Casino Fatale
$54.99
Casino Fatale is a downloadable present-day murder mystery game set in a Parisian casino hotel for 15 to 30 guests and one or two hosts. Guests include millionaires, criminals and spies. Written by Lisa Butler. Recommended for ages 18+.
Casino Fatale is a murder mystery game for 15 to 30 guests and one or two hosts. It is set in a Paris casino hotel, in the present day. Download the free introductory pdf file.
Casino Fatale is an exclusive evening of espionage, crime, intrigue, and murder! Your guests will be in the middle of the action, and it will be up to them to wheel and deal to get what they want. Will they achieve their goals, keep their secrets hidden, and survive Casino Fatale?
"Casino Fatale was amazing. Best party ever!!!"
Jonita Van Wyk, South Africa
See stories and pictures from Casino Fatale.
On the banks of the River Seine in Paris is the Hotel D'Etoile, with a casino named the Casino Fatale. Rumour has it that the casino is connected to the mysterious underworld character 'Mr X'. No one seems to know exactly who the elusive Mr X is, or what he looks like – and there are many people who would love to know. Among those trying to find Mr X are Interpol, the local police, the local organized crime family, and the agents of several countries in which Mr X is believed to operate. Tonight, however, a charity auction is being held at Casino Fatale and it has drawn all sorts to the casino – playboys, starlets, maybe even a jewel thief… Who will you play?
At Casino Fatale you will discover the following:
- Who is the 'Black Panther'?
- Why should you be very careful with your jewellery?
- Who killed scientist Dr Havelott, and where are his plans for a nuclear device?
- Who is the mysterious 'Mr X'?
- Can Donovan Jones really write poetry?
- … and is the casino really up for sale?
Find out in Casino Fatale!
Casino Fatale lasts for about four hours and is suited to an evening. It is often played over a meal – a finger buffet if possible, to allow guests to circulate and talk in private.
"Our Casino Fatale party was great – thanks so much for your help! This was the first murder mystery I've hosted so I was anxious that it go well – anyway, fantastic night, definitely going to do another one!"
Daniel Hesford, Lancashire, United Kingdom
Includes rules for the use of poison.
Includes rules for combat.
The free introductory pdf file contains an introduction to the game, a cast list of all the characters, and a copy of the Paris News.
Cast of characters
Casino staff
- Sam Riley: the casino manager.
- Jo Knowall: a croupier.
- Felicity Phillips: a cabaret dancer.
- Chris Rowan: a croupier.
Locals
- Ralph Anderson: a local nightclub bouncer.
- Pat Bullitt: ex-army, now runs a security firm.
- Ashley Bunsen: a scientist, regular visitor to the casino.
- Countess Alice de Ville: wealthy, beautiful and widowed.
- Donovan Jones: a well-known Bohemian poet.
- Dominique Renard: the owner of an international shipping business.
Visitors
- Jack Bland: the name’s Bland; Jack Bland. An international shipping operative.
- Lord James T. Burke: a rich English playboy.
- Lady Matilda Burke: younger sister of Lord James.
- Andre Couvert: a tourist en route to Switzerland.
- Eva Goodbody: a freelance reporter from New York.
- Alex Kirk: a former racing driver and minor celebrity.
- Selina Skye: a successful jewellery designer.
- John Smith: rich tourist rumoured to be a millionaire lottery winner.
- Anna Upanova: a wealthy lady of leisure.
- Zara Zirconoff: a starlet.
- Lucia Venditti: Italian tourist, here on honeymoon.
- Valentino Venditti: Italian tourist, here on honeymoon.
Police
- Detective Natalie Bois: a police detective assisting Inspector Leclou.
- Inspector Freddie Leclou: an experienced police detective.
- Sergeant Armand Blanc: police detective, works for Inspector Leclou.
Film crew
- Drew Daniels: sound engineer.
- Sabrina Devereux: assistant to George Neville.
- George Neville: director of the film crew.
