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Hi, everyone and welcome back to Happy Hour. 欢迎回来酒馆. Hi, 安澜.

Hi, lulu, hi, everyone.

As we're recording, this is right around Children's Day. A lot of overgrown-children these days. “过期儿童”, adults who are starting to reminisce about the games they played when they were younger. I'm just wondering, do you remember your youth?

Do I remember my youth? I'm not that old.

I thought you were in your seventies.

I'm not that bad. No, I would say when I was a kid, it was lots of kind of just running around really. I used to like sort of make-believe games, so pretending that I was in a particular place or doing... having a quest or going on an adventure...

Oh, did you not have friends?

I did, I did. I just made them play the game.

So it's kind of like role-playing.

Kind of, yeah.

I see, for example, cops and thieves or whatever, pirates.

That's it, pretty much.

My question is, do you know what Chinese youngsters are playing?

KTV?

No, that's for older people. KTV is now actually more favored by people my mom's age, people who are in their retirement, they would actually do that. Nowadays, young people are playing or they have been playing this for at least 10 years now, which is something called剧本杀.

That's LARPing, isn't it?

First of all, let's get into this concept. Directly translated into 剧本as in script, 杀 as in killing, murder.

So I guess in English, it's kind of related to either Murder Mystery Game, like Murder Mystery Nights, or what you were saying LARPing. LARPing is Live Action Role Playing.

Okay. Murder Mystery, I know something about, because they're really, really popular in the UK and other countries as well.

Yeah, LARPing I've already talked to Brad about in Geek Time because that's a very geeky thing to do when it comes to English speaking world, when you hear people say they are LARPing, you think about Big Bang Theory the guys are dressed up in Medieval costumes, and that's LARPing.

So let's talk about something that's very similar to 剧本杀, which is Murder Mystery. This is not something new.

No, it's been around for years. And it's basically a role playing game where the people taking part must work together to solve a fictional murder.

That's exactly 剧本杀...

Exactly, yeah. Players are given clues, they play specific roles, and they try to figure out who the murderer is before time runs out.

We did that with our team once.

Yes, I was the bartender.

You were the bartender. I was like a really famous writer, like a mystery writer.

Okay, yeah I remember that.

I don't remember if I was the murderer. I think I was.

You were the murderer. Yeah.

But no one really guessed me. I think they didn't find out.

But that was a lot of fun. I do remember that.

These games, in China, they are usually at a specific venue. These are剧本杀馆. So basically they're like a specific party space for that.

But in the UK these can take place in homes, restaurants, online and sometimes you have Murder Mystery Weekends as well.

I always wanted to join that, but it seems like in the UK a lot of people who join murder mystery nights or weekends or dinners, they are not youngsters, they are elderly, they are actually people who are retired.

That is true.

So the love of mystery really runs in English people's blood.

Pretty much.

Very Agatha Christie feel.

Well, exactly. Because these murder mystery games have been around for years and there was actually a game called Cluedo or Clue.

好像叫什么谜案追凶（妙探寻凶）还是什么, 是一个桌游.

I have actually the English version Cluedo. It's basically like a plan, floor plan of different rooms of big house. 它像一个房间的平面图一样 and different, like the library, the garden. And you have to figure out who was the murderer, what did they do it with, so the weapon they used, and also the motive, why they did it?

So I play that game as well. I really, really like it. I do like a good murder mystery.

That was back in the 40s, in 1940s.

Yeah. It's been around since then. It's a classic board game. Over the years, these games have just become more and more complicated. So you have murder mystery weekends and also you have murder mystery dinner parties.

Yeah, I've seen those advertised in England. It looks like a lot of fun. It's very immersive theater experience.

Exactly, you dress up and you eat your dinner and clues are given. There are normally actors as well taking part...

So they're NPC, Non Player Character.

And basically they're just there to play the role and you have to try and solve the murder while having your dinner.

Yeah, I think the difference between the games, like Room Escape or Escape Room with NPC and without NPC is, obviously with NPC, you're dealing with semi-professional or even professional actors. And they're giving you the clue. It's more like a real game. But with a lot of the murder mystery scripts now, you have, essentially you're playing amongst yourselves. It's the script that is worth the money, you basically play with people that you go with.

