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Why are my emails not getting delivered?
Answer:
Unfortunately due to ever growing problems related to SPAM and email viruses, some email hosting providers have become extremely vigilant about protecting their email accounts. These email providers sometimes block bulk emails or emails that are sent on behalf of someone, as we do on our site. We are working on solutions around this problem, but unfortunately there is little we can do at this time. Here are a few solutions that might work around the problem, and allow your guests to logon to the pre-game site.
- Ask your guests to add 'Host-Party.com' or 'mailman@host-party.com' to their safe list (see instructions below for Hotmail and MSN).
- Send the emails individually. Uncheck all the recipients but one and then send each one individually. While this rarely corrects the problem, it is easy to do, so it is probably worth a try.
- Send login instructions through your own email: Send them this link (http://.host-party.com/guests.asp) with instruction to login using the email you assigned to them on our site and the password that was created for them (this is visible in the character information screen). This is usually the best solution.
- Ask them to contact their email hosting provider and allow emails from host-party.com. Once they have done this you can resend.
Guests with MSN/Hotmail Addresses
As a protection to their users, Hotmail automatically moves all unrecognized e-mails to the user's Junk E-Mail folder and keeps it there for 5 days (after 5 days it deletes them). Any email that is sent from Host-Party.com is considered unrecognizable. To fix this the Hotmail/MSN user will need to add the Host-Party mailer to their safe list. There are two ways to accomplish this:
1) From the Junk E-Mail folder, select an e-mail that was sent from Host Party. It will show the party host as the sender. Then click the 'Not Junk' button (This should be above the list of e-mails).
2) Select Options (This is usually in the upper right hand corner). Then click Contacts, then click Safe List. On the Safe List page, type 'host-party.com' in the box that asks for an address or domain name. Then click Add.
Once Host-Party has been added to the Safe List they should be able to receive emails.
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What can be customized in a Host-Party murder mystery game?
Answer:
Host-Party provides the ability to customize many, but not all, aspects of the game. You can change the name and description of the party and add party specific details (what, where, when). You can add guest names and change character descriptions to suit your guests. You can add totally new custom characters and custom clues. All changes are blended into the game materials and pre-game site.
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How do I customize one of your murder mystery games?
Answer:
All the customizations are made on the site and then the game materials are generated with these customizations. This approach ensures the pre-game website, the invitations, any emailed information and the entire set of printed game materials are consistent and makes it impossible to detect what is part of the core game and what are elements the host customized. In this way, your guests can not tell if they are a prime suspect or a custom suspect that you have created. Host-Party is the only site on the web to allow you to customize games in this way!
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Can I add characters to your murder mystery games?
Answer:
You can easily add characters to any Host-Party murder mystery party (On the 'Guest Characters' page click the 'Add a Custom Character' in the bottom row of the character list). By doing this through our site your guest and their character will automatically be included in all mystery party game materials and throughout the website. Your guests will not be able to tell which characters are the base characters and which are custom.
Of course, you will likely want to add a few clues to keep this character "in the game". It is fairly simple to come up with some clues that relate the custom character to the murder scene. This can also be accommodated through our site (On the 'Guest Characters' page click 'Clues' in the right column. Then click 'Add New' in the header of the Custom Clues box).
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I paid for a mystery game. Why am I still prompted for payment?
Answer:
This can be caused by one of two reasons:
1) You are using the wrong email. Sometimes our customers forget which email they registered at our site (this is not necessarily the same as your Paypal email address).
2) You paid through an eCheck or Bank Account draft with PayPal. These transactions usually take a few days to process. If you need it sooner, please send the payment confirmation email and we can activate the game.
In very rare cases, the transaction does not get posted back to our site. If you think this is the case, please send us a request to activate your game with the details from the confirmation email you received from PayPal.
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Changing the character images was fun, but why did some 'lock' and others not? And, how can you lock and unlock them?
Answer:
Pictures can be modified in the pre-game site as follows:
Any guest can upload a picture for any character if no pictures have been uploaded. Once a picture is loaded only the guest to whom the picture is assigned can change or remove it. This ensures that guests will have ultimate control over what pictures are assigned to them.
The host may add, change or remove any picture from the guest characters page.
Pictures can be modified in the post-game site as follows:
Any guest can upload a picture from the party. Once a picture is loaded only the guest who uploaded the picture or the host can change or remove it.
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Does this game include team building activities?
Answer:
The mystery was written to be performed during a dinner, but other possiblities exist. While the game was written to be performed in one/two rooms --a space for mingling/cocktails at the start of the game as well as the Bid and Build activity and another room pre-set with tables for the meal-- you could customize it and have perhaps another room for the scene of the crime. E.g. A scene of the crime, a "trench" of some kind would be an amusing addition. The clues the inspector presents--the wrench, the gloves etc--could be planted for him to reveal to everyone OR he could just present them as originally planned in the script.
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I purchased the game, but I did not receive a game kit via email.
Answer:
The materials may have been blocked due to size or because of an overaggressive spam filter. If you can accept emails larger than a megabyte, it is probably due to a spam filter. You can download and print (Shipping is not required) the game materials from our website web. Login here with the email and password you registered with on our site.
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I purchased the game, when will I get it?
Answer:
Immediately. Upon purchase, you will immediately have access to your mystery game materials for downloading. No shipping is required.
Games purchased with eCheck payments will remain inactive until the funds have cleared from the sender's account, which usually takes 4 business days.
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What file format are the files?
