years. Thank you so much! Looking forward to another one.

Michelle

[2coolbaby]

Hi Mary,

I just wanted to let you know that your game was a great success at our company retreat. I had emailed you sometime ago asking if it would work as a surprise to everyone and you told me you didn't think so. So, I kept it a secret till just 4 hours before. I had shopped online for costumes, hats & boas etc. (we played the four deuces). We were at the beach so nobody could go home and grab extra stuff; but what they did do was go to their rooms and improvised on their costumes! It only took us about 2 1/2 hours and had a blast. I swear if you were a stranger and walked into the room you'd have thought everyone was nuts because they were all in character.

Thanks again, by the way the pictures are great and will be used for many other occasions I'm sure! -Amy

If you do use any of our kits as a surprise then you or someone else needs to read through the characters and make sure that you provide any prop items that may be needed. Some games may have no props and others may have a few. Any props are very inexpensive items. For Example: a deck of cards for Rhett Bumbler.

Thanks for the feedback and I am happy that you pulled it off. I know what you mean about the stranger thing. I have held events in a semi-public place many times and people that were just out for dinner or a drink get very curious about the costumes and strange behavior. In fact we usually end up with a crowd of entertained onlookers wanting to see how things turn out

[2coolbaby]

Mary Lee,
We had our party on the 9th and it was a blast. The entire neighborhood is talking about it, even those not in the dinner club.

The script worked fine, the character roles seemed easy for everyone to follow, and the process flowed well. My wife and I did not opt to peek at who the murderer was, so it was quite a surprise when XXXX was exposed. Only three people of 36 guessed XXXX was the murderer. We had four additional murders and the thing lasted five hours. What a night!

Thanks for your support documentation. It made throwing our first "Dinner and a Murder" a snap.

Regards,
Mark and Kim C

[2coolbaby]

Hi Mary,

Just a quick note to say thanks for creating a wonderful evening, we hosted our murder mystery last night, and by all accounts everyone had a great time! This was our fifth annual murder mystery and the best to date. We're already looking forward to next year's.

Thanks again,

Probir

[2coolbaby]

We hosted Murder At Four Deuces this past weekend and it was terrific! Days later, people that attended commented on how much fun they had and how they will never forget this party. Thanks for creating such a fun game!!!

[debbeyg]

We had a family reunion and we had not seen each other for 30+ yrs. This game was a great ice breaker! Everyone laughed and really got into it! Everyone wants to do it again and some don't want to wait a year!

[aferreira]

We just played this weekend. The game was the best fun ever!!!! I would absolutley recommend this!! Everyone got so caught up in blackmailing and extortion it was terrific!! I cant wait to try 4 deuces #2. We played with 17 people, dont get rid of the scavenger hunt I would add another one, that was sooo much fun. It was really easy to follow all the instructions and I sprung the game on everyone that night so no one preread or knew their charecters ahead of time. Conitnue making these this is fun stuff!!!

[2coolbaby]

In October 2007 I hosted a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater staring several agents and Real Estate professionals in the area. The mystery was called "Murder at the Four Deuces" and had a roaring 20's theme. Over half of the 300 guests wore flapper dresses and zoot suits and tried to solve a murder!~

Along with many items generously donated by businesses in the area, I auctioned off t-shirts that some of the patients at the hospital decorated for us! We raised over $37,000 for the hospital!

[2coolbaby]

Hello, Mary Lee

Just wanted you to know that we held our Murder Mystery Dinner on the 15th of May with 36 Guests at our downtown venue (The Cypress Club), here in Medicine Hat, Alberta.

We created an Italian Menu of:

Black Bean Italian Soup
Mediterranean Salad
Veal Cannelloni with a delicious cream sauce
Tiramisu
Coffee, Tea, and Liqueurs

The Cypress Club began life as a private men's lumbering and oil exploration club. The building dates from 1908 and the decor was absolutely perfect for Murder at the Four Deuces.

We customized your kit to meet our requirements and I had to create and prepare an additional 6 Characters, beyond the additional 10 extra characters I had ordered.

"Big Jim" Ravioli died spectacularly at the top of a staircase, rolling down the stairs in a flood of blood!

We had a heck of a lot of fun and all guests thoroughly enjoyed themselves and thought the Murder Mystery Theme was a great idea.

Thanks so much for creating such a neat idea!

Just thought I would let you know how much we enjoyed!

Cheers and Regards

Brian

[2coolbaby]

The Grand Opening - What a Night!!

The message was:
I have wanted to hold a Murder Mystery party for a long time and after looking into a few different companies, Dinner and a Murder seemed the best choice. The Four Deuces Grand Opening was the game I choose and I was not disappointed!

