Game guide
How to play A Day in Beijing
A Day in Beijing is a free 3D story game about your first day in Beijing, from the morning train at Beijing Railway Station to bedtime at your friend Wang Ming's family home, where you talk your way through the day in beginner Mandarin with pinyin over every word and the meanings in English. Your goal is to get through the day's 16 replies, collect a stamp in your travel journal in each of its six places and meet all 21 phrases of Unit 1 of our studio's beginner Chinese course: hello and the polite hello, thank you and sorry and their answers, good morning, good evening and good night, and see you tomorrow.
Play A Day in Beijing
- Genre
- Story game with choices, in 3D, that teaches beginner Mandarin Chinese (with pinyin) from Unit 1 of our studio's beginner Chinese course
- Players
- 1 player
- Length
- One episode of 80 short beats across six places, 16 of them replies and two of them things to do. It takes roughly 7 to 9 minutes, longer if you open every Why? note and the phrasebook. There's no clock, and you can stop at any line and carry on later.
- Plays on
- Phones, tablets and computers, in an up-to-date web browser with WebGL, with no download. Tap, click or use the keyboard, on upright or sideways screens; no gamepad.
- Progress
- Saved in this browser on this device after every step: the sound setting, your place in the episode (the line you're on, the phrases you've met and said, your journal's stamps, second tries and hearts, and any replies crossed out on the question you're on), and how many episodes you've started and finished. Finishing the episode clears your place, so Play again starts at the station. A private window may not keep anything.
- Price
- Free. No download and no account.
- Version
- 1.1.0, updated November 8, 2026
- Feedback
- Comments on itch.io
How to play
- On the title screen, press Play, then Start on the episode's card (Episode 1, Hello! First Words). You play Anna, who has come to Beijing to learn Chinese. If you left the story part-way, the title offers Continue, which takes you straight back to the line you were on, and Start again, which begins a fresh run from the station once you press Start.
- The day moves through six places: Beijing Railway Station, where Wang Ming waits on the platform with a welcome sign, the metro, a breakfast stall, Teacher Zhang's class in a tea house, a hutong at dusk with a man spinning a kongzhu (a Chinese yo-yo) and a flower seller, and Wang Ming's family home. The time and the place show in the top left corner.
- Each line appears in the box at the bottom of the screen: who's speaking, their Chinese with the pinyin over every word, and its meaning in English underneath. A few lines show a picture instead, like steamed buns for 包子？ (bāozi). Tap or click the scene, the box or Continue, or press Enter or Space, to carry on. If the line is still appearing word by word, the first press shows all of it.
- Sixteen times it's your turn, in a box headed Your reply that repeats the line you're answering. Every reply is in Chinese, with its pinyin: some ask you to pick the right phrase, some to tap words in order to build a sentence, and some to pick the missing word in a sentence. Tap or click your answer, or on a computer press the number shown on it.
- A right reply shows your line in Chinese with its pinyin and meaning, the person you answered hops with hearts over their head, and any new phrases go into your phrasebook. A wrong reply costs nothing: the person reacts, your choice is crossed out (or your words go back), and a note headed Not quite shows what your choice meant and gives a hint, often with a Why? button for the full grammar note. Then you try again.
- Twice the story needs a hand rather than words: a button to catch Teacher Zhang's newspaper when a gust snatches it in the tea house, and one to help a man get his kongzhu, a Chinese yo-yo, down off a lantern in the hutong. Press it, tap or click the scene, or press Enter.
- At the end of each place a stamp lands in your travel journal. The day ends at Wang Ming's home, with you asleep and Mimi, Grandma's cat, on your feet. The end screen shows your journal, the phrases you met out of 21, your stamps, your second tries and the hearts each person gave you, with buttons for the Phrasebook, Play again and the Title.
