What to Expect at Your First Jubensha Experience

If you reading this there’s a good chance you’ve never played Jubensha before. And you might have not even heard of it until you came here. Well, just like escape games, it can seem a little overwhelming before you played, but once you get going the game flows quite intuitively. Its just a matter of getting past those first few minutes.

So what exactly can you expect during Jubensha? First off, unlike a one hour escape room Jubensha will be an evenings experience. Our initial offerings both last approximately 3 hours. But like an escape room, the time flies by much quicker than that.

The premise behind Jubensha is simple: A crime (usually a murder) has taken place and its your job to solve it. You and each of your fellow players will take on the roles of suspects each attempting to unravel the mystery. The catch is one among you is the culprit, and their job is to throw everyone else off the trail and pin it on someone else. Each character will have their own secrets and hidden agendas that will throw the others off the trail. Each of you will be searching for evidence and interrogating the others in attempt to solve the mystery.

Before the game starts you game host will introduce these basics with you, introduce the scenario and basic game rules, then answer any initial questions you might have. Like a briefing for an escape room this doesn’t take long. And your host will be present with you for the entire game, so they can answer any questions that might come up during gameplay. All of this should take 10-15 minutes depending on how many questions you have.

While the rules for Jubensha can vary from title to title a few tend to be in place for many games:

• Your character script is for your eyes only. You cannot show any other players your script, nor may you ever look at another player’s script.
• Always listen to your host. Its their job to keep the game on track and make sure everyone knows what their doing. They won’t steer you wrong and are always there to answer questions.
• Never read directly from your script unless instructed to do so. You’ll need to paraphrase what it says in your own words.
• When the game starts, always refer to your character as “I”. During the game, you are that character. And always refer to other players as their characters. Don’t worry! We’ll have name tags and desk nameplates to help you remember who is who.

Once that’s done, each player will get to decide what character they’ll play for the evening. Then its time to learn about who your character is and their motivations. The character you take on will have a script that goes with it, so there will be some reading to do. This isn’t like a movie script that you read aloud (though some games may have short theater scenes that you’ll read aloud and perform).

Scripts tend to be about 8-10 pages, but can often be broken up into smaller parts that reveal portions of the story at a time. This script will include your characters backstory along with the events leading up to and including the murder. It will be very important to read your script carefully to understand what’s going on, but don’t worry there is no need to memorize anything. You will always have it with you to refer back to when needed. Selecting characters and reading scripts normally takes about 20 minutes.

Once this is done its time to get to the detective work! You’ll go a series of rounds (usually 2-3 but this may vary on the title) of searching for evidence. Cards are used to summarize your findings concerning other players, the victim, the crime scene and any other pertinent locations. Only you’ll be able to see this evidence. Its up to you to decide if you want to reveal it to everyone else!

Once everyone has received their evidence, you’ll each have the opportunity present it to the others. As you do, you’ll each discuss what you find and have the opportunity to interrogate the other suspects. Does the evidence you find implicate a certain player? Or does it hide another darker secret they might have? Oh, that’s right, I forgot to mention all of the dirty secrets and hidden agendas each of you has, did I? You may not have been the one who committed the murder, but you likely aren’t a saint either. Its very likely your character has some other secondary objective to accomplish in addition to solving the murder. And all this is what drives the game throwing you off the scent of the true culprit.

That player across the table may not be hiding that piece of evidence because they murdered someone. It could be to hide that one other thing they don’t want anyone to know about. Or maybe their protecting a loved one… You’ll never be quite sure.

This will be the meat and potatoes of the mystery and will take up the bulk of the game, usually about 2 hours or so. Once that’s done, its time to put all that detective work and vote on the murderer. Its not enough to just figure it out yourself, you’ll need to convince a majority of the players why you have the actual criminal. Then – The Big Reveal! You’ll find out whether someone has gotten away with murder. You’ll find out the true culprit and you’re host will go what really happened the night of the murder!