Murder mystery date box: How to hunt a killer

If you’ve been searching for a unique date night at home, you’d be hard pressed to find anything more fun than this murder mystery date box!

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I have long considered myself an amateur detective.

I’m 49 years old and one of my life highlights was when CSI came to television. I watched every episode, and that of CSI Miami. 

Bring back memories, anyone?

CSI Cyber too, though CSI New York I could never get into.

I’ve also watched Law and Order SVU, Criminal Minds, Castle… the list goes on and on. 

Did I mention I also read a lot of crime too? Harlan Coben, Sue Grafton (who died before Z), Lee Child…

It would be fair to say that I love crime.

I also really love my husband and I love spending time with him doing fun activities together.

Date nights at home have created some of our best memories. But finding new and interesting things to do together can be a challenge.

So when I found a murder mystery date box called Hunt a Killer, I was super excited. In fact, I may have let out a small squeal.

And once I started playing, I can tell you my opinion in one word: AWESOME.

Here’s why I think a Hunt a Killer murder mystery date box should be your next at home date.

What is Hunt a Killer?

Hunt A Killer is a murder mystery subscription box where a detective enlists your help in solving a murder.

This detective sends you a box with letters, documents, clues, and evidence every month. With each box, you’ll be able to eliminate a suspect and get one step closer to cracking the case.

Each box is considered an “episode” that’s part of a six month-long “season.” The best value is to pre-pay for a full season or buy a box set.

Note that all the links in this post now go to the Hunt a killer store on Amazon which only sells the box sets.

If you want a subscription, you will need to go to the Hunt a killer site directly.

Ben and I began our love affair with this murder mystery date box with the Class of ’98 murder which takes place during a high school reunion.

How to get started with your murder mystery subscription box

Even though now you just add to cart, way back when I signed up to Hunt a killer, you were invited to apply. Only 200 people were approved per day. You had to answer a couple of questions first.

Then we got sent an email letting us know that my membership had been approved.

Our murder mystery date night was on.

Once we ordered the murder mystery date box, I thought it would be a waiting game, but that wasn’t the case.

Instead we received a series of emails containing links to videos explaining a little bit about the game.

These included setting up our crime lab, what we’d find in a box, what to do if we got stuck, and finally what to do when we thought we had solved the first episode.

By the time the box arrived, we were desperate to get started.

What to do when you open your murder mystery date box

The first thing to do when you open your box is to check all the items are there.

When we first opened the date box my impression was of quality and authenticity.

In the Class of 98 box, you could see the lines on the paper of the faxed letter.

The senior year book was hilariously authentic.

The map was made of quality paper.

This got me feeling super excited.

Then I felt a little overwhelmed. How were we even meant to make sense of this?

Luckily we were told what to do first and that was to read the witness statements.

So we started going through those and making notes in our Hunt a Killer notebook about our observations and their role in the story.

We also started filling out the time line.

Every character had a unique voice and we could already pick out some inconsistencies.

After 45 minutes we hadn’t even got through half the characters!

The goal for each episode is to eliminate a suspect.

The first episode took us well over two hours to play.

The average length for the rest of the first season was 90 minutes to 2 hours per episode. This makes this murder mystery date night box the perfect length for an at home date.

Why Hunt a Killer is a perfect date night at home activity

As well as the above reason, there are several others that make this an awesome way to spend date night at home.

• You have to work as a team. From the moment you open the box, you’re talking together about strategy, then you’re talking about the clues and your thoughts and impressions. You listen to each other’s ideas and build on them together
• For the reasons above, it’s highly interactive. You’re not talking about mundane things or struggling to direct your conversation away from work or other joy killers. Instead you are talking about the game
• It’s unique. I love escape rooms and it’s that kind of experience where your brain has to work differently than usual. Experiencing novelty together leads to greater bonding (source) and you can’t get much more novel than this
• Because you can’t solve the whole mystery straight away, you build a sense of anticipation and excitement. We even found ourselves talking about the case on the way to work. It was like the date that kept on giving
• It’s incredible value for money and a super affordable at home date.

Final thoughts on Hunt a Killer

I regret not purchasing the cork board, string and post it kit when I had the chance. This is a one time offer when you get your first box.

It would have helped keep everything well organized and together.

Plus it looks super cool. You can buy it directly from the Hunt a killer site.

I was thinking I could pick up similar supplies for cheaper, but of course I have yet to get around to it! 

Hunt a killer gives back too: every episode sold has proceeds donated to the Cold Case Foundation so you can help families still desperate to know what happened to their loved ones have some sense of closure and justice.

Hunt a Killer has to be the best date night activity I’ve experienced for a long time – and I think that’s saying something!

If you’re after a unique, entertaining, affordable at home date idea, then you can’t go past this murder mystery date night box.

If you have ANY questions about it at all, send me an email and I’d be super happy to help.

Hunt a Killer also has a horror date night box. Check out my experience with The best horror subscription box: Hunt a killer: Blair Witch.

You can also check out my recommended date night games here.