Peaky Games
Party games for the adventurous!
Peaky Games is a club formed in 2008 to promote freeforms in the UK and generally. ("Freeforms" are games in the style of the murder mystery games published by Freeform Games and Murder Mystery Games Ltd - but there's quite a range of different games and styles, and few of them involve a murder.)
The club goes back to 2001 when a group of freeform enthusiasts (including me!) met to try and write and play a freeform over a single weekend. To everyone's surprise, not only was it possible, but the games were a lot of fun.
So the weekends have continued each year ever since - and some of the games have been run and re-run several times. And now, with the formal creation of the Peaky Games Society in 2008, they have been put into a form where anyone can run them. Peaky Games is a non-profit organisation, and the money raised by selling the games goes back into the society.
These games are fully interactive, with lots going on for all the characters, but they don’t always involve a murder. They are also slightly cheaper than the other games here. Some warnings, though:
- The games assume that you've played a freeform before and therfore assume a certain amount of knowledge. If you're completely new to murder mystery games (and freeforms) then I suggest that you try a game from Freeform Games first. (I mention them because their games are probably closest to the Peaky Games games.)
- These games aren't for Aunt Maud - they certainly aren't "good clean fun" games. They can be challenging to play and may be offensive to the easily offended.
- They're certainly not suitable for kids as the subject matter often concerns mature themes. (They don't contain explicit sex or violence, they're simply not particularly suitable for young kids.) I'd give them a "15" rating.
- The Peaky Games game aren't particularly flexible on numbers. When they're written, the authors know exactly how many people they are catering for, and so don't need to worry about flexibility. While some flexibility is added in later development, they aren't as flexible as the other games.
- As I write, support for the games hasn't really been worked out yet.
The games available are:
 |
An Ecumenical Matter - welcome to the diocese of Peaky-in-the-Sea, for a light-hearted spiritual game for 15 players and a host. An Ecumenical Matter is loosely inspired by the Father Ted television series, and is awash with priests and nuns is a rather daft setting. Warning - contains religiously irreverent themes. |
 |
Carry on at Camp David - set in 1962, with the Cold War at its height, this is a game for 15 to 18 players and one or two hosts. Carry on At Camp David is a light-hearted political game set at Camp David. |
 |
Diamond Geezers – release your inner East London gangster in this game for 9 or 10 players and one or two hosts. Diamond Geezers is an intense, modern-day gangster game inspired by movies such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. |
The Peaky Games freeforms all cost £5 for the pdf version - or £10 (plus postage) if you want to buy the paperback book from lulu.com. To see how much £5 is in other currencies, use the converter. (It's pre-set to show how much £5 costs in US dollars - however please note that the exact amount will depend on the exact exchange rate at the time you buy and also the commission charged by your credit card.)
To learn more about Peaky Games themselves, click here to visit the Peaky Games website.