Controls
Keyboard
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enter or Space | Carry on to the next line (the first press shows a line that's still appearing), or do the thing the story asks for. When a button has focus, it presses that button instead |
| 1 to 9 | Pick the reply with that number, place the word with that number in a word bank, or pick the missing word with that number (the numbers show on the buttons) |
| Backspace | Take back the last word you placed in a word bank |
| B | Open or close the phrasebook |
| P or Escape | Pause or resume. With the phrasebook open, close it |
| M | Sound on or off |
| Tab, then Enter or Space | Move to any button and press it: replies, words, Why?, the corner buttons and every menu |
Mouse
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Click the scene, the dialogue box or Continue | Carry on to the next line; a click while a line is appearing shows all of it |
| Click a reply | Answer with it. A reply that's crossed out can't be picked again |
| Click words in order | Build a sentence in a word bank. It checks itself once you've placed as many words as the answer has; Check checks it sooner, and Undo or a click on a placed word takes one back |
| Click a word under the sentence | Fill in the blank |
| Click Why? | Show the full grammar note behind a hint |
| Click the button or the scene, when there's something to do | Catch the newspaper, or get the kongzhu down |
| Click the book, pause or sound button (top right) | Open the phrasebook (its number is how many phrases you've met), pause the story, or turn the sound on or off. In the phrasebook, Phrases and Journal switch pages, and × or a click outside it closes it |
Touch (phones and tablets)
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tap the scene, the dialogue box or Continue | Carry on to the next line; a tap while a line is appearing shows all of it |
| Tap a reply | Answer with it |
| Tap words in order | Build a sentence in a word bank; tap a placed word or Undo to take one back |
| Tap a word under the sentence | Fill in the blank |
| Tap the button or the scene, when there's something to do | Catch the newspaper, or get the kongzhu down |
| Tap the book, pause or sound button (top right) | Open the phrasebook, pause the story, or turn the sound on or off |
Tips
- Read the pinyin over each word to say it out loud: the marks over the vowels are the tones (nǐ hǎo, xièxie). You don't need to read the characters yet; the pinyin and the English meaning under each line are there for that, and the phrasebook keeps every phrase you've met with its pinyin.
- Check the clock in the top left before you greet anyone, because Chinese greets by the time of day. 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo) is good morning, 晚上好 (wǎnshang hǎo) is good evening, and 晚安 (wǎn'ān) isn't a greeting at all: it's good night, what you say at bedtime or when you leave late, which is why Wang Ming says it to you at the very end.
- Some hellos are politer than others. 你好 (nǐ hǎo) is the everyday one, 您好 (nín hǎo) is for someone older or someone you respect, like your friend's grandmother at the door, and in class you greet the teacher with 老师好 (lǎoshī hǎo).
- Thank you and sorry each have their own answer: 谢谢 is answered with 不客气 (bú kèqi) or 不用谢 (búyòng xiè), and 对不起 with 没关系 (méi guānxi). To get someone's attention politely, say 不好意思 (bù hǎoyìsi).
- A wrong reply costs nothing but another try, so read the hint and the Why? note rather than guessing. Stamps and hearts can't be lost: every place gives its stamp, and every right reply, first try or not, wins a heart from the person you answered. The number that changes is second tries on the end screen, so a run with none is the thing to aim for.
- The story saves after every line and reply. Switching to another tab or app pauses it, Back to the title in the pause menu keeps your place, and Continue on the title picks up at the same line, even after you close the browser. Start the episode again in the pause menu, or Start again on the title, begins a fresh run from the station.
Screenshots
Recent updates
Version 1.1.0 · November 8, 2026
- A kongzhu in the hutong. The mime is gone from the hutong: he came with us from Paris, and a mime isn't someone you'd meet in Beijing. In his place, a man spins a kongzhu, a Chinese yo-yo, on a string between two sticks, until he throws it a little too high and it catches in a lantern. Help him get it down! He's on the title screen too.
Version 1.0.1 · November 8, 2026
- The stall-keeper stands behind her counter now. She was standing inside the glass case, among the buns. She also holds the bun up over the counter when she offers it to you.
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