Why jubensha is NOT like the others - Part 1 (ft. murder mystery dinner parties)
Sometimes when I describe jubensha, people say: “isn’t that just like X?” Jubensha does indeed share many components of existing entertainment mediums, but the unique combination of them create an entirely new experience. Let’s take a look at the ways jubensha is different from its closest cousins.
Murder mystery dinner party boxes or packages (this part!)
Social deception board games
Escape rooms
Tabletop role playing games (example: Dungeons and Dragons)
Live action role play (LARP) or, specifically, parlour LARP
Mystery novels/movies
In this post, we’ll focus on the first bullet: Murder mystery dinner party boxes/packages
This is jubensha’s progenitor. Nearly two decades ago, it was a French murder mystery box called Death Wears White that was translated into English, then into Chinese. In China, they saw the potential in this kind of game and created jubensha, a distinct game form that has evolved separately from murder mystery dinner party boxes in the years since.
Although they both (mostly) advertise a murder mystery, there are a number of major differences between the two.
Player count
Jubensha usually have a very strict player count, rarely with room to budge. This is because every character is integral to the plot and losing one player means losing a portion of the information required to solve the mystery. The range of players is usually 4-8 players to ensure that each player gets the spotlight without overwhelming the game. The negative here is that you require careful planning to ensure you have the exact player count, so when that’s not possible, jubensha isn’t the right choice.
Murder mystery dinner parties are exactly that: parties. This means that player counts cannot be strict, as you don’t know who will drop out last minute or who might bring an extra plus one. These boxed sets usually have several, if not dozens of optional characters so that everyone can join in on the fun. This does, however, reduce the weight of each individual character, especially the optional ones.
Theme
Typically, murder mystery dinner parties are built around a time era or holiday so it’s geared towards a specific party that a host might want to throw. For example, a New Year’s eve party, a Halloween party, a retro 80s throwback party, a 1920s prohibition era party, etc. Recommendations for costuming, dinner recipes, and decorations are included in these packages to help the host throw a cohesive party centered around this theme.
Jubensha, on the other hand, have a much broader range of themes and settings, including ones you wouldn’t associate with a classic murder mystery. Some don’t even feature a murder mystery - this game form has since evolved to be a medium for story telling, and like novels and movies, only the imagination of the creator is the limit. The one shown in the People Makes Games video, created by KMS games, is set in a university starring chemistry students. The game that I’m writing is set in a fantasy world where players can cast magic to obtain clues. The variety of jubensha themes is immense!
Plot
Because murder mystery dinner parties may have 20, 50, or even 100+ characters, the potential for a complex plot is certainly limited. The mystery is spread thinly and unevenly across all mandatory and optional characters. A light plot relying on character archetypes and classic tropes is well suited for a party scenario where participants favour drinking, socializing, and casually role playing over trying to piece together a complex plot.
Plot is one of the biggest selling points of jubensha. Because they are built with a small and mandatory cast of characters, they are all woven tightly into the plot. Each character has an impact on the story. Each character has interesting relationships with the other characters. Each character has meaningful backstories, secrets, and goals. Plots are handcrafted for the unique setting and characters, and some games, categorized as “emotional scripts” are designed to invoke strong feelings in players. Some even cry while playing!
Mystery puzzle
Another big selling point of jubensha is the mechanic to figure out the murderer. They usually feature a creative or unique logical deduction path, where red herrings are used to guide the trajectory of this path. For example, you might find that the time of death is a certain time. Using that information will lead you to one suspect, only for you to realize, the clock was off. Now you must find how much the clock was off by in order to catch the real murderer. Jubensha may also feature psychological tricks and locked room murders, akin to the ones found in murder mystery novels, movies, and video games.
Murder mystery dinner parties are less rigorous than jubensha in this respect. It’s a party after all, and party-goers might not want to sit down with a pen and paper and draw out a timeline of events! Sometimes it’s a single clue that leads you to the murderer, other times it’s just whoever had the stronger motive between two characters who equally had the chance to commit the crime. You don’t want to lose people when they’re in a happy mood, so the logical deduction isn’t the main selling point for these games.
Even though on the surface jubensha and murder mystery dinner parties may look similar, they are in reality quite different! It’s not that one is better that the other - rather, they are suited for different occasions and require different player expectations. Some games tread the line between jubensha and murder mystery dinner parties (I would consider Death Wears White to be a good example of this) so please keep in mind it’s not always clear cut.
What do you think of the differences I’ve noted in this post? Comment below to share your thoughts!
Keep an eye out for the next part in this series where I’ll compare jubensha to social deception games, escape rooms, and more.
