Death on the Gambia

44 reviews for Death on the Gambia

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Mary – 1 May 2024

   This Murder Mystery game was fabulous! I (the host) had never attended a murder mystery party before, and so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The game materials were very thorough – I had to read them over multiple times – but they helped prepare me so that I could run the game smoothly. There was blackmail, multiple attempts at murder, arrests, and theft – it was a lot of fun!

   I was a little worried because I was hosting the party in my small 1-bedroom apartment. However, over the evening, the guests spread out and schemed in the kitchen, balcony, bedroom, and even bathroom!

   Something to be aware of is that the host holds a lot of responsibility and you will probably be very busy the whole evening! Sometimes the host has to make in-the-moment decisions that aren’t clearly outlined in the rules; In one instance, I made an error in judgment, but then I talked it through with the guests involved and we found a solution.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Anonymous – 5 January 2024

   Thrilling!

3. 

   Nicolas Francart – 2 April 2023

   I had a great time running Death on the Gambia for my 30th birthday recently! It was simple and smooth to run, and all my guests thoroughly enjoyed it despite being new to murder mysteries. The story and characters are very much over-the-top, but playing characters who are a bit cliché can be fun! Thank you very much for producing these great games. We are looking forward to trying out more of your games soon!

4. 

   Mirla Schaeffer – 18 January 2022

   I just wanted to let you know the party with Death on the Gambia was a gas! My players were very positive about the use of Spatial Chat. They were able to “move” around freely and many of them even successfully eavesdropped. I used rpsgame.org for the rps challenges, and WhatsApp for communication between the players and myself. The players used WhatsApp to share image files of their items/secrets/clues. Despite it being online, all players found it to be really immersive and had a great time. “Even more fun than expected” they said and some of them are experienced (role)players. For pickpocketing I used an Excel sheet in which I had an overview of everyone’s items. If someone obtained or lost an item they’d let me know. I rolled a die if the pickpocketer was taking something at random. I let the pickpocketer and pickpocketed know what they gained/lost via WhatsApp. For poisoning I ruled that the poisoner had to be in relatively friendly conversation with their victim, as offering food/drinks wasn’t possible online. Note – SpatialChat was set up with three rooms – Deck (a picture of a riverboat), Starboard Accommodation (four doors, each with the name of a passenger) and Port Accommodation (four doors, each with a passenger name).

5. 

   Rich Noakes – 2 September 2020

   We decided to host a murder mystery event in honour of friend coming to visit. After reading some reviews on the website, we decided to take on Death on The Gambia. This was the first murder mystery for the majority of guests, however it was easy to follow and everyone had a great evening.
        We had 10 guests/players (including myself who played Captain Ironheart and the Deckhand) who all got fully immersed into the game, complete with fancy dress. I made a few extra props for the event which helped set the aesthetic including a homemade anchor and other nautical items, Gambian flag and posters/news articles of events from the time. I also made a playlist of songs from the time period which helped people get into the swing of it.
        Although I mainly used the card items provided during the game, I did make a few practical items that players could use including replica passports (I requested pictures of the players ahead of time and put these next to the passport card information) and vintage looking travel papers. I found it useful to send the character booklets out ahead of time which were emailed to players in advance. I provided a hard copy of this information on the day along with ‘hand luggage’ (small pencil cases) for each player to store their items and money which people kept as souvenirs.
        It took us a good couple of hours to complete the game with most people successful in their goals. We suffered a few casualties in the beginning and a couple of deaths as we approached our final destination. After the game ended, each player took turns explaining their story and what they accomplished and we voted on ‘Best Costume’ and ‘Best Acting’ with the winners being presented with a trophy. Overall, everyone had a wonderful time and we will definitely be doing another in future!

   
6. 

   Joseph Kim – 6 March 2018

   I wanted to say that Death on the Gambia was a huge success. We love your games and we are hoping to do another in the summer!

   
7. 

