Instructions for the host

Welcome to the Zoo Murder Mystery – Please read this leaflet carefully before hosting the party.

The Box contains a set of invitations for each guest to attend the dinner party. They are found in “Set 1” and can be used as invitation to your party. (One of the characters has no invitation as he is a part of the plot)

In “Set 2” you will find character description to hand out to each guest individually on entering the party. Please make sure that they do not show the cards to each other and they keep the bits in red to themselves.

“Set 3” contains plot and a map of the Zoo where the mystery starts. Each guest should receive a copy of the plot and the map. There is also a spare copy for you.

“Set 4” contains the clues. They start at round zero and go on till round six. Allow at least 10 minutes per round. Each set of clues is general so everyone is allowed to see them.

“Set 5” contains what actually happened and is to be read out loud at the end of the game.

The game is considered won if one of the guests guesses who the killer is before round 6 clues and that guest is the winner.

Unfortunately this box does not include the prize so have fun making one.

Good Luck!

That is it I guess. All is left to do now is print and laminate our cards

La Grande Finale

And here is what actually happened
J.C. Denton broken-hearted planned revenge on Pam for the past 2 years. He stayed friends with Pam secretly hating her. Many opportunities of revenge arose, but none of them were perfect. Then one day in November 2012 he got invited to a hypnotist show at the Zoo that Pam works at. Being a hypnotist himself he saw a perfect opportunity. He made his way into the organising committee to get through to John Shannow; the hypnotist himself. He would hypnotise the McCool, Pam’s beloved giraffe to make it eat Pam. He would also have John Shannow hypnotised so that he does not remember any of his show. In the need of a trigger for both the hypnotised creatures he convinced Pam to change the schedule of the show in order to squeeze in 30 minutes of fireworks. The sound of fireworks was a perfect sound to set off the effect of the hypnosis. Pam argued with him about the fireworks trying to convince him that they could cause too much upset of animals but he was not listening as he needed them very much. He got his way eventually. Hanging around the zoo he spotted a homeless man Mr Pingpong wandering about and another brilliant idea came to his head. He organised some clothes to imitate Pingpong’s appearance. And as for him not being around the main square for the fireworks he had a cardboard cut out of himself from when he won the garda of the year. He would place it in the square before the fireworks are due and sneak out to set them off without anyone knowing he was involved.
Therefore:
7:20 – He left the square leaving the cardboard cut out behind without causing any suspicion.
7:25 – Dressed in Hobo clothes he staggered between the cages towards the staff locker room
7:29 – Was seen in the square looking at the moonless night sky alone
7:29 – After a 5 min walk he set up the fireworks near the locker room to go off at 19:30 precisely. He burnt his hands because of his carelessness.
7:30- J.C went to the circuit room where he turned off the lights in the square and animal enclosure so the guests can fully enjoy the fireworks without seeing the slaughter out the back. Under cover of darkness, illuminated only by the sparks of the fireworks he rushed to the janitor's room.
7:50 – One of the maids, Mary saw J.C assuming he was PingPong. She found this odd because 1min earlier she received a text from the Janitor saying he is with Pingpong.
7:55- He hid the cut out and the dirty clothes in there thinking janitorial duties would be finished by then so it would not be found there. It was also the nearest place to hide it. He stole an expensive looking bottle of champagne from the Janitor's room.
7:58- He returned to the square ready to head away to the dinner and wait for the fun to begin.

Blog Update: Timeline.

Hi everyone. Here is the timeline so we could get come up with clues easily. I based it on our work. Feel free to change anything if your not happy.
J.C:
7:25 - Left the show 5 mins early. Claimed that he needed some time Alone. He was visually sad when he saw Pam but it is only a disguise
7:30-Was seen in the square looking at the moonless night sky alone. Stayed there until after the fireworks. But in reality, it was only a cardboard box cut out (the reason why he went out early)
7:35- After a 5 min walk he sets up the fire works near the maids quarter. He burnt his hands because of his carelessness. He was dressed like a hobo to avoid suspension of being in 2 places at once.
7:45-"The British Maid" saw J.C assuming he was PingPong. She found this odd because he received a text from "The Janitor" saying he is with PingPong 1min earlier.
7:50- J.C went to the circuit room (or something like that) where he turned off the lights in the square and animal enclosure. Undercover of darkness he rushed to the janitor's room.
7:55- He hides the cutout in there thinking it would not get find there. It is also nearest place to hide it. He stole an expensive looking bottle of champagne from the Janitor's room.
7:58- He returned to the square.
8:00- The pitch black night was quickly illuminated by a stunning display of fireworks. J.C was seen sitting in the square enjoying a fine bottle of champagne and smiling. The guess assumed he was enjoying the the view but in reality he was in full view of the giraffe's enclosure.

