Murder on the Istanbul Express

(6 customer reviews)

$39.99

Murder on the Istanbul Express is a downloadable 1914 murder mystery game set aboard the luxurious Istanbul Express for 7 to 11 guests and one host. Characters include the train crew, merchants, inventors – and spies! Written by Mark Jarrell. Recommended for ages 12+.

Murder on the Istanbul Express is a murder mystery game for 7 to 11 guests and one host. It is set in 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, aboard the luxurious Istanbul Express. Characters include the train crew, merchants, inventors - and spies!  Download the free introductory pdf file.

Murder on the Istanbul Express is a thrilling evening of luxurious travel, 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 Murder on the Istanbul Express?

MIE-01 Murder on the Istanbul Express
MIE-02 Murder on the Istanbul Express
MIE-05 Murder on the Istanbul Express
MIE-07-Murder-on-the-Istanbul-Express
MIE-09-Murder-on-the-Istanbul-Express
MIE-11-Murder-on-the-Istanbul-Express
MIE-12-Murder-on-the-Istanbul-Express
MIE-14-Murder-on-the-Istanbul-Express
MIE-15-Murder-on-the-Istanbul-Express

See stories and pictures from Murder on the Istanbul Express.

Click here to read the Istanbul Gazette.

The luxurious Istanbul Express takes three days to travel between Istanbul, Turkey and Paris, France. The train line is lavishly opulent and has a glowing reputation. Tonight, some of Europe's most notable citizens and travelers (and some who are not so notable) are journeying in style through the European countryside.

Two days ago (June 29, 1914), just before the train left Istanbul, newspapers announced that Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, had been assassinated in neighboring Bosnia. Everyone is now on edge – this could be the start of a great war.

A further trouble is the discovery of a dead body in the kitchen car this evening. Selda Zaim, the maid of Turkish merchant Esra Hoca, appears to have been bludgeoned over the head with a cooking pot.

It is now midnight and only a few hours until the Istanbul Express arrives in Paris and the proper authorities can investigate the crime. But until then, there are many mysteries to unfold…

Murder on the Istanbul Express 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.

MIE-03 Murder on the Istanbul Express
MIE-04 Murder on the Istanbul Express
MIE-06 Murder on the Istanbul Express
MIE-08-Murder-on-the-Istanbul-Express
MIE-10-Murder-on-the-Istanbul-Express
MIE-13-Murder-on-the-Istanbul-Express

 

Beginner-friendly
One of our more straightforward murder mystery games, suitable for beginner hosts.

No combat, no poison.
No combat, no poison.

Characters are ungendered.
Characters are ungendered.

The free introductory pdf file contains an introduction to the game and a cast list of all the characters.

Cast of characters

Passengers

  • Pat Dijon: Police inspector from Paris
  • Max Fairsonne: Turkish sculptor
  • Esra Hoca: Turkish merchant who sells luxurious cashmere
  • Sava Hatmanu: Famous chemist from Romania
  • Sam Lively: American inventor
  • Jay Middleton: British professor of archaeology based in Budapest
  • Hersch Muller: German attorney
  • Alexe Petrescu: Romanian tourist and museum fanatic

Train crew

  • Marin Aromblast: Bulgarian waiter
  • Lou Gardet: French conductor
  • Battista Giovanni: Italian cook

The characters are all ungendered, so they can be played by any mix of guests as required.

You also need a host – someone to organize the party and ensure everything runs smoothly.

How Freeform Games murder mystery games work

Murder on the Istanbul Express 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, Murder on the Istanbul Express contains plenty of other plots and secrets to keep everyone busy. Murder on the Istanbul Express isn't scripted, and lets the players decide how to achieve their goals and thwart their enemies.

On the evening of the game the guests are met by the organizer and welcomed to the Istanbul Express.

They then receive their detailed backgrounds – including dark secrets, objectives and money. The fun then begins as they form alliances, blackmail each other, steal items and maybe even try to murder one another!

Along the way they may uncover some of the mysteries of Murder on the Istanbul Express. Who has been stealing historical artifacts? Who is here under a false identity? What happened to the promising new radio technology? And, of course, who killed Selda Zaim?