Answer:
The download files are in PDF format and they cannot be modified without the full version of Adobe Acrobat. However, nearly all materials can be customized using the web site tools. In this way, any customizations are transparent to your guests.
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What's the difference between your team building mystery kits and your regular mystery games?
Answer:
Team Building Games are designed to allow teams to work together to complete a
task (solve a mystery, win an improv contest, etc...). The host-party
website allows hosts to create any number of teams and to assign the guests to
those teams. You can create team names, logos and your creations will be
included in all of the game materials. These games are specifically designed for work group training and corporate events.
Team building games include all of the standard game materials plus:
- Facilitator's Instructions
- Team Assignments Tools
- Team Building Activities
- Table Tents
- Team Building Tips and Suggestions
- Questionnaires and Team Review Tools
- Awards
Read more about the Team Building option. |
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How do I pay with PayPal?
Answer:
Paying with PayPal should be pretty straight forward. Once you click the PayPal icon from our site you should be taken to a payment options screen on the PayPal site. This screen will allow for you to login to PayPal if you are already a PayPal account holder. If you are not, it should take you to a payment screen giving you the choice of using a Credit Card or signing up with PayPal.
If you are using a computer where someone else has created a PayPal account, PayPal may think you are returning user and be prompt you to log in with out an option for a direct Credit Card payment. In this case, you may need to clear paypal cookies from that machine.
Removing cookies varies slightly from browser to browser. In IE, you want to select Internet Options from the tools menu and then click Delete Cookies (This will delete all cookies). If you want to only delete PayPal Cookies click 'Settings' and then click 'View Files' button. From here you can delete any file that looks like: cookie:youremail@paypal.com. After you have done this you need to close all browser windows. Then open a browser, logon to our site, select the paypal icon from the materials page and then you will be prompted to sign up for a new account or just plug in a CC information.
If you are still experiencing problems, try from a different computer or contact PayPal at 1-888-221-1161
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How do I customize the invitation?
Answer:
It depends what invitations you want to customize. If you are using the email invites you can enter the details in the note that goes with the invite. You will be prompted for this when you select the invite recipients.
If you wish to customize the printed invitation beyond just changing the party details, you will need to do this in a word processor. The easiest way to do this is to copy the invite using the HTML version of the invitation. You can find a link to the HTML version on the lower right of the invite generation page. Once you open the invite in your browser "Select all" and then "Copy" from your browser's edit menu. Then go to your word processor and paste the contents.
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What do I do with the clues related to characters I omit?
Answer:
If you are omitting some of the non-required characters you will need to discard any clues that relate to those characters. Once you have printed the game kit, read through the clues and discard any clues that reference the characters who have omitted. Alternatively you can keep the clues in and simply let the guests know that characters is not present. (e.g. Professor Plum is not here because he is detained in police custody for questioning).
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Can I pay with a credit card over the phone?
Answer:
In most cases, when you phone in a credit card order with an Internet retailer they will just process your credit card over the internet for you. Either way, your credit card information is transfer over an internet connection - a secured internet connection. However, when you phone in an order, your credit card information passes through the hands of a support person.
Providing credit card numbers over the phone is less secure than through a secured internet transaction. In fact, for security and liability reasons, host-party.com has no visibility of customer's credit card information. Instead, we have sourced payment processing to Authorize.net and Paypal, arguably the largest and most reputable payment providers on the web. If you are still concerned, you can mail your order to us and pay through a check.
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What are your improv games and how are they different from your murder mysteries?
Answer:
Our games take the most popular improvisation theater activities and adapt them for amateur use in personal parties while incorporating the host-party core features (e.g. email invites, pre-game site, etc). Playing a Host-Party.com improvisation game requires no special acting abilities, just a willingness to try something new, have fun and occasionally look slightly foolish, but don’t worry you won’t be alone!
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Can I change the character name?
Answer:
You can change almost everything about our mysteries, including the character names. Character names are referenced through out the game materials. If you change a character you will need to change all references in all clues. This can be a lot of work. If you don't change all references, your guests will be very confused when reading their clues and game materials.
An alternative to changing the name in all of the clues is to modify the character description to justify the name. For example, if you need to cast a female into a male slot you could change the description to read: "Max Dumas - Maxine is the wealthy actress... Her friends call her Max."
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Can I copy all or a portion of the game?
Answer:
No. Our authors have worked hard to create interesting murder mysteries. Worldwide copyright laws and conventions protect all Host-Party.com printed material. No part of these materials may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written consent from Host-Party.com. The buyer is entitled to use these materials for one event only, unless you purchase multiple usage rights.
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Are your dinner murder mystery games played through the web?
Answer:
Not generally. Our website allows you to customize the game and provides many interactive features to build the excitement about the dinner murder mystery game, but the actual dinner murder mystery game is played in person generally in a dinner party setting. When you the purchase the game, you will have access to a full set of instructions and game materials.
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I try to download the material it gives me a "damaged file" message?
Answer:
This can be caused from either a bad download or an old version of adobe. Please right click and save the file to your hard drive to ensure the download is completed successfully. If you still get this problem, you will need to get the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If neither fixes it, you have another error on your computer and will need to download from another machine.
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How do I know when to start each round for the mystery?
Answer:
(This question is for clue based mysteries only.)
Each round will take about 1/2 hour. This will vary from game to game and party to party. As the host you should get a general idea when everyone has shared their clues and it's time to proceed to the next round of your murder mystery.
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Why am I getting overlapping text in the printkit?
Answer:
This will happen from time to time on games where you have added custom characters with unusually long text descriptions or clues, or if you have not assigned guests to all required characters.
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