   Mark Tinnemans – 4 July 2017

   This run of Death on the Gambia must be the 8th or 9th time we hosted a Freeform game for our students and we will never go back to traditional murder games. Even before we started the air was thick with theories and schemes, and the players were ready to take on anything. Since the Christabel was tightly run by captain Sam, the first part of the journey went very quiet, although some guests misplaced certain valuable items. There must have been something in the air in Mansa Konko, because after leaving there the guests got restless. Much to my surprise, with Bathurst in sight there were no casualties yet, mainly because of clumsy gun-handling and effective use of medikits. In Bathurst one guest succumbed to river fever and Dexter met a nasty German surprise stepping ashore. Luckily we can remember him through the painting of the famous French artist Marie Renard, who included him in her masterpiece ‘An African Safari’ which she painted during the trip on the Christabel.

   
8. 

   A Customer – 13 June 2014

   Death on the Gambia was a really fun game and all the guests had a great time. Surprisingly everyone stayed in character throughout the game (although when we stopped ‘overnight’ we ate our food out of character)

9. 

   Candace Mills – 3 May 2013

   We chose Death on the Gambia upon your recommendation for a family event. It was our first attempt at this. It was a lot of fun! The kids want to do it again soon. We’ll pick another game and have another fun evening.

10. 

    terri E – 10 December 2012

    What a BLAST! I hosted Death on the Gambia, (& played a role – which was hard) – on a 7 day cruise – I originally planned to spend 2 nights playing the game, but it was such a hit, we expanded to 4 nights! Everyone had a great time – players from age 30 to 90! We met for cocktails before dinner to play & then continued into dinner a few nights. I sent everyone their invites & character info ~ 3 weeks before the cruise; they weren’t allowed to share any info, (even to spouses!) – When we boarded the ship they each received a ‘packet’ with info about the other characters, etc – I even made door posters with their characters, etc – (which other passengers also enjoyed!). I would definitely recommend Freeform Games, in fact, our “cruise group” has insisted we make this a tradition for all of our future cruises…

11. 

    Carol Blackard – 25 November 2012

    Death on the Gambia was fantastic, with great item cards and costume opportunities. It was our first Freeform game and blew the scripted games we had played previously right out of the water! I sent out full character descriptions ahead of time and I think that helped the game get off to a fast start. The game progressed just as designed with the most aggressive and murderous attacks happening near the end. We had one successful restraint, one attempted poisoning, one flesh wound, and two murders. Most people did well with their own goals and the subplots. We had Fish and Chips, Mushy Peas, and Bread Pudding for dinner. One word of warning. As Host, I tried to play another role and help my older mom with hers. The Host was busy enough just supervising Rock Paper Scissors, etc, so I think that was too much for one person. Lesson learned. Next time, I’ll just Host.

12. 

    James Barnes – 24 July 2011

    The theme of Death on the Gambia really appealed to my wife and I. The props sounded great (poisonous spiders, antidotes, etcetera).
    We also were interested in a summer weather game, where we could dress in costumes and not be hot and uncomfortable. What could be more perfect than Death on the Gambia as a setting!
          We had not yet played a Freeform game before. This was our first. But, we had played three other murder mystery games from two other companies. Death on the Gambia was ultra enjoyable, it has great complexity and interaction between the characters.
         I cannot say this type of game is for everyone. It takes a lot of care and time to really put on a great party. My wife really enjoys putting things together for family and friends and doesn’t mind spending hours and days and weeks slowly compiling all of the things necessary for a great party (things like, food, props, costume ideas and decorations). But as far as actually being the host of Death on the Gambia, I would say there really isn’t too much you need to keep up with once the party begins.
         My wife and I both acted as joint hosts (we both played Deckhands) this worked out beautifully for us!

13. 

    Brian Hoare – 27 June 2011

    The second half of Death on the Gambia saw a lot of deal making, deception, bluffing, trickery and blackmail and the denoument saw a lot of suprises.

14. 

    Anna – 4 April 2011

    Everyone enjoyed Death on the Gambia and came in character to the party and stayed in character the whole evening and even for the next week!! Thank you for the game. It made an unforgettable evening for my guests.

    
15. 

    Becca Hoyle – 3 January 2011

    I just wanted to let you know that we had a great time with Death on the Gambia on New Year’s Eve. We’ve played a few conventional murder mystery games before but we all agreed that your type of one was more fun. There were plenty of murders by the end of the night! Some people did get very confused but that didn’t stop them having a good time, and others were frighteningly good at stealth, deception and trickery! We’ll certainly recommend your games to others.