- Sandy Stone: journalist and presenter.
- Joss “Woody” Woodrow: camera operator.
Casino Fatale is for 15 to 30 guests:
- 15 guests (5 male, 4 female, 6 any)
- 16 guests (5 male, 5 female, 6 any)
- 17 guests (5 male, 6 female, 6 any)
- 18 guests (5 male, 6 female, 7 any)
- 19 guests (5 male, 6 female, 8 any)
- 20 guests (5 male, 7 female, 8 any)
- 21 guests (6 male, 7 female, 8 any)
- 22 guests (6 male, 8 female, 8 any)
- 23 guests (7 male, 8 female, 8 any)
- 24 guests (7 male, 9 female, 8 any)
- 25 guests (6 male, 8 female, 11 any)
- 26 guests (7 male, 8 female, 11 any)
- 27 guests (7 male, 9 female, 11 any)
- 28 guests (8 male, 9 female, 11 any)
- 29 guests (8 male, 10 female, 11 any)
- 30 guests (9 male, 10 female, 11 any)
You also need one or two hosts, to organize the party and ensure everything runs smoothly. (We recommend two hosts, particularly if this is your first Freeform Games murder mystery party.)
How Freeform Games murder mystery games work
Casino Fatale is unlike other murder mystery games. Although the game starts with a murder, each character has several goals they must try to accomplish. While they may want to solve the murder, Casino Fatale contains plenty of other plots and secrets to keep everyone busy. Casino Fatale isn't scripted, and lets the players decide how to achieve their goals and thwart their enemies.
"I played Way out West at a friend's birthday. I thought it would be "the usual." It wasn't. Interactive, layered, and fun, I was inspired to host my own: Casino Fatale. I liked this game better, because the Casino Fatale characters weren't clearly good/bad – they were difficult to pin down/categorize, making the game more intriguing."
Veronica Griffin, Canada
On the evening of the game the guests are met by the organizer, the Casino Events Manager.
They then receive their detailed backgrounds – including dark secrets, objectives and casino gambling chips. When everyone has arrived the host announces that the glittering evening and charity auction will now proceed. The fun then begins as everyone questions, bribes and blackmails each other. As the evening progresses they may even try to murder one another!
Finally, the game concludes and everyone finds out how they did, and what secrets everyone else was concealing.
While Casino Fatale is set at a casino, it doesn't need blackjack or roulette tables to run. If you want to include these, we recommend opening them at interludes to ensure your players don't forget about solving the murder.
Recommended for ages 18+
We recommend Casino Fatale for those aged 18+, as it is themed around gambling and the playboy lifestyle.
Extra characters
Sometimes you have too many guests and need more characters. So most games have free extra characters (written by us or previous hosts) included in the download when you purchase the game.
- 'Ginger' Roberts – freelance reporter in search of the Big Story (Any)
(by Freeform Games) - Roni Wei – pleasure-seeking tourist (Any)
(by James Cameron) - X Benedict – head chef at the casino (M)
(by James Cameron)
Please note that we haven't always tested these – and they may not tie in exactly with our games.
"Thank you for a great site, fantastic games, good service and very quick reply. Keep up the good work." Ole Martin Brodwall, Norway
Cast Iron Guarantee
We offer a Cast Iron Guarantee on all our murder mystery games. If you're not completely satisfied with Casino Fatale then please let us know within 30 days and we will refund you. See our full terms and conditions, and our refund policy.
Trouble downloading? If you have trouble downloading the game files, please first check your spam folder. If you still can't find the download email, contact us with the name of the game and the email address you used to purchase it, and we'll resend it.
44 reviews for Casino Fatale
Q & A
Hi Valentina, thank you for your interest in Casino Fatale! It would be possible to change some of the female roles to males, with a bit of rewriting, yes -- for most of them that would be quite straightforward. But of course it is extra work for you to take on, so it's not negligible. We would be able to send you the game files in MS Word or some other editable format, to make it a bit easier.
