Thread: Game Guidance- Need Help Fine-tuning this

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Hi Everyone! We are doing a Haunted Real estate theme this year for our party. (Thanks to Frankiesgirl and others who have posted about this theme in the past!). What I need help with is refining a game- here's the basic gist of it...

We will have a locked door with a prize inside and only 1 key that opens the lock (using our front hall closet). There will be 1 key that works and a bunch of similar looking dummy keys. Each guest (probably 20-25 people) gets a key when they arrive. I am planning to have balloons around for a tempt-your-fate style game where the guest uses their key to pop the balloon, the message inside will tell them to give away a key or take a key from someone else (their choice, the next person to talk to them, someone who's name starts w/ the same letter- something like that) There will also be keys as part of prizes for the costume contest (usually 4-5 categories) and the clue hunt prize will have a key in it too.

What I am looking for is more ways to give out keys or mix keys up amongst the guests. Anyone have any thoughts of simple ways to mix up keys or for guests to "earn" keys? I would really appreciate the help. Thanks in advance everyone! I'll gladly let you all know how it all works out after our party on the 23rd.

I'm flattered!
(it was a good theme!)

We handed out keys with the invites. Do some comparison shopping on the price to get keys cut and be prepared to wait a while depending on how many keys you get cut.

Take in your REAL opener key and a couple of non-important keys to get them cut and make sure you keep track of the REAL keys.

Make sure you have a copy of the REAL opener key. We were concerned that the person that had the real key might not show, so we were going to do a drawing if that happened and have it as a backup just in case. In your case, the REAL key might get misplaced, so make sure you keep a spare! (we had the original key and a spare key cut)

TEST the key you got cut that is the REAL opener key. Sometimes they don't cut them properly, so you need to make sure well before the big event. Also, don't use the original key that came with the lockset - if you get 20-30 blanks cut, then they will all look the same and they won't be able to tell from the lock's manufacturer being printed on the key.

Take in several keys that you meant to throw out and have the non-open keys cut to those to mix it up. It is really obvious if people start comparing keys and they all look exactly the same at the teeth part, so you want to keep them guessing. We used several old keys from old houses and apartments we'd lived in and never got rid of...

Also test that your non-working keys don't accidentally work. (not every one, just the ones you'll be taking in for the keys to be cut from) We bought a really cheap lockset since it was only being used for the party, and there was one key that actually popped the lock if you wiggled and jiggled it enough!

I'd do the trades like you had planned, but you could also hide "skeleton keys" around your house. Find a cool key graphic, print it out at different sizes and hide them in plain sight. Hanging from a lamp pull, inserted into flower arrangement, tucked into a picture frame... if the guests find them, they get an extra key! OR steal a key from a random person... OR trade keys with a random person... you could print them out on little cards and have any of those options printed on the back.

FREE amazing graphics- historical, skeletal, etc...

From that site (as long as you're not selling the graphics or using them in obscene or scandalous works you can use their artwork for free):
http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/65100/65196/65196_key.htm