16. 

    Haley Nielsen – 14 November 2010

    This was my first time hosting a murder mystery party [Death on the Gambia] and it was such a blast. I emailed invitations with everyone’s characters a few days before. People got so into it and our costumes were all amazing… I was impressed, it’s not easy to get a group of 20-somethings to role-play! The game took us over 3 hours, but everyone was so surprised at how fast the time went by, there was so much to scheme about. Thanks! Will definitely use Freeform Games again!

17. 

    Estelle Goodchild – 2 November 2010

    The [Death on the Gambia] game on Saturday went very well, we had so much fun. I am glad that I took the time to work on the props as it was so funny to see everyone going through the books to see which one it was or to see people trying to hide their cameras etc… I have attached a picture, it was at the end of the game, we had a debrief and they all enjoyed that as well… Looking forward to the next one!

    
18. 

    Jamie Cherrington – 17 August 2010

    What a night! One of the guests happened to live in a 30s colonial house stuffed with African artefacts, and letting us use it really made the [Death on the Gambia] night. It had several staircases, “secret” rooms and a great veranda, which we used as the deck. Everybody was scheming all over the place, but, alas, there was only one death. All I can say is, bring on the next!

19. 

    Mike Thorson – 26 February 2010

    Death on the Gambia was a ton of fun. We loved how involved the subplots were. Additionally, the weapons and threat of death added another level of secrecy regarding character development that everyone loved.
    The threatening and fighting was a blast! People didn’t know if others were going to kill them and there was a lot of fighting in the first half of the game (which I thought was really fun since no-one was taken out of the game early).
    I really enjoy the French / British spy aspect of the Gambia, with the potential of someone being suppose to kill someone else.
    A friend of mine is planning a Lei’d to Rest night coming up and I am really looking forward to it!

20. 

    Greg Box – 23 October 2009

    My friends Dan, Susan and David hosted a Death on the Gambia party and we had a great time. Because of the number of people we had, we added characters of our own and changed a few genders. We printed our own Gambian money and travel papers and played 1930s music in the background. Some of the attendees saved the money as souvenirs. As a group we plan to do one of these every six months.

21. 

    Mark Tinnemans – 25 June 2009

    Great game [Death on the Gambia]! After losing his gun, the doctor strangled someone with his stethoscope and we had a 5-person shootout in the kitchen, bullets flying but no casualty (yet…)

22. 

    Amanda Nixon – 30 July 2008

    What a spectacular success!I arranged this game for my partner’s 40th for a small group of 12 (not everyone knew each other). It began at our house (for pre-dinner drinks and briefing) then we walked down the road to a small Asian restaurant for a banquet dinner.I gave all the guests lanyards on which I had hung their items and ability cards (and had sent out their character info some days before). One late cancellation meant that I had to kill off Katanga (poor Katanga was unfortunately eaten by ferocious crocodiles whilst stopping to admire his reflection when dropping anchor) and recast that person in the role of Gabe Schwartz (but he still had a couple of days notice to prepare). The guests came dressed in character, complete with props — I did not specify costuming, but let them dress up as much as they wanted. Very impressive effort by all.
         The restaurant was forewarned of our intentions with this game, and was graciously accommodating. People milled about, spilling onto empty tables, hiding in corners and mingling around the table. It was very relaxed and people forgot they were in a public place. Other patrons watched us like we were a TV show, absolutely enthralled, some even asking questions. The entree was eaten buffet style, with people moving about freely, and the stop in Mansa Konko was declared as the mains started to arrive. Telegrams were exchanged then. When the main meal was over, it was all on. Alex evaded spider bites 3 times from Marie. Gabe ended up our only victim, as a revenge killing, for stealing the rubies from Connor just as a buy was about to go down. No one talked about anything but the game for duration of play — I was very surprised and delighted at the commitment of everyone. And everyone had a blast. Certainly a night to remember. I found some notepads left behind the next day, and had a laugh reading the notes eg Captain wrote “Alex wants off the boat!” I was very anxious about how it would all go, never having been to one before, or heard of first-hand experiences, but would love to do another — perhaps as a character this time!

23. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Darroch Harkness – 7 February 2008

    As promised I thought I’d drop you a line to let you know what a FANTASTIC success our Death on the Gambia evening was! 10/10!
         I followed the guidance of some of your web contributors and put the poisonous spiders in a glass jar with leaves, etc; made up proper Passports – how easy (frightening!!!) it is to get them from the internet; created phials of poison, etc ,etc.Our battle-hardened team (this was our 8th Murder, Mystery – though 1st from your company) REALLY enjoyed your way of doing things. The only comment which agrees with others on the web-site is that everyone wished they had their character info earlier. As recommended I gave this info out 1hr 30 mins prior to “start” but think (with hindsight) that it would have been better to send out with the invites. But then again – perhaps the characters WOULD have let things slip before the day, who knows!
         Anyway, we can THOROUGHLY recommend your company to our friends and will certainly try another of your titles later in the year.Many thanks for all the hard work that must go into creating these!

24. 

    Jo Holcombe – 20 January 2008

    …it was excellent. The fact that no murder had taken place was a refreshing change. The aims and objectives of the characters were really well thought out and it turned us all into mad people trying to meet all our goals.

25. 

    Robin Duxfield – 20 January 2008

    …the best thing about this game is that everyone has clear objectives for the night and a clear idea of what character they play. This allows them to semi-role play through the night, interpreting situations and questions and trying to achieve their objectives while assimilating new information they gain. Also, not having a murder previously committed was novel and very cool. It's dull to have a murder and try to solve it.

26. 

    Cathy Reardon – 20 December 2007

    I and a group of 9 friends decided to try a murder mystery game [Death on the Gambia] this year on New Year’s Eve. Our New Years celebrations are always good so, as nobody had ever done anything like this before, I was a bit apprehensive. "I would like to say that I have never laughed so much, and saw my long-standing chums in a completely different light! They were all a bit worried too about how it would work and if it would be fun but after the Christabel had set sail, there was no going back (and no stopping them). On the second leg of the journey to Bathurst, one murder was committed, two passengers were unconscious and the captain (me) [the host of this game used to be the Captain, although now they are the Deckhand — Mo and Steve] was constantly being harassed to referee combat. When we docked at Bathurst, one of the 'passengers'even asked if we could keep cruising for a while longer! "We all thank you for helping make our New Year party the best yet. Please, please, create some more of these games, you have found a group of murder mystery converts!

27. 

    Jay Shaffstall – 20 December 2007

    Just ran Death on the Gambia, and wanted to let you know that everyone had a lot of fun. By the end everyone was turning on each other trying to accomplish their goals in the last few minutes before the riverboat docked! "I used prop books for the Death on the Nile cards, and a great time was had by all stealing books and hiding them in various places. Our local library didn’t have eight identical copies, so I went to Vintage Paperbacks and printed out the cover art for a paperback Death on the Nile, then resized the image in Microsoft Word and taped together my own book covers and put them onto various other hardback books. "We had some last-minute cancellations, and had to run without the character of Jane Carter. It worked pretty well… the story was that Jane was on board, and was hustled off by some unidentified men leaving all her baggage. I gave Jane’s items cards to her roommate, Emily, and everything went smoothly.

28. 