You might want to also take a look at Hollywood Lies, as a possible alternative, if you haven't seen that one already? It has a similar number of players to Casino Fatale, but all of the characters are written so that they can be played as any gender -- so you wouldn't need to make any changes, to fit it to your mix.
Than you a lot for your answer! I saw Hollywood Lies but the people joining would feel more comfortable with the Casino concept so I bought it (Order #18503). It would be great to have the editable format so I can work on the adaptations...otherwise, I'm afraid not everyone would enjoy playing the female characters. Thank you for your support!
Great, thank you for making the purchase! We will send the editable files to you via email. We hope that everyone has a great time with the game!
Hi Steve, thanks for your interest in Casino Fatale!
Like most of our games, this one is designed so that the host of the party does know the secrets. We do have some other games where the host can play without knowing the answers, though -- you can find those here: Games where the host can play.
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Pietro (verified owner) –
Fantastic Murder Mystery – some of the characters have definitely more goals / involvement than others. I wonder whether their roles can be augmented a bit more.
Victor (verified owner) –
This game was super fun with many subplots that kept the game interesting. I liked how the game got different characters involved in different ways and even being the host kept me busy and a part of the action!
Ricardo A. –
It went great, we just had some confusion with the starting money, the print outs differ from the instructions.
Andrew –
We have run many parties using freeformgames packages and Casino Fatale will land in our groups top 1 or 2 spot. We all had a great time
Anonymous –
It was a great icebreaker to start a weekend away with a couple of different groups of friends integrating.
It was a lot of fun, but perhaps too many story lines. Also, as the host, I had to convince people to start fighting and then it became fun. Maybe another insert halfway through that somehow explains fighting and the benefits of it would be useful.
Susan Martin –
Our game last night, with 21 players, was a huge success!!
It was held at the small Museum of History in our small town as an event for members.
I WILL say this one was pretty complicated! The poisoning, shooting and stabbing made it critical that we had a co-host in addition to mostly as the host. It was a lot to absorb for the players as well, even though they got their character bios in advance. But they all LOVED it.
Thank you so much. We’ll be doing another!
Alan McDonald –
We played with 21 or 22 people, and 2 hosts. Game was great, I think everyone had fun.
Melissa S –
I just want you to know what a GREAT time we had with the Casino Fatale party! Thank you so much for ALL of your help in answering questions and making it work for our needs!
You guys offer a great product, and we are thankful.
Andrew Boydston –
We had a wonderful time celebrating a 30th birthday with Casino Fatale! The hosts even provided a professional quality blackjack mat and Chris Rowan was dealing blackjack throughout the night!
Clare Wilson –
I got Casino Fatale as something different for our company’s annual party. I have never attended one myself never mind hosting! So the amount of paperwork to read through was quite overwhelming. However we had to delay our party (I had ordered the game 2 months before needing it), so this gave me even longer to keep chipping away at it and re-reading.
I chose Casino Fatale as I knew some of our team don’t enjoy dressing up and I figured it was a fairly easy style to dress to. In the end, only one person didn’t dress up at all, most wore lovely dresses or dashing dinner suits etc.I posted out the invitations and character sheets about 2 weeks prior, in shiny gold envelopes with a Top Secret sticker sealing the envelope closed. On the night smaller matte black envelopes held their name badge, notebook and pencil and cash and ability cards etc.
We initially had 18 players coming plus myself and another as host, but on the night only 13 came, and just myself as host, so our fabulous venue events manager and the barman stepped up and took on a character too! They had been most excited about the murder mystery party ever since I booked their venue, so it was a bonus for them to be able to join in too 😀 one of the characters also changed last minute to become casino manager as that was one of the people who couldn’t come.
We had two ‘main characters’ missing, but as the 4 that didn’t come were so last minute I only changed the one for casino manager. The game still seemed to run ok without those 2 characters though.
