Murder at the Motel is a standalone all-in-one mystery game from Hunt A Killer!

TLDR: Hunt A Killer is known for subscription service murder mystery games, but everything you need to solve this mystery is right here in one box!

Murder at the Motel as a subscription servive

Hunt A Killer is a cool company that is known for subscription service games. Every month, they will mail you the next episode in a long mystery series. It’s fun to sign up and have your game night show up, ready to play, without any planning on your part.

But maybe you aren’t ready to commit just yet?

Murder at the Motel as a single game

Murder at the Motel, though, is available as a single game. So we took it for a spin. We decided it would be a great activity to do with the kids — who aren’t really kids anymore.

Christina’s son just graduated from college and is in town to visit. Her daughter goes to college here. So rather than listen to the two kids lovingly/hatefully bicker incessantly, Christina cracked open Murder at the Motel and started to read the rules. Everyone was a little weary after a long day, but within 15 minutes, all four of us were passing clues around the living room!

“Let me see the map!”
“What’s the combination to this lock?”
“Pass me the receipt!”
“What’s up with the turtle?!”
Even Uhtred (the feline apex predator we share a living space with) got into game night, curling up next to me to see what all the fuss was about.

Be ready for a challenge

This game is rated as “3/5 Medium Difficulty.” It took us the better part of an hour to sift through and discuss all the high-quality clues: printed police report, a motel room key, a napkin note, a hand-written journal, a music event poster, and, yes, a turtle!

Finally, we each started to settle on our conflicting solutions. Then we tried to convince each other that our solution was correct. Christina’s son reached for the solution envelope. The rest of us tried to stop him. We thought this was cheating. But it turned out to be the right thing to do.

We had solved everything. We just couldn’t agree which of us was interpreting the evidence correctly.

And he did a good job revealing the solution, acting as consultant to help us get the rest of the way.

He didn’t blurt it out all at once, but he also didn’t drag it out for too long. He asked us a few questions, and then answered a few of our questions, and then it became pretty clear to the rest of us that Christina got it right. But there’s no shame in losing to the actual mystery author in the family. Plus, it’s a cooperative game, so I can be glad she’s on my team!

We might have played longer, thinking there was more to solve if he hadn’t called it and taken on the role of quizmaster. So if you are here looking for hints, just follow his lead. He is a serious gamer and might have been drawing from experience elsewhere. His strategy didn’t spoil the game. It made it more satisfying.

1 or more players.
45 minutes.
Age: 14+
Can’t play a second time, because the game involves solving one mystery, and there’s only one solution.
Makes your brain a deputy investigator for the evening.

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