    Max Carpenter – 20 December 2007

    I have just organised and run Death on the Gambia for the leaders and wives of Exeter’s Riverside Christian Centre. The game went very well and was well written and planned. A few comments: "(1) It was unclear to us until after we had received the full instructions that this particular game is not suited to a sit-down meal which we had already planned, together with an overnight stay, at a local hotel. It might be helpful in future if potential customers are informed of this before they purchase the game! [We agree — and we’ll be making that clear in the future — Mo and Steve] "(2) However, as it happened we found the perfect way to overcome that through the co-operation of the hotel management; They had given us their ‘function room’, a perfect size for the dozen of us. The guests we all frantically busy until the lunchtime of the day itself and so arrived at the hotel exhausted. Few of them had had the chance to go though their detailed character notes I had sent out a week before and the rest found the notes, plus the costumes (I’d hired from a local theatrical costumiers) waiting in their hotel rooms when they arrived early in the afternoon. "I’d got the hotel to lay up three tables for 4 players each, and place three other, but bare tables around the Function room so guests could pair off, take their plates and drink and chat/scheme quietly throughout the evening. "(3) I also timed it differently; I got them all to meet me at 5.30pm for a full briefing and questions. This lasted for half an hour. I then released them to get changed, read through their (copious) notes. They reappeared in costume to be greeted by me (Captain [the host of this game used to be the Captain, although now they are the Deckhand — Mo and Steve]) at 7.00pm. as per the game instructions. "The hotel served the starters at 7.20 and the main course 25 minutes later. I then allowed an hour and a quarter before the Christabel arrived at Mansa Konko and fifteen minutes later dessert arrived as we ‘departed’ M.K. "I wrapped up the game a 10.00pm and did the Epilogue cards for a further 15 minutes. "Organising the game this way made it perfectly possible to play it with a sit-down, three-course, Christmas meal. The group were ready to throw themselves into the game and saw nothing odd in taking their plates, cutlery, drink etc. off to another, bare table. "(4) One additional tip I gave them was to come to the evening with pen and notebook, and most of them wrote notes during the evening. "(5) I also used dice instead of stone/scissors/paper which worked far better for us. "A good game.

29. 

    Jeffrey Tennant – 20 February 2007

    Death on the Gambia — My wife and I were co-captains for 10 girls for our daughter’s 15th birthday party. They had a ball. Thank you.

30. 

    Lorraine Nevin – 20 January 2004

    We hosted Death on the Gambia as our pottery class end-of-year party. We are usually just six women, and needed something which would also engage four husbands, who don’t know each other very well. "We cast Alex Thomas as a woman in our story, and we added in a female Ginger Roberts character to make up numbers. Ginger had more fun than the rest of us put together — and since she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, it was great to see her having so much fun! "I left the costumes up to the individuals and they all did wonderfully. We used a lot of props: toy guns (we’re not in the UK!); books covered in identical photocopies of DOTN covers; cameras; all sorts of bottles of multi-vitamins and jars of arnica and vaseline from my medicine chest, labelled appropriately; boxes of dried twigs and grass for the spiders to jump out of; red mosaic tiles as uncut rubies; toy handcuffs; and so on. I managed to find a large bag suitable for each character’s costume and placed their props and cards into it. Soon after the Christabel’s departure, Katanga handed out the luggage that ‘had been left on the quayside’ by mistake and everyone was encouraged to take it to their cabin to check the contents. "The first aid kits were great fun: I filled Tupperware containers with some of the usual items (scissors, plasters, tweezers) and added hilarious items such as HUGE syringes (needleless, of course!), rubber gloves, laxatives, aphrodisiac concoctions, hair-loss preparations, condoms, etc — I got very strange looks from the pharmacist the day I shopped for the kits! The contents obviously caused great mirth amongst the players. "We had a lot of death: Alex Thomas was the first and most prolific victim, who we saved a couple of times but eventually died quite early on. (Might be nice to know this when planning, so that you don’t cast your most enthusiastic guest in this role!) "We also had two weddings — the Ginger Roberts married Katanga, Caroline Tanner married Joseph Keene. I think there was a divorce too! "In general, I think the women embraced their characters far more than the men — although this might be because the men were already ‘semi-outsiders’ to the group. Having said this, they enjoyed dressing up and still managed to drink copious amounts of ‘peanut beer’! Unfortunately, this was sometimes to the detriment of the plot … (We never found out who Mr Red was …) "All in all, we had a great evening.

31. 

    Rob Steen – 20 January 2001

    I hadn’t realised how back-stabbing some of my friends could be. In one player we had black-mailing, murdering, lying, fighting, threatening and cheating… I’d recommend this [Death on the Gambia] to friends for a good night.

32. 

    Neil Hopkins – 20 January 2001

    Death on the Gambia was fantastic. Thank you very much. Evening went far better than I’d dared hope. I was concerned that all the information would be overwhelming. Ten minutes in and I needn’t have worried: furtive plotting, bravura, blackmail, paranoia and ultra-violence (disappointingly we only had one death.) Everyone said that they hadn’t had so much fun in ages (big brownie points for us as hosts). People were too busy having fun even to drink!

33. 