Depending on what the players choose to do, there are several different possible endings, but finally everyone finds out how they did, and what secrets everyone else was concealing.

Recommended for ages 12+

We recommend Murder on the Istanbul Express for those aged 12+,  as it is family-friendly and contains no adult themes..

Extra characters

Sometimes you have too many guests and need more characters. Murder on the Istanbul Express comes with free extra characters (written by us or previous hosts) that are included in the download when you purchase the game.

  • Cato Janssen – Belgian journalist (Any)
    (by Freeform Games)

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 Murder on the Istanbul Express 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.

6 reviews for Murder on the Istanbul Express

  1. blank

    Jennifer C. (verified owner)

    This was my first time running a murder mystery game, and I could have used clearer instructions about stashing items and interacting with the locations. A set of rules like you’d get in a board game, along with the chart of items/secrets would have been good all together in one document. I think the quick reference guide was intended to function this way but a lot of the information was repetitive from other documents and i think if it were streamlined it would be really helpful. But again, this was my first time and i was able to figure things out. We did this with young teens and they had a blast.

    Image #1 from Jennifer C.
    Image #2 from Jennifer C.
    Image #3 from Jennifer C.
  2. blank

    Ellen Hoam

    We ran this game as a surprise for a bachelor party. The participants could have handled a more complex game, but they were not going to receive their player information until the night of the party, so we wanted to stay on the simpler side. They all had a great time and are asking when the next one will be!

    Image #1 from Ellen Hoam
  3. blank

    Anonymous

  4. blank

    Jessica Mcmunn

    It was truly enjoyable, though I’d mention that it seemed potentially more challenging to navigate than required. Nonetheless, it was an overall enjoyable experience.

  5. blank

    Eva H.

    Our family group of 14 people played this on Christmas holiday. Our group was ages 10 – 65, we had a blast. I was the host; it is a fair amount of reading so I would say give yourself a week ahead of the game to go over all the character booklets and the game material. A Turkish chef, who is a dear friend, cooked an authentic meal for us. It worked well to start with drinks and apps while everyone is conspiring in small groups for 1- 1& 1/2 hrs and then we sat down and discussed things all together over the meal. Well done, you’ve created a wonderful game, it was a lot of fun. My only suggestion would be to make a concise, one page game plan for the host. It was never clear to me how to conduct the game, I had to piece together instructions. Someone who has played dragons & dungeons might feel differently.

  6. blank

    A Customer

    We just finished playing Murder on the Istanbul Express, and we had a great time! Definitely plan to do it again. All in all, great experience, and definitely way better than I expected! Thank you for providing us with a great evening! 🙂

Add a review

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Q & A

Will this game be to easy for ages 25-45? YDC asked on 21 October 2024

Hi there, thank you for your interest in Murder on the Istanbul Express!
All of our murder mystery games are designed to be fun and challenging for adults -- where some of them have a lower age rating (eg. this one is rated 12+) that just means that the material is family-friendly, without reference to sex, drugs, etc. But it is just as thoughtful and tricky as our other games -- so we would not expect it to be too easy for your group.

Freeform Games answered on 21 October 2024 store manager
(0) (0)
Can the host play a character in Murder on the Istanbul Express? Suzanne MacLeod asked on 23 July 2024

Thanks for this question! Murder on the Istanbul Express wasn't
designed for the host to also play a character -- unlike some of our other games,
are listed here -- but it still does happen quite often, when people prefer to do that.

We've explained here about how it works.

We hope that's helpful! Please do say if there's any more that we can tell you.

Steve answered on 23 July 2024 store manager
(0) (0)

Ask a question

Your question will be answered by a store representative or other customers.

Thank you for the question!

Your question has been received and will be answered soon. Please do not submit the same question again.

Error

Warning

An error occurred when saving your question. Please report it to the website administrator. Additional information:

Add an answer

Thank you for the answer!

Your answer has been received and will be published soon. Please do not submit the same answer again.

Error

Warning

An error occurred when saving your answer. Please report it to the website administrator. Additional information:

Our other games

Showing all 45 results

What Our Clients Say
101 reviews