I was so nervous about hosting this, I just couldn’t get my head around how it would work. But once the game started (I had to give a nudge after reading the intro. Off you go start quizzing each other!) it started to flow much more easily. And my side was becoming clearer on what I had to do and in what order etc.
No one seemed to know about the fighting though, only one person asked me about it the entire night, and no one mentioned poisoning either. But reading the character sheets it is only vaguely mentioned, so I think a bit more detail and attention to that element on the character sheets they get sent out prior to the party would be useful and generate a bit more excitement and deviousness! [Fighting and poisoning aren’t necessary for everyone to enjoy Casino Fatale. They’re an available option rather than an essential element – Freeform Games.]
On the whole, it was very much enjoyed, I had people coming up to me through the night saying they were having so much fun! I had everyone arrive at 6, 30 mins to go through their notes if needed but also for general chit chat as it was different sites of the company coming together do people haven’t seen each other for a while.The game started at 6.30, at 7.30 our buffet food was brought up and I paused the game for 40 mins (out of character), bit more time for general chit chat, then restarted the game at 8.15, actually ran to 8.30 but not too bad. We finished around 9.30 as some people were wanting to go home and it was slowing down.
I did feel the revelation of the murderer fell a bit flat. But as I say I’ve not done one before so not sure what I was expecting. I’m sure we will be doing another one though now we’ve all found our feet. Thank you!
Mandy Mallott –
Thank you to Freeform Games for their help in making Casino Fatale work for a group of 30+ people! We do a murder mystery every year and everyone says this was the best we’ve done so far!
Marisa N –
Hosting a Freeform Games murder mystery party has become our yearly fundraiser. Last year, we hosted A Speakeasy Murder with our neighbors and friends and raised close to $2,000 in one night for one of our local charities. We’re hoping to do the same this year with Casino Fatale. Just wanted to let you know that we think you guys are fantastic, your writing and creative concepts are amazing, and that you have a bunch of loyal fans across the pond.
Birgit Hogben –
Last February we decided to do our 10th wedding anniversary and found your games. We had a group half British , half Flemish (Belgians). Quite quickly Casino Fatale seemed to be ideal, seeing the setting in France in our Château and the option of the Expanded version. And we used all but one of the extra characters.
On arrival, together with a welcome gift bag and two glasses and a mini bottle of champagne, the two envelopes per couple lay on their beds. Some of them well filled with props! We bought some toy guns (go off with a bang!), I used my old duster as microphone, we made notebooks filled with information according to the person: info about casinos, casino bills, gave an old book, I gave one of my nice Shakespeare books as booklet for Donovan Jones (got auctioned and now they don’t want to give it back as they paid too much money for it tsss) , I even looked up several poems so Donovan could spout loads of them.
We asked our guests to dress up for a vintage dinner and dance party, the night of the game was the night after that, so suddenly everyone decided to dress up for that as well… My husband bought a grey Indian suit online to give a special effect coming down the big staircase of the castle on the music of the Great Khali followed by the stabbing noise of the well known horror film… We started the game at 6 pm with a finger buffet and thought afterwards everybody would go to bed, yeah right that was just the start of a very long entertaining evening ! Mind you we never saw any of the food we were quite busy! Everybody had fun and the end was hilarious with bodies everywhere as you can see in the pictures. They all had massive fun and just want us to organize another party, forgetting our finances 🙂
I feared cheating with our group as I mentioned to you, but no way: they all checked each other to see whether they ticked off their abilities. They were all worried as they never played it before and all thought they wouldn’t be able to do it. Well, that wasn’t the case: even my shyest daughter-in-law found out everything and bribed people!!! Amazing.
People were stunned we got it online and that quality! Well done it is really good and you know everybody said we could play it again knowing what we know now it would go twice as well… yeah right I can imagine 🙂
Really well done a lot better than we ever expected! Michael said if he had to do another one it would be sublime! We don’t even know how the stories went on, there were so many plots and dealing going on you won’t believe it! They all lied and cheated, double-dealed – I’ve never seen my friends and family go bonkers like that 🙂 Fun fun fun all of them enjoying it and having a great time! We can’t thank you enough!
