青楼

As this is a commercial boxed game, many Chinese reviews exist; you might want to check them out too.

Played at: 梦回 Another Day
7 players (3 female, 4 male)

《青楼》is known as a classic beginner-friendly light-hearted (欢乐) case; I think this reputation is well deserved. Its great advantage over some other beginner-friendly and/or light-hearted cases is that it retains a focus on murder-solving, thus providing a more effective introduction to jubensha than cases without real 推理ing.

Every character has something to hide, making each role very playable. However, the case is much less friendly to some murderers than others. There’s also a 机制 (game-mechanics) component which felt neither fair nor satisfying (though it was admittedly still entertaining/exciting).

If you treat this as a fun time and don’t take winning/losing too seriously, then you might find《青楼》to be a solid experience, and a good way to ease into jubensha.

Try if you like: A beginner-friendly fun time with non-negligible murder-solving; a case that can be finished in 4 hours; not needing to read much.

Not recommended for: Very shy players; experienced 推理-focused players; players who really dislike game mechanics, especially with a large element of chance.