Chinese fans of a game called "Police and Killer" are being recruited for a world record attempt.
A Nanjing-based club is organizing the world's largest competition of the murder-mystery game, featuring 2,009 players.
The club has applied to Guinness World Records in London for the bid to be recognized.
Organizer Chen Yue said the club began to recruit game players from Shanghai, Nanjing of Jiangsu Province and Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province online last Wednesday. It has also contacted some "Police and Killer" game clubs to attract players.
"So far, more than 700 fans have registered for the game. Many are university students," Chen said.
The applicants would take part in games in the three cities and the 2,009 winners would attend a final competition together, he said. The final is due to be held at the end of this year or early next year.
The game is believed to have had its origins in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories about Sherlock Holmes.
In the game there are four roles -- police, killer, civilian and judge -- which are determined by drawing lots. Each player keeps their identity a secret, except for the judge.
Players who are police are charged with finding out who all the killers are and then persuading civilians to vote for each killer's death.
The killers, meanwhile, must persuade civilians that they are "good" while at the same time trying to find out which players are police, and kill them.
The game is believed to have been introduced to the Chinese mainland in the late 1990s by some overseas Chinese students who had been to Silicon Valley in the United States.
Chen said he was inspired to seek the record after hearing that 1,000 British Monopoly players were recently listed with Guinness World Records for playing the game together.
"It is meaningless if players want to really enjoy the game and improve their skills through the activity. But I may join in the fun with the aim to make more friends," said Wen Zhiyong, one of the founders of a games club in Shanghai.
(Shanghai Daily September 16, 2008)
