Famed for inducing snaking queues whenever she's involved in an event, Hello Kitty's recent appearance at her own exhibition in Hong Kong, Hello Kitty Black Wonder, looks set to be no different.
The exhibition, the biggest one in Hong Kong so far, opened earlier this month and is estimated to attract 50,000 odd fans.
It will run till 3 Aug.
But far from hawking Hello Kitty memorabilia, it's her debut turn as the star of her own role-playing game (RPG). In it, the villian Kuromi, has kidnapped Hello Kitty along with her boyfriend, Dear Daniel, and holds them in the black castle.
Visitors to the exhibition get to experience the game in the real world, trying out demanding challenges in order to rescue the couple.
Some of these tasks include players climbing over physical obstacles and cracking secret codes.
2 YEARS TO PREPARE
Sanrio, the company behind the cat, took two years preparing for the show.
A spokesman told Apple Daily Hong Kong: 'With each Hello Kitty exhibition, we hope to give a different message.
'This time, we wanted visitors to get the sense that everyone is different. There is no need for comparison.'
The exhibition was produced at a cost of HK$10million ($1.75m).
The lamps, which patrons can use to place into statues as part of the game, reportedly cost a few thousand Hong Kong dollars each.
This article was first published in The New Paper on July 28, 2008.
