Reinvent Hide-and-Seek for the Digital Age数字时代的捉迷藏新玩法

One evening， I found myself hiding in the shadows of a tree in a Hong Kong park. I was on high alert， warily eyeing everyone walking toward me. I was checking my phone every few seconds， watching the locations of dozens of people who were trying to hunt me down.

某晚，香港某公园内，我躲在某棵树的阴影下，高度警惕地扫视每一个朝我走来的人。我每隔几秒就看一眼手机，留意几十个人的位置变化——他们正在搜寻我。

I wasn’t actually in danger. I was playing a game of hide-and-seek with 40 strangers in a park built on the site of the Kowloon Walled City. It wasn’t a typical hide-and-seek game， though， but rather one for the digital age： both the seekers and the hiders chase and evade each other by following their real-time locations on a map on their phones.

我并未身陷险境，只不过是在九龙寨城旧址上新建的公园里跟40个陌生人玩捉迷藏罢了。当然，这跟大家熟悉的捉迷藏不一样，是数字时代的新玩法： 负责捉的“猫”和负责躲的“鼠”都使用手机上的地图来跟踪彼此的实时位置。

The “cat-and-mouse game”， as it’s usually referred to locally， has gone viral in China last year， drawing thousands of people across the country to events every week. It’s a fun combin-ation of a childhood game， in-person networking， the latest location-sharing technology， and meme-worthy experience. When the game first emerged in February 2023， videos of hide-and-seek players who went wild—climbing up trees， hiding in the sewers—got millions of views on social media.

当地人通常称之为“猫鼠游戏”，这种玩法去年在国内火了起来，每周都能吸引全国成千上万的人参与其中。它结合了儿时游戏、面对面社交、最先进的位置共享技术和适合做成模因的体验，可谓乐趣无穷。2023年2月，这种捉迷藏新玩法首次出现，玩家们的野路子玩法视频——爬树、藏进下水道——在社交媒体上的观看量达到数百万次。

Each contest convenes dozens of people in a predetermined area， often a large city park. All of them then join a group on Amap and share their live location. Among the participants， 90% are designated as “mice” and have five minutes to run and hide. Then the rest， who are “cats，” will go out and hunt down each mouse with the help of the location sharing， as well as a neon wristband that visually separates them from nonparticipants. Once caught， the mice switch teams and join the cats， so the game gets harder and harder for the remaining mice.

每场游戏，几十个人聚在预定的区域（一般是大型城市公园），全都加入同一个高德地图群组，开启实时位置共享。90%的玩家当“鼠”，用5分钟时间跑开、躲藏；剩余的玩家便是“猫”，他们要借助位置共享以及能从视觉上将玩家与非玩家区分开的荧光手环，把每一只“鼠”都揪出来。一旦被抓，“鼠”就转换阵营，变成“猫”，所以对剩下的“鼠”来说，游戏难度会越来越高。

During a short trip to Hong Kong， I joined two cat-and-mouse games in the city. Both of them had about 40 participants and lasted one hour. The first park was larger and had fewer people， meaning it was prime for running and chasing; the second was crowded and smaller， which made it ideal for trying to blend in with passersby.

在一次香港短途旅行中，我参加了两场“猫鼠游戏”。每场都有约40名玩家，时长是1小时。第一场游戏所在的公园较大，人也较少，非常适合奔跑追逐；第二场游戏的场地较小，人又很多，非常适合混入人群。

Being an indoor person， I’m not always a fan of group physical activities， but the two experiences went far beyond my expectations. The addition of location sharing has turned the kids’ game into a more interactive version of Pokémon GO1. Trying to remain hidden in the same spot throughout the game was not possible， since the cats could always see where I was; I needed to get more creative in crafting an escape plan. I quickly learned that deception—hiding my glowing bracelet， pretending to be an innocent jogger， and avoiding checking my phone too often—was also essential to being a good mouse.

身为宅男，我通常对团体体育活动不怎么感兴趣，但这两次体验远远超出我的预期。新玩法增加了位置共享，把儿童游戏变成了互动性更强的《宝可梦GO》。游戏全程躲在同一个地方是行不通的，因为“猫”总能看到我在哪里。我必须发挥创意，精心制定逃跑计划。我很快就掌握了诀窍：瞒天过海也是演好“鼠”的必要技能，比如藏起荧光手环、假装无辜的跑步路人，还有别过于频繁地看手机。

Just watching everyone’s locations in the app was an intense experience. Dozens of little avatars were floating around in the park at once， with cats gradually outnumbering mice as the game progressed. Delays and bugs were plenty， but that added to the fun and difficulty of the game. I could feel safe at one moment， seeing there were no cats around， and panic seconds later when a cat suddenly moved hundreds of feet toward me， likely because its location sharing had lagged.

仅仅看着地图上每位玩家的位置就足以让人心跳加速。几十个小头像同时在公园里窜动，而随着游戏进行，“猫”的数量渐渐超过“鼠”的数量。延迟常有，漏洞常见，但这也为游戏增加了难度和趣味。前一刻，四下里一只“猫”都看不到，我觉得安全无虞；几秒后，一只“猫”突然从几百英尺之外向我冲来，我变得惊慌失措——很可能就是因为对方的位置共享出现了延迟。

As a first-timer， I did okay. For my first game， I survived as a mouse until the last few minutes， when mostly every- one else had converted to the cat side. For my second outing， I converted mid-game and caught two mice myself.

作为新手，我的表现还算可以。第一场，我以“鼠”的身份撑到了最后几分钟，那时其他玩家几乎全都变成了“猫”。第二场，我中场“变节”，捉到了两只“鼠”。

I’ll readily admit some people were much better than I was. Hong， a 19-year-old college student， was crowned the “cat king” of the second game， having caught 11 mice by the end. “I like that you can both exercise and have fun in this activity，” Hong says. He first learned about the game through videos people shared on Chinese social media， and he has been to several games since. He told me the largest one had more than 140 participants.

我欣然承认，有些玩家比我厉害太多了。在第二场游戏中，19岁的大学生洪同学最终捉住11只“鼠”，荣登“猫王”宝座。“这项活动既能锻炼身体又很好玩，我很喜欢。”洪同学说。他从国内社交媒体上人们分享的视频中了解到这种新玩法，目前已经参加了许多场游戏。他告诉我，规模最大的一场有140多人参加。

His secret for success？ A lot of lies and politics： “You can make a deal with the mice and have them help you find other little mice. You can also pretend to be a mouse and strike up a chat with them2.”