Murder Mystery and Escape Room Games to Play at Home
Murder mysteries, cold cases and escape rooms to play at home, compared on what you can check.
- Specs checked against publishers’ info
- No paid placements
- We say when a pick is research-based
Explore by topic
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Detective & Deduction GamesDeduction board games, case books and mystery puzzles.
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Escape Rooms at HomePuzzle boxes, card decks and advent calendars.
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Murder Mystery GamesBoxed cases and cold case files to solve at the table.
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Host a Murder Mystery PartyKits, characters, costumes and a plan for the night.
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Mystery Games by GroupFor two, for families with teens, for a crowd.
Latest case notes
All guides →-
How to DIY Escape Room: How to Make an Escape Room at HomeHow to make a DIY escape room at home: write the story, build a linear or parallel puzzle chain, pick locks and ciphers, test the game and prepare hints.
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How to choose Easy Escape Room Games (and Hard Ones): How to Pick the LevelEasy escape room games vs hard ones: how EXIT, Unlock!, Deckscape and Clue Escape rate difficulty, what the numbers mean, and a grid to match a box to your group.
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Guide Escape Room in a Box: How At-Home Escape Room Kits WorkHow an escape room in a box works: boxed adventures, card series and calendars, what is inside, how answers and hints are checked, play time and player count.
Game comparisons
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The Best Cold Case Games to Solve at HomeSix cold case games compared on players, playing time, documents and online answer checks, from Unsolved Case Files to Cryptic Killers and ThinkFun.
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The Best Detective Board Games for Solving Cases at HomeFour detective board games compared on players, time per case and how you investigate, from Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective to MicroMacro.
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Best Escape Room Advent Calendars: One Puzzle a Day Until ChristmasThe best escape room advent calendars for solo solvers, couples and families with teens, compared on doors, daily playing time, age rating and format.
Find the right mystery for your table
A good mystery game night depends on a few facts the box does not always make clear: how many people can really play, how long the case takes, how hard it is, whether you can play it again and what you will find inside. Escape Game Box gathers those facts and compares the games that matter, so you can pick a case that fits your group before the evening starts.
We cover games you play at home, not escape room venues. That includes boxed murder mysteries and cold case files, escape rooms in a box or a deck of cards, detective board games and case books, mystery puzzles, and murder mystery parties where every guest plays a character.
Five ways in
- Murder Mystery Games: boxed cases and cold case files solved around a table, from quick one-hour cases to stories that run over several evenings.
- Escape Rooms at Home: escape room games, card-based series such as EXIT and Unlock!, and advent calendars with a puzzle behind every door.
- Detective & Deduction Games: case books, detective board games, mystery card games and murder mystery jigsaw puzzles.
- Host a Murder Mystery Party: party kits, characters, costumes and an hour-by-hour plan for the night.
- Mystery Games by Group: picks for a date night, for families with teens and for a crowd.
How we compare games
Every comparison uses the same checkable criteria: player count, playing time, difficulty, age rating, replay value, what comes in the box and the help available when you get stuck. Our information comes from publishers’ pages and rulebooks, official hint systems and published player feedback, and every figure we quote links to its source.
Each page shows its evidence label. Most of our pages are researched, not played: we say so plainly, and we never claim to have tested a game we did not play. Read how we choose games for the details.
Where to start
If you have never played a mystery game, read how murder mystery games work. It explains the main formats and what an evening with each one looks like. If you are deciding between a quiet case for a few friends and a party with costumes, our guide to murder mystery games versus parties will settle it.
Ready to pick? Compare the best murder mystery board games or the best cold case games. In November and December, the best escape room advent calendars are the quickest way to a daily puzzle for the whole month.
Independent and reader-funded
Escape Game Box is an independent site run by a small editorial team. We earn a commission on some purchases made through our links, mostly on Amazon.com. Commissions never decide which games we pick or the order we rank them in. See our affiliate disclosure and our editorial policy.