Learn Chinese by playing through a Taiwan folk-tale RPG
You picked up a red envelope on the street and now you are bound by a ghost-marriage contract. Talk your way through temples, a homestay, and a night market, in Chinese, to collect the seals that undo it.
No signup. Opens straight into the game in your browser.
《鬼月奇譚》, a cozy Ghost Month story
You are an exchange student who picks up a red envelope (紅包) on the street during Ghost Month, and it accidentally binds you to a ghost marriage. To annul the contract before the Ghost Gate closes, you need seals from local folk deities, and every one of them wants a favor first. It is a warm, funny story about Taiwan folk culture, never horror or gore.
How Ghost Month teaches vocabulary
Talk to NPCs in Chinese
Every deity, neighbor, and shopkeeper speaks Chinese. Tap a line to reveal pinyin or zhuyin and an English translation, or tap a reply to send it and keep the conversation moving.
Pick a difficulty
Choose HSK 4 or HSK 6 for how demanding the NPC dialogue is. This is separate from your regular TingWo level, so you can play at whatever difficulty suits the moment.
Collect words, not just seals
Words you run into while playing can become review cards in your normal spaced-repetition deck, the same FSRS scheduling used across the rest of TingWo.
Five chapters through a folk-tale town
The campaign runs through five real locations, in order, each with its own deity and its own small favor to do before you can move on.
土地公小祠 · The Earth God's shrine
A small neighborhood shrine on an old street, lanterns glowing in the evening. The Earth God explains the ghost-marriage contract you accidentally triggered and hands over the first seal, after one small favor.
老街民宿 · The old-street homestay
A cozy family homestay smelling of tea and fresh cake. No deities here, just warm relatives fussing over a new guest before you head out to keep collecting seals.
夜市裡的虎爺 · Tiger God at the night market
A bright, crowded night market full of steam, lanterns, and snack stalls. Bring Tiger God (虎爺) a red turtle cake and he stamps his seal so you can move on to the matchmaker's temple.
月老的廳堂 · Yue Lao's matchmaker hall
A hall strung with red thread and paper lanterns. Help a shy couple confess to each other, then give Yue Lao a protective amulet in exchange for his seal on your annulment.
城隍爺大殿 · The City God's underworld hall
A dim, lantern-lit hall of tidy paperwork and incense. Present all three seals to the City God before the Ghost Gate closes, and the accidental marriage is finally annulled.
Built for learners, not just players
- Optional pinyin, zhuyin, and English translation on every line of dialogue.
- Two NPC-speech difficulties (HSK 4 and HSK 6), independent of your app-wide level.
- Cozy pixel art and music, no combat, no fail states.
- Words from the game feed the same FSRS spaced-repetition review deck as the rest of TingWo.
- Free, no signup required to start playing.
Frequently asked questions
What is Ghost Month?
Ghost Month is a free pixel-art RPG built into TingWo. You play an exchange student who picks up a red envelope during Taiwan's Ghost Month and accidentally gets bound by a ghost-marriage contract. You explore a folk-tale town, a temple, a night market, and a matchmaker's hall, talking to folk deities in Chinese to collect the seals you need to annul it.
Do I need to know Chinese already to play?
No. NPC conversations are in Chinese, but you can reveal pinyin, zhuyin, and an English translation for any line. You also pick HSK 4 or HSK 6 difficulty for how the NPCs speak, separately from your regular TingWo settings, so the dialogue matches what you can handle.
Is Ghost Month scary or horror themed?
No. Despite the name, the tone is warm, cozy, and often funny. The folk deities you meet, an Earth God, a Tiger God, the matchmaker Yue Lao, and the City God, are helpful and good humored, and the story never goes into horror or gore.
Does playing Ghost Month help my TingWo vocabulary reviews?
Yes. Words you encounter in the game's dialogue can become review cards in your regular spaced-repetition deck, the same FSRS-scheduled system used for text you paste or photograph elsewhere in TingWo.
How much does Ghost Month cost?
Nothing. Ghost Month is free to play and does not require an account. Tap play and a short onboarding drops you straight into the first chapter.
Is Ghost Month based on real Taiwanese folk religion?
Yes, loosely. The deities and settings, an Earth God shrine, a night market's Tiger God, Yue Lao the matchmaker, and the City God, are drawn from real Taiwanese folk religion and Ghost Month customs, retold as a light, playable story.
Pick up the red envelope
Play opens straight into the game in your browser. No signup, no download.