I started planning two and a half months out as I have small children and didn't want to feel stressed, plus I wanted to make sure everyone could come. I sent out the initial RSVP about 2 months before the event which I'm so pleased I did. Even so, there were some people who couldn't make it. Once I had the final guest list, I found it quite fun assigning characters.I sent these out about 4 weeks before the party so everyone had heaps of time to prepare and I'm so glad I did as everyone really did their bit!

I set up a Facebook event so guests could see who was coming (although they didn't know who was who), and I used this a little bit like the email system. I sent out posts to start getting everyone excited.
The first post was regarding the award for best dressed and I offered suggestions for costume style and makeup.
The second post was regarding the award for wealthiest player and how it's recommended to use money to bride, blackmail and gamble!
The last post was regarding the award for best performance as well as super villain - how we all needed to leave our normal lives at the door!

On the night, I had a sign on the door - 'Welcome to the Opening of the Four Deuces Speakeasy, leave your inhibitions at the door and come in'. In the entranceway, there was a table setup with a folder for each person, with their booklet, name tag, a pen and their money inside. Alongside this, there was a silver tray set up with jelly shots with a sign above which read 'Liquid Courage - help yourself'. I had made a sign with 'A Little Party Never Killed Nobody' which hung by the official entrance, which was a gold foil curtain hanging over the door to the dining room. In this room, I had bar leaners which instantly gave the look of a bar, along with a table where we had food and desserts, with a homemade black and gold feature as a backdrop. The connecting kitchen was used as the bar, with martini, tall and champagne glasses on silver trays, and bottles and bottles of spirits lined up ready to pour. I put blue cellophane on the lights over the 'bar' which gave it a nightclub feel. In another connecting room, I put cut white foil curtain over the top of the fabric curtain to give a really effective backdrop for mugshots. I made a mugshot sign by glueing a an A4 printout onto a piece of cardboard - it worked a treat! I also used this room for the evidence, which I put on a couch on top of a white tablecloth. In the last connecting room, I had a poker table set up with a fantastic poker set and printouts of simple rules, which really set the scene. All rooms linked together which worked great, as no-one missed out on any action. Lastly, a room off the entrance was made into the brothel, with red cellophane on the lights to make it dark and sexy. There was a champagne glass on the bedside table with lipstick on the side and I had laid out sexy underwear on the bed along with an unused condom and a couple of other naughty things - everyone had a laugh when they entered and I noticed some people stayed well away!! On the door I put up a sign with 'Opening at' and a clock with the hands pointing to 11pm. For decorations, I choose a black and gold theme, and had helium balloons in bunches of 4 around the room. I had a wall of famous 1920's stars and had signed them with a little message. I had a poster of Carrie (used a photo programme to add the actual person's photo with One Night Only etc), and a WANTED poster of Al Capone. I also had little jars with a candle inside, and painted the top glittery gold which sat on the bar leaners and bar, along with pearls, gold feather-looking decorations and round white flower features. My cake was two layers, perfect looking with pearls and lace, with a knife stabbed in the top and fake blood flicked over it. We had finger food - homemade pizza, bacon and egg pie, salad skewers, tornado potatoes - all with fun names like Dark Lies Pies, and Pistol Potatoes. I had paid someone to do finger style desserts which were amazing!

When guests arrived, Al Capone was on the door and asked guests for the password (I had posted the slang dictionary on the Facebook page, and hinted that the password was the slang for Gunfire). On entry, all guests were sent to the evidence room to get their mugshot picture taken. Some guests really got into character from the start!

Through the night, even guests who weren't comfortable seemed to really get into it and enjoy themselves. I was blown away by how EVERYONE was dressed up, and had studied their character and take on their personality. I was Carrie, and decided to play quite dumb, getting into hilarious conversations about things I didn't understand (e.g. asking the Congressman how business is with the other famous actors in his industry). I even did a performance, lip syncing a song! Big Jim was a bit nervous to start with but he was heard telling people off and getting into arguments everywhere. The Inspector really got into his role and had written pages of notes but the end of the night! I'm glad I took on the role of Carrie as there was some bitchiness thrown my way!

A few things I would have done differently are:
Asked Big Jim to try and get through his list of things quicker as this dragged the first part of the evening a little bit.
Either have someone else host, or chose to be a smaller role as I felt a tad stressed a couple of times (but keeping Carrie as someone who was ok with being hated!).
Not worried so much about the little things, like the written menu. We had finger food which worked well, but found that people didn't eat much as they were so focused on the game. We also had tons of alcohol let over as people didn't drink as much as I thought.

I'm so glad I decided on a Murder Mystery - it sure is a party everyone will remember and talk about for a long time!!

Dee