In this game, the players, acting as jurors, are given a murder scenario, evidence presented by the district attorney and defendant, two photographs of the crime scene, and ballot papers.

These early scenarios were generally simpler than modern games, with minimal acting directions and relied on the guests being comfortable ad-libbing responses to each other's questions.

[2] A player's preference will be driven by how they want their party to progress: In scripted murder mystery games, the participants are told exactly what to say and when.

Character information often comes in booklets which are read from throughout the course of the evening, usually around a table in rounds with the sole purpose of solving the murder.

Typically, a dinner takes place during the event, but guests are not confined to sitting around a table; they are free to move about and engage with others at will.

Participants are encouraged to interrogate, perform actions, or engage in activities with fellow guests, aiding them in solving the case or fulfilling their characters' individual objectives.

More often than not, hosts invite players to attend the party dressed as, and ready to play the part of, one of the suspects listed in the game scenario.

The remaining guests will take on the role of detective and it will be their "job" to actively solve the case by examining evidence, finding clues, following and questioning suspects.

[7] In the 1973 mystery film The Last of Sheila, characters play a game where they are assigned secret roles, and which leads to a possible murder.

The script was based on a murder mystery game its writer Stephen Sondheim had created for friends after college, where he "told each person to think of a way to kill one of the others over the weekend we would be spending together in the country".

The 2022 film Glass Onion opens with a technology billionaire inviting friends and influencers to a remote island to play a murder mystery game.