Krzysztof Wisniewski –
Casino Fatale went spectacular, all in all everything worked amazing!. The ‘bad guys’ won, and a lot of new people who never played before had an amazing time. Thanks again Freeform for a spectacular game, a spectacular experience and for enough twists and turns. By the end of the night we had our chief villains attacked on every side yet they still won! It was intense!!!!!!!!!!
Dimitri Dünki –
A few weeks ago my father hosted a Casino Fatale murder mystery game for me and around 26 of my friends from our local YMCA. It was great fun and we were really enjoying ourselves. The hunt for Mister X and the stolen diamond was very thrilling and kept us (especially me as the Police Detective) breathless for hours. All the players were between 16 and 22 years old and everyone got really into it. It was easy understandable and we were in our role pretty fast. Greetings from Switzerland as well as my father Peter Dünki.
Clinton Pillay –
I just wanted to take a minute to thank your company for the quality products you sell. I recently purchased Casino Fatale for a Bond themed 30th Birthday Party and it was a HUGE success. Everyone who came said that it was the best party they had ever been to. Thank you for making it a success.
Kelsi Neill –
Hosted Casino Fatale for my teenage daughter’s birthday. We rented craps, blackjack and roulette tables and a group of our adult friends manned the tables as well as “bartended” for the teen group. It was amazing! My daughter’s friends are now hounding us about our next party… almost a year later!!! Everyone had a great time, especially the murderer, who managed to luck out of 3 “attacks” before finally being apprehended, and the kids had a blast trying to weasel details out of their fellow casino-goers. What fun!
Catherine –
I hosted Casino Fatale this weekend and it was absolutely fantastic! I was very nervous about hosting the party – having never hosted or played a murder mystery party before – however it went brilliantly! Only two of my guests had played a murder mystery party before, so everyone was very excited, albeit slightly confused at first. The group attending the party were all teenage girls, but those playing guys loved their parts! The evening was fantastic, and culminated nicely with a dramatic death of a character. The material provided was excellent, and despite my worries of people getting bored, everyone got into character and loved the whole evening. Already people have been asking me when the next one is going to be! Thank you all so much for the wonderful game!
Terence Smith –
Last night we played Casino Fatale. It was so much fun. The plots were great and well mixed together. Everyone got so confused! Was great fun thankyou once again 🙂
Natalie Bohbot –
Casino Fatale was a total success! I had 22 guests in my home. Every single person has called me to say how much fun they had!! thanks for all your help!!
Michele Roberts –
I downloaded Casino Fatale on a Tues. and had the party the following Sat. night. It took a few days of organizing. I was worried about how it would go since I had never even been to a Murder Mystery Party. BUT it is absolutely true that you can pull off the party and everybody will have a blast!! No worries just enjoy!! I will definitely be hosting another party. Thank you for being such an informative, organized business!!
Jim Cook –
Just thought I’d send along the group shot from our Casino Fatale party, which took place this past Friday. All of the guests had a great time, and they’re looking forward to the next murder mystery!
Sarah Horan –
Just a note of thank you. I bought Casino Fatale for my Halloween Party on Sunday and oh my god it was brilliant. I’ve never hosted or been to a murder mystery party before so was slightly apprehensive about how it would all work out but I needn’t have worried the night went brilliantly absolutely everyone loved it and they can’t stop talking about it, I made a slight change and set it in the 1920s I hope you don’t mind. I am already being pestered about when I am going to have my next one. You’ve created a Murder Mystery Monster!
Francesca Consiglio –
We did Casino Fatale for my 18th and it was great fun! I was so lucky because we had unseasonably warm weather and decided to host most of it in the garden. We lit it up with lanterns and fairy lights and we really did feel like we were on the banks of the River Seine! There was lots of different side plots so everybody felt involved. It was cool to watch all the different stories unfold and everyone looked fabulous!