    Satisfied Customer – 20 January 2001

    I loved Death on the Gambia. It was very refreshing to be playing something where there wasn’t a murder to solve and the ending was completely up to my players. Everyone told me for days and days afterwards what an incredible time they had at the party — so much that I am setting up a second one!

34. 

    Jon Perkins – 20 January 2001

    Thanks again for a great evenings entertainment, we played Death on the Gambia whilst on holiday in Devon in a big renovated farmhouse with lots of wooden panelling which added to the 1930s feel of the evening.
    Also Fajitas for main course and creme brule for pudding worked well as people were free to mingle.

35. 

    Becky – 20 January 2001

    Thanks very much – I’ve got it [Death on the Gambia] off the web page and read it and it’s just great! The themes are very different and I think my friends will enjoy it. I’m really looking forward to putting it on — thank you very much for all your help 🙂 (and sorry for being such a difficult customer!)

36. 

    Eric Christensen – 20 January 2001

    Oh my gosh, we had too much fun. Thank you for this game [Death on the Gambia]. The characters were fantastic. We ended up having enough people for all of the characters and my wife, as the deckhand, had an assistant deckhand, which she says was invaluable during the last section of the game. this was fabulous. I am telling all of my friends about this. I will be back again.

37. 

    Dana Loewen – 20 January 2001

    We wanted to host a party in the new year and decided a freeform murder mystery was the way to go. We had tried other box type games and had been very disappointed. That was not the case with Death on the Gambia. Our guests were thrilled that they could determine the plot. Everyone got into character and the scheming began. We had so much fun plotting against each other and planning alliances!! The guests did not want the night to end. "We decorated the entire house like the Christabel — staterooms, decks, galley, bridge, map of Gambia, helm, African huts etc, the guests loved the details. The only trouble was too much leftover food — people were too busy scheming to get a plate of finger food. No one wanted to stop, even for a minute. We all decided that we will do another game soon!! "Thanks so much for such a great evening of entertainment. I can hardly wait until next time!

38. 

    Eanne Russell – 20 January 2001

    Many thanks for your great contribution [Death on the Gambia] without which we certainly would not have got together we came from all over the country and the props created by everyone were fantastic. We had appropriate food and the insect sounds, along with ship’s bell, sail, overboard and bridge!!! Great fun by all. Thanks.

    
39. 

    Lora Hubbard – 20 January 2001

    I think that you have one of the most UNIQUE ideas for party/crowd pleasing games [Death on the Gambia] of all times and believe me, that’s a huge compliment coming from me…

    Keep up the good work! I would recommend that you somehow get the word out about yourselves because I know that more people would certainly order your product if they just knew!

    
40. 

    Tom Bates – 20 January 2001

    Death on the Gambia was a fantastic night, I think you have to have the right mix of people but it was utterly brilliant! More, more!

41. 

    Sally Fish – 20 January 2001

    I bought Death on the Gambia for my birthday party. It was absolutely splendid! All of the guests had a fabulous time. I was very worried that it would be too complicated or the guest wouldn’t want to play, but everything was terrific! The character descriptions really got my guests into it, and the sub-plots just made it more interesting. Everyone had a great time and I wanted to personally thank you.

42. 

    Laura Jensen – 20 January 2001

    They loved it [Death on the Gambia]! It was hard to gauge success at the time because I was so concerned with hostess duties and keeping the game on track. When it was over and I had a chance to relax I realized that it was a huge success. It’s just not your run-of-the-mill party. I heard about it for many days after. One couple even asked me to host one at their house. And they all want me to do it again next year!

43. 

    Dennis Laughlin – 20 January 2001

    Wow!!! What a great game! Death on the Gambia was a huge success with my usual suspects. We have played all the ‘how to host a murder’ games and found them pretty thin stuff. We have been casting about for a couple of years looking for better options and have found one in your line of games… We shall be placing another order soon. Thanks for a great evening.

44. 

    Tami Burkhart – 20 January 2001

    Just hosted my first (and definitely NOT last) murder mystery party; Death on the Gambia. What a wonderful time, was a little worried about the guests getting involved in the game. No worries, about 10 minutes into the game, they became their characters! By the end of the evening several had suggested that we do this again, soon. Thanks for the great characters, instructions, and helpful tips. Thanks again!