St. Cakes
St. Cakes has been a seat of learning since 930 A.D., when Bishop Cakes founded an educational establishment for “those miraculously cured of leprosy”, shortly before succumbing to the disease himself. Keen that others should share his love of learning, he carried a stick with him which he used to beat anyone he met who had no knowledge of Latin…
On Founder’s Day, the teachers and pupils of St. Cakes gather to honour the memory of the blessed Bishop Cakes. Prefects, nerds, bullies and sneaks all do their best to make this a day to remember – and one the headmaster would sooner forget!
Everyone taking part is given a team or “house” to belong to. One of the guests will, of course, be a murderer. The different houses compete with one another to identify who this is and are also given a “St. Cakes’ challenge” to tackle. Among other things, this involves the writing of a new school song. At the end, accusations are made, the murderer is identified and the winning song selected.
Fancy dress is optional, but strongly recommended!
The plot usually runs for about 3 hours and is suitable for groups of all types and most ages. This mystery works particularly well as a charity fund-raiser. Providing it’s run on this basis and not as a commercial enterprise, you won’t need our permission for it. If you are planning to run it in your school, bear in mind that characters in murder mysteries often behave badly: they kill, they tell lies, they have affairs!
For more information, please click here for a free, downloadable PDF file which gives an introduction to the game.
Modern Day or Period Drama
This game has a timeless feel to it. Think St. Trinians. Billy Bunter. Angela Brazil. And Harry Potter, of course. The time it’s set in isn’t specified so you can decide for yourself when you want it to take place. You may have to overlook a few mismatches if you do this but don’t worry: if you want to set it in Victorian or Edwardian times or any time after, you can.
Please visit the Costume Guide on our UK site for advice and help on how to dress for whichever period you choose.
Age Groups This Plot Suits
Like many stories set in schools, this plot has characters in it whose behaviour is far from saintly. It is, after all, a murder mystery! But we think the vast majority of people will find the content enjoyable, entertaining and inoffensive. Anyone aged 10 or under might have trouble understanding everything but, apart from that, we believe this plot if suitable for all other age groups.
Hire an actor
Our company is based in the UK in London and this is where most of our actors also live. If you want to hire an actor to run your event or get us to put together and manage everything for you, we’ll be delighted to do so. Please go to Options 2 and 3 on this page for more about how this might work.
Copyright Protection and Terms and Conditions
Our games are mainly intended for private groups and are bought under license to be played once. If you are a private buyer, please see our Terms and Conditions. If you’d like to raise money by running one of our games either as a charity or as a business, please see our Note on copyright at the bottom of this page.