Mette Jongeling –
Casino Fatale was wonderful. Amazing teenage party idea! All the kids ‘raved’ about the party afterwards, as they did last year with Dazzled to Death. Complex intricate plots, and many of them! Most parts could be as major or minor as the characters who played them chose to ‘play’ them. A fantastic night. Totally exhausting, but smooth-running and a fantastic experience for both the kids involved and for us!
Taylor Reece –
Everyone really enjoyed this year’s murder mystery, Casino Fatale, and are already looking forward to next year’s!
Jonathan Gilmour –
Casino Fatale was a blast! Everyone had a great time, and I was busy and interactive as the host.
Ann Hallam –
Casino Fatale was a great ice breaker and everyone enjoyed the fact that they chatted to all the guests including those that didn’t take part in the murder mystery. We hired 2 casino tables which gave a very authentic feel to the party. This ensured that all guests were entertained for the evening.
Chris Lloyd –
I guess the setting of Casino Fatale ticked a number of boxes simultaneously – It was a distinct setting that first-time players could relate to. They might not have understood much about how such games work but they had a clear and evocative idea of what a casino was, what to wear etc. – I liked the fact that we could have fun with the decoration, costumes etc in a silly way so no one felt intimidated (which might be the case when playing for the first time, especially as half the guests knew almost no one there) – We could also make an effort to make it simultaneously stylish (EG: bow ties, party dresses) to create a great atmosphere that they could feel excited by, so it became more of an experience than simply a game at a party. I must say, the materials were excellent, particularly in the way they were written from the perspective of someone wanting to run the game. They managed to communicate the benefit of your experience running these things without ever being presumptuous of the reader’s knowledge or patronising for their lack of. I tried very hard to create an experience for everyone, EG: themed posters on the walls, the two performer characters actually did two performances, a dedicated and decorated gambling room, the casino’s “jazz lounge” with subdued lighting and just enough background music to make it a good place for a private conversation without being overheard. (BTW, a microwave makes a perfect prop for a safe!)
Kay Fretwell –
I just thought I’d drop you a line with some feedback and photos from our recent session of Casino Fatale!
Firstly, I’ll just point out that the night was a big success, thoroughly enjoyed by all and I would recommend it to others. But that goes without saying really, as you can’t expect any less from Freeform Games!
We had 21 guests, plus me (the host), so we used up all of the characters and added Ginger Roberts too. I tweaked Ginger’s character sheets a bit to make him reporter for the ‘Fatale Flyer’ – the casino’s weekly newsletter, which put him under the employ of Sam Riley and made him a little more involved in the game. (I also changed the ‘Paris News’ sheet to be the ‘Fatale Flyer’ and tagged ‘edited by Ginger Roberts’ at the bottom.)
We managed to cram all 22 people into my teeny tiny one reception room-one bedroom-one bathroom flat, which was quite a challenge but worked out fine in the end. We spread the furniture out to create as much floorspace as possible. I played the role of barmaid and set up a bar in our kitchenette – serving only the finest French cocktails of course! I also put out a bit of ‘finger food’ – French baguettes, cheese, mini pastries and the like! We had a poker table and a roulette table, and the two guys playing croupiers Joe Knowall and Chris Rowan got right into character tending the tables, without any prompting from me at all!
We are a large group of friends who regularly hold murder mystery parties. We often buy from Freeform, and also write our own too, so everyone present was really involved, putting on dodgy French accents and taking the storylines to new places!This was a really great game and a fun evening. Thanks again for all the brilliant work you do.
Elaine MacMillan –
Casino Fatale was our first murder mystery game, but definitely not our last! It was brilliant. We had it on the 27th of December (a Monday). A dull day normally just after Xmas everyone had eaten and drunk enough. This was just something different. It was really a fab night and everyone made an amazing effort. I did wonder how it would all work at first glance but once I got into it it worked brilliantly. I was in two minds whether to give out the full character sheets before the night because it is alot to take in but I’m glad I never because people will have talked about it. It was the talk of our town and still is.
