If you've ever wondered how a murder mystery licence works, the short version is this: you get the games, the training and the booking system, and you bring a venue and an audience. Everything else is a set of practical steps that turn that arrangement into paying events in your own area. This post walks through the process from first enquiry to your first night running a game.
How a murder mystery licence works, step by step
The process runs in a fairly fixed order, and most licensees move through it in a matter of weeks rather than months.
- You apply. You fill in the licensee application, which asks about your area, your background, and what venues or audiences you already have access to.
- You talk it through. Someone from the company goes over the territory, the fees, and what running events week to week actually looks like, so there are no surprises later.
- You sign the licence agreement. This sets out your area, the games you can run, and how the revenue split works.
- You go through training. You learn how to host a game, brief guests, run the reveal, and handle the small problems that come up on the night.
- You get the materials. Scripts, character packs, prop lists, host notes, and the booking system are all handed over as part of the licence.
- You book your first event. This is usually a private booking at a customer's venue, since it's the simplest way to run a first game with a smaller, known group.
- You run a public event. Once you're comfortable, you list tickets and start building a regular public schedule.
What do you actually get when you sign a licence?
A licence gives you the full game library, not a single script. That includes the host guide for each mystery, character sheets, clue materials, and staging notes. You also get brand assets for marketing, templates for promoting events locally, and access to the same booking system used across the company, so ticket sales, guest lists and payments are handled without you building anything from scratch.
How much training is involved before you can run an event?
Training focuses on hosting, not acting. You're not memorising lines or performing a script from a stage. You're learning how to brief guests at the start, keep the pace moving, manage the questioning rounds, and handle the reveal at the end. Most of what you're taught is about running the room rather than delivering a performance.
Do you need your own venue to become a licensee?
No. Private events happen at a customer's own venue, so you're not required to own or lease a space to run those. For public ticketed nights, you'll work with local restaurants, hotels or bars that already have the right kind of room and are happy to host a paying event. Finding two or three reliable venues in your area is usually enough to keep a regular calendar going.
How does the money work between you and Alibi Entertainment Group?
As a licensee, you keep the large majority of every ticket sold. In return, you're paying for the licence itself, which covers the game library, the training, the brand, and the booking system that handles sales and scheduling for you. You're not paying per script or negotiating rights each time you want to run a new mystery. The company's own private and public events, listed under private event pricing and availability and public events by city, give you a sense of how events are priced and structured before you set your own.
What happens after you're approved?
Once your application is approved and the agreement is signed, you're given a schedule for training, access to the game materials, and a login for the booking system. From there, the pace is up to you. Some licensees run their first private booking within a fortnight of finishing training. Others take a bit longer to line up a venue for a public night. Either way, you're not starting from a blank page, since the games, the marketing templates and the booking process are already built.
If a question comes up that isn't covered here, the frequently asked questions page covers most of the practical ones, and the blog has more detail on running events once you're up and going.
Once you've seen how a murder mystery licence works from application through to your first event, the natural next step is to look at the licensee program itself and see whether your area is available, or get in touch through contact us if you'd rather talk it through first.