Virtual Murder Mystery

They alternate, and that's the whole trick. Your team makes the drinks first, then investigates with a glass already in hand.

A live mixologist opens the session and walks everybody through two drinks. The recommended pairing is the Magic Show kit, a color changing Lavender Magic and a sparkling Pineapple Spice, though the mystery works with any of the drink kits on this page. Everyone builds from the same recipe card at the same moment, which breaks the ice faster than any round of introductions.

Then the room changes. Your team boards the luxurious cruise ship The Sapphire Seas for a masquerade ball, a murder is discovered, and everyone takes on a secret role. You question suspects, search for clues, argue about who is lying, and commit to an answer before the big reveal. Detective Harper needs the help. Guests who want to lean in can dress for the masquerade and switch to a matching Zoom background.

Plan on 90 to 120 minutes for the cocktail or mocktail version, depending on group size. The game only version runs 60 to 90.

Because water is an ingredient. Shaking with ice does three things at once: it chills, it aerates, and it melts. That meltwater isn't an accident, it's part of the recipe.

Where does the word cocktail come from?

The first known printed definition ran in a Hudson, New York newspaper called The Balance and Columbian Repository on 13 May 1806, after a reader wrote in demanding to know what the word meant. The editor answered that a cocktail is a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters. Water made the list in 1806, and it has been in every good cocktail since.

It's also the rule behind shake or stir. Drinks with citrus, cream or egg get shaken, because you want the aeration and the cloudy texture. Drinks built entirely from spirits get stirred, because shaking fills them with air and ice shards and ruins the silky look. Undiluted isn't stronger, it's just harsher.

Your mixologist calls out which of the night's two drinks gets which treatment and why, so your team can make them again next weekend without the card.

Yes, and it isn't the consolation prize. The Murder Mystery Mocktail is a menu in its own right, built around alcohol free drinks rather than around what's missing: the same color changing Lavender Magic, the same buzzing Pineapple Spice, and the identical 90 to 120 minute game, at $645 for groups under 5 or $129 per person for 5 to 14.

Mixed groups are just as easy. On the happy hour kit cards the price toggles between Mocktail and With Alcohol, and Mocktail is what's selected by default. Alcohol is optional, picked individually from vodka, gin, bourbon, rum or tequila, and it ships separately. Choosing it moves the card to the With Alcohol rate, roughly $50 more a head. Nobody has to announce why their glass looks different.

A recipe card and everything needed for four drinks, two recipes with two servings each, delivered to every participant's door. Standard shipping is free within the US. International delivery reaches Australia, the UK, Canada, Sweden, Ireland, Germany, South Africa, Mexico, India and Spain among others, and where shipping isn't practical your planner sends a shopping list instead.

You don't organize any of it. A dedicated event planner handles all the logistics between the booking and the reveal, from gathering delivery details to tracking the kits. Dietary needs, including vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, kosher and no alcohol, are accommodated at no extra cost when you tell us in advance, and customization is free.

Three kits pair with the mystery. Magic Show is the recommended one. Lotus Kit is the adventurous choice, with a vivid blue Tranquility of coconut and lime under a silky foam with a touch of nori, and an Inner Fire of lapsang souchong tea, tart cherry and maple served in a rosemary smoked glass. Margarita Duo is spicy and mango, and teaches your team to rim a glass properly.

Up to 14 people in a single game, and larger teams get split. A murder mystery only works when everyone can get a word in, whether that's interrogating a suspect, defending an alibi or shooting down somebody's theory, so 15 or more participants are divided into smaller simultaneous games rather than crammed onto one call. Rockoly runs events from 3 people to 600 and up, and very large companies are usually split by department or spread across a couple of days. The mixology side scales further on its own, since the happy hour kits are priced all the way through 50 plus participants.

Three formats, three rates, and the rate covers the things that usually show up as surprise line items later.

• Murder Mystery Cocktail: $895 for groups under 5, then $179 per person for 5 to 14. Ninety to 120 minutes, drinks included.
• Murder Mystery Mocktail: $645 under 5, then $129 per person. The same game, alcohol free.
• Murder Mystery Game: $350 under 5, then $70 per person. The mystery on its own, 60 to 90 minutes, no drink kit.

The cocktail and mocktail rates include the games master, a personal mixologist, a dedicated event planner, ingredient delivery, gratuities and all service fees. The game only rate covers the games master, the planner, gratuities and service fees. Groups of 15 and up are quoted as several smaller games. For what it's worth, Rockoly has hosted over 1,000 events and is rated 5 stars on Google across 105 reviews.

Yes, and on whichever platform you already use. Zoom is the default, and Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and WebEx all work, so the mystery runs where your team already is.

The splitting is the part worth flagging in the same breath. A single game runs up to 14 players, and 15 or more are divided into smaller simultaneous games so that everyone gets to interrogate somebody — which means your call has to break into separate rooms and come back together at the end. Give your planner the headcount and the platform in one message and it's set up that way from the start.

One more thing to raise early: players from outside your company domain. If some of them sit on another tenant, or you'd rather host the call yourself and have the games master and the mixologist join you, say so at booking rather than four weeks later when the kits are already going out.

Give a happy hour about four weeks. Kits ship to every participant and any alcohol travels separately, which is the part that needs runway, so drinks events want a week more than cooking events, which need roughly three. Rush dates are sometimes possible depending on availability, so ask before you write a date off.

A $250 deposit holds the date, and you can pay by credit card, ACH bank transfer or check. Cancel 21 or more days out and you are refunded what you paid less any nonrecoverable costs already committed; 8 to 20 days out you choose between a 50% refund and a 100% Rockoly credit; inside 8 days payments are nonrefundable, though one complimentary reschedule is yours if you ask 14+ days ahead. Every event carries the Love Your Event Guarantee: your team should have an amazing experience, and if your Rockoly event doesn't live up to expectations, we'll make it right.

Fill in the inquiry form on this page and a planner replies with dates and a quote. If you'd rather talk it through first, call (617) 939-9732 or email events@rockoly.com.