Enforced fun is a terrific way to make the whole evening tremendously awkward.
A couple of years ago I had two options for Hallowe'en:
1. Go to one of those murder mystery parties or
2. Go to a regular house party.
Presented with the choice between a whole evening of meticulously organised enforced fun (and possibly enforced transvestism) and an evening of my normal house party routine of sitting in a corner drinking myself into a stupor, you can probably understand why I chose option 2.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 14:25, 4 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I did a muder mystery for new years
I was not up for it really but it turned out to be brilliant. And I won so even better. If it's with your friends it is fine but can imagine it's a bit awkward when you go up to a stranger and ask them if they are Professor Peanut.
( SteveFrench Cardio is for homo's. do you even lift bro?, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 14:29, Reply)

I've had decent experiences with murder mystery parties.

(PsychoChomp, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 14:30, Reply)

I imagine
if I'd stopped being such a miserable fucker and gone to the murder mystery rather than the regular house party, then I'd probably have got into the spirit and enjoyed myself. In general I'm not a fan of organised fun, though, so the idea of having to go through something so elaborate set a lot of alarm bells ringing.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 14:34, Reply)

same here actually
although I kind of forgot the point, and was confused when all the evidence seemed to be pointing towards me being the murderer.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 14:37, Reply)

haha love it
Fight Club themed murder mystery where it turns out to be you and you didn't know about it.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 15:04, Reply)

I don't mean an entire night themed with a single game
I mean having the option to play some of the games if you feel like it, or not bothering if you don't.

I don't mind if people don't want to, they don't have to, but I'm hoping people will be a bit warmer to the idea than this miserable lot.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 14:35, Reply)

I think you've got the right idea
Having them there as an option is probably not a bad idea, especially if people are standing around looking a bit bored. I just had visions of the opposite extreme, whereby it's very easy to kill the atmosphere of the entire place by declaring that everybody is now going to play the Pin the Donkey on the Twister, Queensbury Rules Variant.

Edit: May derive from bad experience with a game that involved picking up a cardboard box with one's mouth. As one of the taller and less flexible people in the room, I was continually goaded to try by people who drew a perverse level of amusement from my inability to bend without overbalancing into an undignified faceplant.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 14:42, Reply)

I found that on a party games list, only with a paper bag
my first thought was "eww that bag would get soggy pretty quickly"
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 15:05, Reply)

Well with this one you started with a cereal box
and once everyone had tried to pick it up, you cut a strip off the top, thus making it smaller with each iteration. I suppose you could do the same with a paper bag, although the cereal box is more structurally sound.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 15:08, Reply)

I'd have chosen option 1
and then done a real murder, of the cunt who invited me.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 15:00, Reply)

Great minds and all that
(See thread near bottom of page)
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 15:01, Reply)

You probably don't get invited to many parties

( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 15:35, Reply)