Murder is in right now.
Not the real kind, of course, but the playful kind of murder mysteries you might’ve found in an old-time game of Clue or a classic dinner theater.
Shows like Only Murders in the Building and The Residence are breathing new life into the genre, and companies are getting creative with this old-school topic.
“Case” in point is Cold Case Ice Cream, a company that is offering a mystery-themed set of ice cream flavors, packed in a cooler and shipped right to your door.
Cold Case sent me their Break Free Case ice cream box to try out with my family.
When the box arrived, I immediately started unpacking it. The ice cream is packed on dry ice, ensuring that it arrives in great shape.
The first clue this wasn’t your typical box of ice cream was a real-life evidence bag sitting on top of the pints inside the box.
It contained instructions for our evening of ice cream mystery. That little touch of realism set the mood for the rest of the items inside.
Cold Case ice creams are ultra-premium pints with creative flavors that match the mystery theme. You can enjoy them as they are, or you can play a fun “mystery” game where one person in your group acts as the lead detective (Commissioner), and others taste the ice creams blind and try to solve the mystery of their creative flavors.
I played the game this way with my kids. The flavors in Cold Case’s box run the gamut from traditional to slightly bizarre. So, too, do the names.
“Illegal Fireworks” is a simple sweet-cream ice cream filled with Pop Rocks, creating an exploding sensation as you eat it.
Other flavors are far more complex. One flavor, America’s Most Wanted, includes goat cheese ice cream with a berry swirl. Good luck to your “detective” participants in guessing that one!
Most of the flavors have fun and amusing names, but it’s a tough line for Cold Case to walk. “Summer Camp Massacre” felt a little too on the nose; I wasn’t sure how to explain its meaning to my kids.
To be fair, the flavor itself was delicious—basically a s’mores-flavored ice cream, complete with crushed-up graham crackers.
Cookie Mobster, a bright blue ice cream with Oreo chunks, was much easier for them to understand and for me to explain–and it was very tasty, too.
Cold Case’s game would be a fun one to play even if the ice cream wasn’t that good. But it helps that the flavors are genuinely tasty, and we wanted to keep eating all of them—except for the very intense goat cheese one.
Every part of the Cold Case experience is nicely themed to the overall concept. Our box included a little metal spoon shaped like a shovel—all the better to bury the evidence…or maybe the bodies!
The box also includes a more complicated card game if you want to keep playing the murder-mystery theme after you’ve finished all the ice cream. It was nice to see the inclusion of something lasting that we could hold onto after the pints were all finished.
Cold Case is a fun activity to do with my kids, and they got very into the idea of guessing the flavors. It would also be a great activity for a book club, school group, or fundraising night when you want to do something a little different—and tastier—than the standard murder-mystery game.
Grab your own Cold Case ice creams via DoorDash where they’re offered, or have a case shipped to your door via the Cold Case website.
All photos credit Thomas Smith/Bay Area Telegraph.