Dorn Carran –
We ran Casino Fatale for a Christmas party, and our guests are still talking about it a few months on!!
Kathy Collier –
We used Casino Fatale as the evening entertainment for our staff holiday party. The game was played by 27 people, plus 2 hosts.
All participants had to be ‘in character’ from the moment they walked into the party. Some of them became their characters a couple of days early!
From all accounts, a good time was had by all. Takes a bit of organization – but it is well worth it. We did embellish with some real props – dollar store guns and knives (nail polish makes wonderful blood on a knife…); a bandage box became a first aid kit; a small vial filled with beads became poison; a ‘diamond’ pendant and an ’emerald’ bracelet. A fun-filled evening of murder and intrigue! Thank you.
Nick Eccles –
Hello again guys. Just to say thank you, once again, for a very enjoyable evening. We hosted Casino Fatale at the local restaurant and it went down a treat! All the suspicion and intrigue was great! My friend, Phil, who played Donovan was really funny – just randomly stating small poetic verses! An additional death really livened everything up and it was the first time (so far) that one of the men actually won the whole game! It’s now 3-1 to the ladies! Thanks again! Here’s to the fifth…
Tom Britland –
We had a great time with Casino Fatale!
Had a load of coworkers and some friends visiting from different parts of the country.
I hosted as the barman and dealt drinks while the characters milled about.
I also modified the rules to let people shoot from a distance (shooter tells host rock/paper/scissors in advance and the host asks the victim their response).
Everyone throughly enjoyed the added intrigue! Thanks Freeform Games!
Jill Getchell –
We have been playing Freeform games since my daughter turned twelve. We have played Lei’d to Rest, A Dead Man’s Chest, Way Out West, Hollywood Lies and this year Casino Fatale. They are without a doubt the best games ever. The kids always have a wonderful time and beg us to host more parties. Anyone who has not tried this for a teeenager’s birthday party is missing out on the easiest, most fun, party imaginable. We will continue playing Freeform Games until my kids go off to college. Thank you so much for continuing to create new games.
Maxime Courtot –
I ran Casino Fatale last month and I can say that the scenario is definitely solid and efficient.
In order to promote roleplaying over abilities, I divided the number of uses of all cards by two (rounding up and down according to my feelings)and distributed them only when the party was going well, starting with the ones that struggled the most. It helped them to get back into the game and kinda refreshed the game. (I had given the defensive ones from the beginning though, for obvious reasons.)
Changing the ability system raises additional challenges: for the host, keeping an eye on the flow of the game and be ready to distribute the cards as he sees fit. That means one more thing to do during an already busy evening … And for the guests, having less cards to rely upon brings more roleplaying, but can be harder for inexperienced players. I had planned to get my housemate as Jacques Renard, since he was almost certain to be present. Key word here being ALMOST 🙁 He had to cancel two days before; family emergency. Since most people had seen their roles and were pretty much ready for it, I could only recast Sam Riley as Jacques and convert Sam Riley into a non-player character and act him myself. While I would not recommend it except as a last resort solution, it turned out OK. We lost a bit of the plot about [something] but kept the bulk of the story going. A few other cancellations occured, but they were expected and we were able to deal without them as they were minor characters anyway.
I had one blackjack table running, which was definitely a plus for the party, but I highly recommend getting casino chips for this, as [Character A] made himself a lot richer by sneaking paper chips into his pockets, and that would have been a lot harder with plastic ones (I was supposed to get some but they were all the same color so I could not use them in the end).Thanks for the scenario, I would definitely recommend it.