I was thinking of Shannaw was hypnotized the same time the giraffe was and the fireworks triggered it. Do you agree with this? I'll post something about the other characters later. I was thinking of basing our clues from this (i.e the janitor complaining about missing champagne or there was a piece of torn clothing in the circuit room). I was actually thinking of e-mailing Colin M to ask him to let us postpone the submitting of the Clues. We need atleast a day to come up with decent clues.


edit: My suggested clues for J.C
1: burns consistent with handling fireworks.
2:British maid saw a homeless man thinking it was pingpong but it was actually J.C
3:A shirt button consistent with a garda suit or whatever he was wearing in the circuit room.
4:"The Janitor" claims his unique bottle has gone missing.
5:People realised that you could see the girrafe's enclosure from the square.


Shannow:
7:30 - Stayed in his room after an exhausting evening.
7:32- "The Maid" came in the room surprising the both of them. Then "The Maid"..........erm, I'd rather keep it to myself.
7:32-7:55 - They talk about things during and their indiscretion. Shannow talked about his failed relationships with women and how it leads to his drinking to ultimately destroying his career as a software dev. He is not happy with this. He admitted that he is not the best hypnotist around and how hard for him just to do his act. He also talked about the difficult relationship between him and his father(but he did not say who it was). And finally both of them were grateful for a wonderful night(like Anna said with the brain thing).
7:56- "The Maid" leaves the room to do some chores.
8:00- Shannow heard the fireworks and he felt sick before entering into a deep trance. He could not remember anything between 18:00 to 19:30 after that.

Any suggestion to add to this? It feels a bit bland. For "The Maid" and"The British Maid" thing, there seems to be many maids in our stuff so I figured we should call them by generic names.
I suggest we include the conversation between them in the clues:
1: Shannow has admitted it is difficult for him to hypnotise so he he may or may not be able to hypnotise the girrafe.
2: He admits he is not happy that Pam dumped him.
3:Some clue about the connection between him and Malcolm.

Meeting Tue 10.11.2009 30 minutes approx (making the clues into play cards)

By the way, I am going to email this and the plot from last week's entry tomorrow about 11. Feel free to make any changes (yes I am still fooling meself that someone is at least going to go on blog tonight)

J.C. Denton - Anything that is in red is for your eyes only - You are the killer, you hate Pam as she broke your heart and stopped tending your garden when she moved out making your mother think you are a failure (it's enough you are a garda). You hypnotised the giraffe, and convinced Pam to surprise the guests with fireworks sound of which triggers the giraffe. at 19:30 you hypnotised Shannow so that he doesn't remember anything between 18:00 and 19:30 and can be accused of killing Pam. You were the one setting off the fireworks but only Pam knew about that. The fireworks caused upset amongst the animals so the staff was everywhere. Be smart with your accusations someone might have seen something you could have missed. You were at the square looking at fireworks (really it was a cardboard cut out of you). you love Pam you were friends now and your relationship had ended peacefully. You are the main investigator eve though it is out of your jurisdiction

Shannow - Anything that is in red is for your eyes only - You are not the killer but you are in a spot of bother. You don't remember anything between 18:00-19:30 which was your hypnotist show. You remember though that you disappeared right after the show, which is when the giraffe killed Pam. You went to be with that little, sexy maid from the hotel and it was inappropriate especially that she is married to that big man in dirty wellies. So you can't really say why were you away. You had a drinking problem that destroyed your career as a software developer. Now you have to be a hypnotist on lousy money. You don't have a proof for not having hypnotised the killer giraffe, and after all Pam was your lover and she stole Anastasia (the love of your life) which was the cause of the drinking problem. Who cares that she feels guilty now and is trying to help you. Think of something you could have been doing in the half hour other than setting off the fireworks

Malcolm Carlyle - Anything that is in red is for your eyes only - You are not the killer but you are in a spot of bother. The hypnotist John Shannow is your adopted son (8 years younger than you, don't ask why). You live in the Mental Institution because Shannow says it is better for you. Maybe he wanted you to help him cover up his crime. It is a nice institution and you like it but you hate Pam, after all she ruined your son's life. You hate your son for putting you in the institution because it's terrible, or is it. Remember you are old and demented. You could as well have convinced Shannow to kill Pam because you want him to go to jail. You were around that whole time but you could have committed your crime before the show. Think of reasons why you would have not get Pam killed or your son framed and pray they work.


