Jubensha is going international
On capturing its cultural intricacies for a western audience.
Not quite escape rooms, yet not exactly immersive theater, jubensha — or script murder games — is a genre of roleplaying games that has seen a meteoric surge in popularity in China. For an example of just how popular the game is, variety shows centered around jubensha have emerged in the country, with one such show, Who’s the Murderer, surpassing tens of millions in viewership within two hours. At the same time, more than 45,000 jubensha shops were set up in 2021, following the easing of pandemic restrictions in China. This isn’t a niche hobby like live-action roleplaying (LARP); jubensha is a popular social activity, as well as a full-fledged entertainment industry in the country.
The game is also increasingly making its way to Western shores, with jubensha becoming more prominent within the Anglosphere thanks to People Make Games’ documentary last year. At the same time, it’s not an easy experience to describe. Perhaps a comparison most western audiences will be familiar with is the interactive theater performance Sleep No More, in which participants inhabit a set alongside several audience members, going through the space with actors playing out their roles. But in jubensha, you’re also a character in a social deduction game. “It can be hard explaining to someone what Jubensha is without letting them try the game themselves. Most existing games are in Mandarin, making the huge collage of Chinese jubensha games inaccessible to English speakers,” said Caleb, founder of Suspense Studio (formerly known as KMS Games) to Rascal over email.
When asked how widespread jubensha is outside China, Caleb believes there isn’t a sizable demand for the game — yet. “Suspense Studio is the first to design original English Jubensha games,” he explained. ”We originally intended [our games to be designed] for a local Singaporean audience, but with People Make Games’ YouTube video in which they played our debut game Laboratory of Death, there is rising interest internationally, and we are bringing our games to the US, UK and Europe.”
