Board game on gender discrimination makes waves in China

The game requires four to six players, with one playing Zhihui while others act as her father, mother, younger brother, male friend and female friend. They each represent a certain "attribute" of the protagonist, which are respectively social competence, self-esteem, pressure, submissiveness and sensitivity. Each attribute is 50 before the game starts.

As keeping Zhihui alive is the game's sole objective, it requires players to reach a consensus on how she should properly react to each scenario, according to the game's developer. Each choice awards different points to each attribute and Li Zhihui "dies" as soon as the attribute representing pressure hits 100 or one of the rest hits zero.

"It shocked us all that we weren't able to make Li Zhihui survive her 30s, even though we were the people who knew the game so well," said Li Jingyuan, recalling a playtest in early March she had with her business partners from DICE, a game studio who helped localize and optimize the game for the Chinese market.

The editor also told China Daily playing the game was a nerve-wracking process full of intense arguing and persuasion, as they all feared their choices may result in Li's death.

"What makes keeping Li Zhihui alive so hard is there's no such thing as the perfect choice for each scenario," the editor said.