Vero - Anything that is in red is for your eyes only - You are not the killer but you are in a spot of bother. There is no particular reason for you to be at the dinner, no one knows who you really are. The rumor has it you were recommended by Pam to look after Malcolm Carlyle.You are a private detective hired by Pam because she feels guilty for breaking so many hearts and is afraid she might one day get killed so when you noticed a change in the schedule (the fireworks) you went to sniff around a bit. If you want to crack the case you can't be known as an investigator so come up with a reason why you weren't around for the show. Lately you were investigation Anastasia and you spent some time with her, everyone thinks you might be in love with her and wanted to kill Pam to have Anastasia for herself. You could have don it as you know Shannow through his father. Think of a reason why you are here and why you weren't around for the show.


J.F.Z. Ping-Pong - Anything that is in red is for your eyes only - You are not the killer but you are in a spot of bother. You have killed before, it was a woman with a P in her name and this fact is held by the mental institution on the grounds of the Zoo as that's where you were locked up for the murder. You know Carlyle and Shannow so it would have been easy for you to be in ti all with them. And she was so good to you, to invite you to the dinner and all and you hate good people. You were in the old institution visiting the old room where you spent 15 years of therapy but since you're crazy you are afraid that since you went there you might be locked up again, you don't really understand why but this fear is making you loose your mind even thinking of letting people know you went near the institution. Think of the reason you weren't around for the fireworks and pray it works

Anastsia Beaverhausen - Anything that is in red is for your eyes only - you are not the killer but you are in a spot of bother - the giraffe was hypnotized to kill on the sound of fireworks and you have a great experience in the art of ornamental fireworks design. When the fireworks had gone off you weren't at the square, you were doing coke in the restaurant toilet so you can't say where you were unless you want to be arrested, you have to come up with an excuse for not being around and pray that it works. You once dated Shannow, were in a triangle with him and Pam, you could have convinced him to hypnotise the giraffe, after all she stole your only hope of being recognised as an actress in Ireland by getting the part in Pampers Ad

Meeting in class 25 minutes

First of all we didn't put up any events order so:

Shannow, a hypnotist gives a show in Zoo, which had been organised by Pam as she works at the Zoo and knows Shannow. The show takes place on 21.12.2012. Starts 6pm. Meant to last till 8ish and for the VIP guests the invitations include a dinner around 8pm and a night's stay at the hotel which is on the grounds of the Zoo. Pam as the organiser, convinced by J.C. Denton, tells the hypnotist to finish at 7:30 so that they can surprise all the guests with the last 30 minutes of the show being filled with some amazing fireworks. All guests are stunned, the staff though is very busy as all the noise had upset the animals in the Zoo and they are virtually everywhere going in and out of barns stables and so on. 8pm the fireworks finish, Pam is nowhere to be seen, all head to the dinning room hoping to find the hostess there, but still no sign. Hoping she'll show up any minute (thinking she'd been held up by the upset amongst the animals) they are sitting down to a starter of confit de canard (confit of duck). As they are half way through the dish, thinking that their hostess is very rude for not having joined them yet, a man in muddy wellies, somewhat covered in blood barges in looking for a Garda. The man, despite trying to keep his voice down while talking to J.C. Denton, buzzing with adrenaline makes everyone aware that Pam had been found dead, half eaten by McCool, her beloved giraffe. Her remains were lying in a puddle of blood behind the giraffes shed. Denton gets up, turns to guests and says: "Carry on with your dinner. I'll be back!", then turns to the man in wellies and says: "Show me the body!". Denton then leaves only to come back in time for the dessert of cherries jubilee. Investigation in form of a casual after meal chit chat continues from there (surprisingly everyone finished their dinner, no one fainted or vomited)

To be continued...

Pam is a kind person (eventhough coldhearted as a lover) so seeing an opportunity for Ping-Pong to get a warm meal and a cosy bed for a night convinces Shannow to invite him to the VIP dinner.