Welcome to your weekly snapshot of the most interesting games and play experiences I'm exploring, from video games to escape rooms to anything in between.
Top story: Jubensha is here!
This weekend I headed down to Theatre Deli in London for Jubensha Con 2026 - billed as the world's first convention dedicated to English-language jubensha.
If you haven't come across the format yet, jubensha (剧本杀, literally "script murder") is a Chinese phenomenon that has absolutely exploded in the last few years. Picture a mash-up of Cluedo, escape rooms, LARP and tabletop RPG: players pick up a character script, hunt for clues, lie to each other a lot, and try to work out who in the room is the murderer.
There are reportedly over 45,000 dedicated jubensha venues in China - more than McDonald's worldwide - and some surveys have placed it as the third most popular form of entertainment for under-30s, behind movies and sport. Wow.
Big well done to the con organisers for pulling off something genuinely new and getting a packed-out room of designers, players and the merely curious all in one place.
This week
What even is jubensha? Honestly, just watch this video. It explains the format better than I ever could in a bullet point.
David Middleton's Fade to Black was great! A highlight of the convention - by David at Rebel Brain. Set on a struggling 1995 London film set, the lead actor dies on camera during his own death scene. Five people in the room know more than they're letting on. Read more here.
Jubensha meets immersive theatre. I also went along to Alibi, which fuses the jubensha format with London's thriving immersive theatre scene. Co-created by Dean Rodgers (whose earlier show The Crow Club evolved into this), Alibi: Dead Air puts you inside the murder investigation of true crime podcaster Gloria Carpenter. It was a fun night out - highly recommended.
Will the format catch on over here? I really hope so. Western murder mystery games have tended to live in the slightly dusty "boxed set" corner, or in scripted dinner theatre - jubensha brings a level of player agency and emotional depth that I think UK audiences are absolutely ready for. It's very "Traitors" - and we know how big that show is here…
Watch this space - and if you get the chance to play one, take it.
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