The “cat-and-mouse recreation,” because it’s often referred to domestically, has gone viral in China this yr, drawing hundreds of individuals throughout the nation to occasions each week. It’s a enjoyable mixture of a childhood recreation, in-person networking, the most recent location-sharing know-how, and meme-worthy expertise. When the sport first emerged in February, movies of hide-and-seek gamers who went wild—climbing up bushes, hiding within the sewers—obtained tens of millions of views on social media.
Every contest convenes dozens of individuals in a predetermined space, typically a big metropolis park. All of them then be a part of a gaggle on Amap, a Chinese language Google Maps different, and share their stay location. Among the many individuals, 90% are designated as “mice” and have 5 minutes to run and conceal. Then the remaining, who’re “cats,” will exit and seek out every mouse with the assistance of the situation sharing, in addition to a neon wristband that visually separates them from nonparticipants. As soon as caught, the mice change groups and be a part of the cats, so the sport will get tougher and tougher for the remaining mice.
Throughout a brief journey to Hong Kong final month, I joined two cat-and-mouse video games within the metropolis. Each of them had about 40 individuals and lasted one hour. The primary park was bigger and had fewer individuals, which means it was prime for operating and chasing; the second was crowded and smaller, which made it preferrred for attempting to mix in with passersby.
Being an indoor individual, I’m not at all times a fan of group bodily actions, however the two experiences went far past my expectations. The addition of location sharing has turned the youngsters’ recreation right into a extra interactive model of Pokémon Go. Attempting to stay hidden in the identical spot all through the sport was not attainable, for the reason that cats may at all times see the place I used to be; I wanted to get extra artistic in crafting an escape plan. I shortly realized that deception—hiding my glowing bracelet, pretending to be an harmless jogger, and avoiding checking my telephone too typically—was additionally important to being a very good mouse.
Simply watching everybody’s places within the app was an intense expertise. Dozens of little avatars have been floating round within the park directly, with cats steadily outnumbering mice as the sport progressed. Delays and bugs have been loads, however that added to the enjoyable and problem of the sport. I may really feel secure at one second, seeing there have been no cats round, and panic seconds later when a cat abruptly moved a whole bunch of ft towards me, doubtless as a result of its location sharing had lagged.
As a first-timer, I did okay. For my first recreation, I survived as a mouse till the previous couple of minutes, when largely everybody else had transformed to the cat facet. For my second outing, I transformed mid-game and caught two mice myself.
I’ll readily admit some individuals have been significantly better than I used to be. Hong Shizhe, a 19-year-old faculty pupil, was topped the “cat king” of the second recreation, having caught 11 mice by the top. “I like you could each train and have enjoyable on this exercise,” Hong says. He first realized in regards to the recreation by way of movies individuals shared on Chinese language social media, and he has been to a number of video games in Hong Kong and mainland China since. He instructed me the most important one had greater than 140 individuals. As soon as, he even took his canine to the park with him and nonetheless received the sport.
His secret for achievement? A whole lot of lies and politics: “You may make a take care of the mice and have them assist you discover different little mice. It’s also possible to faux to be a mouse and strike up a chat with them.”