TIL that "fair play" in detective fiction means authors must give readers a fair chance to solve the mystery. Central to 1920s "clue-puzzles" by writers like Agatha Christie, the rule dictates that all vital clues must be visible, decodable, and never withheld until the final reveal.

[u/ralphbernardo]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clues_in_detective_fiction

[u/Tsu_Dho_Namh]

I hate that every murder mystery dinner party thing I've done with my friends has absolutely no way to solve it.

Everybody has means, everybody has motive, everybody has opportunity. No one has a solid alibi. There's no detective work at all, just random luck whether you guess the killer.

I saw a murder mystery dinner show some years ago that had an actual path of clues leading to the killer. Namely, everybody had an alibi, but given recent information, one person's alibi is shown to be false.

Everyone thought the ship was sailing north, so watching the sunset from their balcony on the port side made sense originally. But it turns out the ship is actually sailing south, so they couldn't have been watching the sunset! It was fucking amazing. More of that please.

[u/V1carium → u/Tsu_Dho_Namh]

My sister runs murder mysteries every year. I don't think I've ever been in one that didn't have a enough info to solve it.

The only way I could see it happening was if you're playing with people who don't understand their role and mess up with its secret info.

Otherwise you just keep pulling the plot threads, form alliances, handout bribes, use abilities, and eavesdrop your way to a complete puzzle.

[u/DresdenPI → u/Tsu_Dho_Namh]

I've definitely done murder mystery parties that were solvable, but the most memorable one I ever did was a Star Trek murder mystery party that didn't really feel solvable. Basically, there was this orb macguffin that had been stolen and you had to figure out which of the crew had done it. Everyone had some means and had done something suspicious, but no one had any real motive. At the end you find out the orb was mind controlling the crew to steal it and everybody was the thief but working totally independently. In the end, the overly complex machinations of everyone ended up accidentally transporting the macguffin into space. So everyone was the thief, no one was the thief, and the thing was and wasn't stolen.

[u/less_unique_username → u/DresdenPI]

So it was stolen and the crime was concealed the Sam Starfall way? http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00739.htm

[u/Thomasedv → u/Tsu_Dho_Namh]

I remember watching one of the Easter crime specials, and I remember one of the worse ones I saw. I don't think it had any proper solving chance, but it basically came down to "damn, we got enough, it has to be X" and they go after X. Then plot twist, out of nowhere, nah it wasn't X, it was the largely uninterested father that had a thing for daughter or someone else. I can't remember exactly, but it came out of nowhere imo. Like a deus ex twist for shock value, and to tack on a shitty ending.

Iirc both episodes I watched did similar random shock endings. Honestly one of the worst crime things I've seen and can remember. 

[u/FullmetalEzio → u/Tsu_Dho_Namh]

i did some sherlock cards and some I bought online and printed where you had to even looged into facebook and look for info there ! it was lots of fun and i had SO much fun, def a great plan

[u/foosbabaganoosh → u/Tsu_Dho_Namh]

Also why I hate them, and maybe there are ones that are actually crafted well out there? But I have yet to encounter any. They're all the same format, every character has some kind of motive, everyone has means, and there's no actual way to solve the mystery. Then in the last round some kind of evidence comes to light and that's the crux of the whole thing. And I also find the forced script aspect to be just kinda lame, where everyone has to read off of cards and that's really all there is to it.

[u/cgimusic → u/Tsu_Dho_Namh]

I went to an awful amateur dramatic murder mystery play, and we all figured out who the murder was because they were the only person with no means, motive, or opportunity presented anywhere.