The quick answer to this question is yes. Dinner Murder Mystery's new line of Armchair Mysteries are designed specifically for a small in-person group or to be played using a video conferencing tool. We are currently working on three Armchair Mysteries with the first one, Deadly DNA
being available very soon.
There are many tutorials out there, click here, on how to use various conferencing tools. For most of us Zoom has become a household name and many have become familiar with it due to Covid-19.
Since Zoom is the app that many people are now using for conferencing there is probably a good chance that your guests will have some familiarity with this tool over others. Zoom also has a free package and it contains video sharing, audio sharing, private chatting, breakout rooms and also some virtual backgrounds. Dinner Murder Mystery actually has a variety of virtual backgrounds available here.
There are some limitations to the free version of Zoom and that is that each conference call only lasts 40 minutes unless you go to the pro-version that has a monthly charge of $15.00 per month as of January 2021, if you want unlimited length meetings. There are other conferencing tools that last longer than 40 minutes but have other limitations in different ways.
Our Dinner Murder Mystery games can be hosted virtually with Zoom’s free plan. Assuming you are using the free version of Zoom, our games definitely take longer than 40 minutes. There are many scenarios for playing Dinner Murder Mystery games virtually but these are a few:
Scenario 1. The host selects a Dinner Murder Mystery game from our new Armchair Mystery series. The first one of these games will be available soon and is specifically designed to be played with a small group in-person or virtually. Unlike our other mysteries these games have a team of sleuths who together try to solve a murder mystery. These games are divided into 2 parts and can be played consecutively in the same evening or reconvened for a second evening. We leave a gap in the middle so that it can accommodate a meal.
Scenario 2. The host selects our game Spies in London that has a smaller number of guests (12) and everyone zooms in two 40 minute sections or else uses another conferencing tool. With only 12 potential guests they could be seen all at once on a laptop screen
Scenario 3. In all honesty our larger games are designed for in-person playing and are a ton of fun. We know in many areas restrictions on gatherings are being lifted and you could actually have an in-person party. Alternatively if you still need to socially distance and you have a larger group (a church youth group for example with 20 characters) it would be possible to play a game virtually. These games are fun in person but if you really want to mix over video you could divide the group into 4 social circle groups that have socially isolated with just themselves for 14 days. Those groups could each have a Small Group leader. They could initially meet together, get their name tags etc. and listen to the Dinner Murder Mystery introduction audio. They could mingle together in that smaller social circle for 15 minutes, then join the zoom call for 40 minutes. They then go have dinner together in their small social circle group, get their second set of secrets and assignments (which Dinner Murder Mystery provides electronically after dinner) and then start a second 40 minute zoom conference call. During this time individuals could meet in private chats as well. At the end of the 40 minutes the Small Group leader for each group plays the murder mystery audio solution and gives certificates to those in their group who were voted best actor/actress, best dressed and guess the murderer.
Scenario 4. Play our Dinner Murder Mystery game in installments or upgrade to a Pro plan.
Scenario 5. Create multiple meetings (When you start a new meeting your guests will need to rejoin the new meeting and you will also have to redo the breakout rooms, backgrounds and the names.)
Scenario 6. If initial mingling time is limited during your mystery night and the voting for awards at the end is eliminated you could do 40 minutes, break for dinner and then do a second 40 minutes where guests get their second set of secrets..