Exactly.

Do you know that apart from murder mystery, this in China has expanded into other genres?

Has it?

There are romance scripts for crying out loud. There are realistic, more about family drama. And I often think, I'm sorry, this has got to be favored by young people because they haven't really lived through that in real life.

Is there like a mystery? Is there a problem you need to solve?

I don't really know.

Okay.

I think it does sound like playing house? 就是过家家. It's more for people who don't really have those problems in real life. So they will pretend to have it in the script.

Yeah, well, somebody who has had those problems in real life, I'm not sure if that's gonna be my form of entertainment, but never mind.

Exactly. And some people, especially people who are already being tortured by their job, super stressed out. And they said, why do they want to have a team building experience with people they barely know over the weekend. Because to them it doesn't feel like entertainment. It feels like extra work. It feels like you're having a meeting over the weekend.

Yeah, that does sound a bit strange, but we've all had to go through those type of things before those, or team building exercises, they were always a bit cringe, weren’t they?

Cringe就很尬, 是么?

Yeah.

Honestly I wouldn't mind, but I don't want to be that boss that orders her team to play...

Thank goodness. I'm very happy to hear you say that.

So quick question, if you are actually at one of these events, would you rather be the killer, the murderer or would you wanna be like the witness or the victim... the victim usually doesn't speak.

The victim just lies on the ground normally.

What kind of part do you want to cast yourself in?

It’ll be nice to be the murderer for once, because I've done these games a few times and I've always been the witness, well, also being in China as well, kind of I didn't really have much of a speaking part because they can be quite complicated Chinese.

You must be the deaf mute.

Exactly. I could be that. I think I was that last time.

The deaf-mute eyewitness. 聋哑或者说沉默寡言的目击者.

So what about you? I'm guessing the murderer.

I'd love to play the murderer or maybe the detective or maybe the detective who also is the murderer, oh, the plot thickens.

Okay.

I really love this sort of immersive interactive theater, something just really intriguing about it, but you really gotta have a good bunch of people to play that with.

Exactly.

Okay, so if you're listening to this episode and you are like me, contact us, so we can form a team.

Yes. We can't really find enough people who like this type of thing.

安澜doesn't even like it.

I don't really like it either.

So to finish today, let's share with our audience some vocabulary or expressions that are often used in these type of murder mystery games.

So first of all, you have suspect.

就是嫌犯. Everyone is a suspect usually in that.

The person who may have committed the crime, but you will obviously also have clues.

线索, clue.

These are pieces of information that would help solve the mystery, and of cause, there's alibi. 不在场证明they would say I went to the movies that night. There's a movie stub(电影票根).

Yep. But the thing that always gets me about these games is there's always a red herring.

Red herring就是那种迷惑的选项. For example, 安澜looked really suspicious. So everyone was suspecting oh, it’s definitely him, but no, he's just a red herring.

That's just my normal expression.

To lead the detectives on the wrong path.

So of course, it's important to find out the motive, what is the reason someone would want to commit a crime?

Aside from serial killers, most people kill either for money, for revenge, or for love, 情钱仇.

I would say that's pretty much sums up kind of most murder mysteries.

That's humanity.

So motive is very important. And then there's this detective or amateur sleuth.

The sleuth.

Sleuth, we talked about this word before when we were talking about Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. That just means detective.

So detective is the formal name that's actually the title, but we can also say an amateur sleuth.

And of cause, then you have witness or even eyewitness, 目击者或者证人. And you need to accuse someone, for example, 安澜I accuse you of murdering that woman.

And then I got to come up with an alibi and...

To prove your innocence or failing to do that.

And finally, of course, you have the plot twist.

The plot twist, plot就是情节, 所以plot twist相当于是反转. So maybe the one, the deaf-mute bartender, no one suspected, he's the one that plotted the entire murder.

Well, if you believe that, you believe that.

Plot twist. So as we're wrapping up, leave us a comment in the comment section, let us know if you have ever participated in these type of games, what kind of character do you like to play and also put in your request for any other topics you want us to talk about.

So until next time.

We'll see you next time.

Bye.

Bye.

排版长图：Jer.ry

文稿校对：Dongnia & Jenny

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