The day before I went back to Singapore, I got to go to an Ace Attorney Escape Game (link to the Japanese page)! That day was the start of the Fukuoka game (it’s held nation-wide), so I felt really lucky that I managed to get tickets – I literally can’t make it for any other day.
My tickets, which were pre-bought the ticket online (and paid at Lawson). Pre-buying and using the student price was the cheapest way to get these. While there are same-day tickets, they are significantly more expensive.
Oh, and while I was allowed to bring in my camera, I felt quite awkward taking photos with it (especially since I didn’t know anyone else in my team), so I ended up taking all my photos with my phone :p
Anyway, this is what I received when I entered the hall!
And my team number:
We were grouped into groups of 6, and I was the only one who was:
1. Alone
2. A first timer
But everyone was really nice! They were like 緊張しますね (it’s quite nerve-wracking – sorry bad translation) and generally being encouraging and stuff.
This is the back of the flyer I received. It’s two ‘news articles’ and provides information on the case. Basically, a medium was killed and this guy (the defendant) was accused of murder. The defendant was working in the temple, so he had the most opportunity, or at least that’s how the prosecution was framing it. It’s kinda easy to figure out who the real murderer is, since there are only three characters, but proving it was hard!
The table (before we took out everything):
And this is how the room looks like:
The first part was a short intro, which explained the case in greater detail. The third wall was broken, because we were introduced as trial assistants (and wannabe defence lawyers). The funny part was when Phoenix tried to ‘sweeten the deal’ by promising to defend us for free if/when we were charged with murder.
After that, the game was introduced. And I realised that this wasn’t an escape game. IT’S A REAL LIFE ACE ATTORNEY GAME!!
Basically, we’re given witness testimony and evidence, and we have to find the contradiction and present evidence to the judge to get new testimony and evidence and continue with the story.
The time limit is 1 hour, and everything is held in Japanese. I thought it was manageable though – there were a few words I didn’t know, but I managed to guess the meaning from the kanji, and from the way they were used.
And when you present evidence, you have to yell Phoenix’s catchphrase: 異議あり (igi ari). I think the English version is “Objection!”
Here’s a video of us practicing. The guy was saying that “it’s an actual rule”
And the judge will make you shout it again if you aren’t loud enough. I was made to shout it twice when I went to the judge.
And the game starts!! I didn’t take too many photos after this because it would be rude, and the game is too fun. No time to take photos and videos at all. I didn’t even think about it till we reached a particularly tricky stage and couldn’t progress.
Two teammates presenting evidence to the judge. There are 28 teams, so we have to present to a specific judge because if not, our story may stop.
My teammates were nice and let me go present the first piece of evidence! After that, though, the people closest to the judge just did it.
We actually finished the first half pretty quickly (within 30 minutes) and left the table for a short while to ‘talk’ to Maya via manga pannels. After that, we got a lot more new testimoney, starting the second half.
The second half was soooo difficult. We couldn’t figure it out at all! I was actually scared that I wouldn’t find out how the criminal did it, and I’m the kind that really needs to know. Luckily, though, they went through the answers with us after the game ended. At the second half, everyone was like OHHHHH, so I guess everyone was stuck at the same point. It’s like, so obvious once you hear it!
Only two teams succeeded, which apparently is normal cause they have a 5-10% success rate.
The last, last part was another video segment, so that we can watch Phoenix present the final evidence and get the Not Guilty verdict. By the way, I found it funny that at the last part, our not-guilty defendant expressed his thanks by offering to contact Phoenix when he got murdered to uncover the truth!
After that were the ads for the other games coming up (they have an Attack on Titan one apparently) and then we could go. They were selling merchandise, so I got some stuff for my bro (he loves Ace Attorney too) and two friends. It’s a bit expensive, but what do you know. I just wish that they would sell the ‘casebook’ for this (especially since I saw a book that contained the questions of past games), but I guess it would be impossible since this is on-going! I would love to own a copy of the book version of this one day though, it would be fun to go through the puzzles again!
I’m so glad that I managed to make it to the game! It was way better than what I expected, and I had pretty high expectations to begin with.