Elaine Hartley –
Thank you once again for providing us with an amazing storyline & fantastic product!! We have just had our second Murder with you & Casino Fatale did not let us down. When I first saw the many storylines I was amazed that you could provide something so complex & I thought everyone will just be confused, but it was so well written that the evening flowed beautifully. I loved the control I had as host compared to the other ones we’ve done! My decisions were law!! The power didn’t go to my head it just made it so much easier to have fun! We had two more attempted murders, & Zara exerted some serious womenly charms on all the men present. The spies & detectives looked like a heavy mob circling the room & successfully solving most of the clues. My guests felt so pleased that most of them solved at least one of the mysteries! My guests wore amazing costumes! I’ve never seen the men look so smart in their DJs & all the women looked stunning in evening gowns. I decorated the conservatory as a bar & we served cocktails all night. The dining room was the Casino set up with roulette & blackjack. All food was French, along with some very dodgy accents!! Our inspector completing his outfit with a “peep”!!We will be back for more.
Paulo Gardolinski –
Everybody, 30 players had a great time with Casino Fatale, so did I… The game is really great, and people loved to play them all. No one had ever heard about or played any murder and mystery game before.
Now people are asking me when will be the next one… [Paulo translated the game into Portuguese for his guests!]
Gill Chadbon –
Hi, just thought I’d ping some photos from my son’s 12th birthday party, with the Casino Fatale murder mystery we bought from you in December. Although this was an 18+ game, they all had a fab time – fizzy apple drinks were served in plastic champage flutes – all guests came dressed-up and had a ball. Many thanks!
Daniel Hamburger –
New Year’s Eve – what should we do??? We are 8 couples (all with 2 or 3 kids) aged 30-something and feel too old to go out to clubs, too old to have a traditional disco party and too young for a formal sit-down dinner party.
Murder Mystery – what a good idea. Only decided a few days beforehand and had an absolute ball. We ordered Casino Fatale.
Fantastic… everyone had an amazing time, never had to think about seating plans or who would talk to whom as the game forced everyone to interact.
The best sight of the night was when The Inspector had his own special way of drawing out information from the host – refusing her access to the kitchen, and threatening her that the dinner would burn!
She soon gave up her secrets! Thank you very much.
Stacey Aris –
I decided to have a belated birthday party for myself and, after discussing the matter with Mo at Freeform Games decided that I would prefer to get a friend to host the game for me so that I could play a part. My friend came to me and printed off all the necessary files and took them away and I just did the casting from the basic cast list. We had a number of people drop out, and some, to my dismay, at the very last minute, but thanks to my 12-year-old and her friend stepping in (they were meant to be waitressing!) we all had a fab time. Everyone thought it was great – it was just a ‘different’ way to spend an evening with friends. Our host was shrewd enough to bring the proceedings to a end before anyone had the chance to tire of their roles and we all expressed disappointment that it was over! It turned out that our youngest member (our 12-yr-old ex-waitress) was the Super Sleuth of the evening (maybe a lack of alcohol gave her the advantage!) When the game was over I quickly handed out some fake chips and started up a blackjack game and the fun continued into the early hours. I cannot recommend your game enough. It is well planned and thought out and three separate couples questioned my host about what he charged per evening and how often he ran the games – they assumed he and his wife were professional party hosts! My host himself felt that this was a huge compliment to you at Freeform Games as it shows that your games are so well put together that a total novice can host the game professionally and pass himself off as an expert! Thank you so much – we will be back for more!
Christie Neely –
Casino Fatale was our first murder mystery. We had a wonderful time. Everyone loved being able to dress up for the night of high stakes gambling.
Our guests had so much fun trying to solve the murders that happened that after the game was over, they wanted to continue to try to figure out who killed the other people!
Needless to say everyone was impressed with the way the game was played and the fact that there are no scripts, giving everyone the ability to make the character who they wanted it to be.
Kirsty Gwynne –
Just to let you know what a fab time we had playing Casino Fatale this weekend – everyone was absolutely brilliant in their characters and the outfits donned by everyone were hysterical.
As the host I was a little concerned how things would run, but I needn’t have been, it all ran really well. Will be definitely getting another one of your games!