If you walked into Sunway University last weekend expecting a calm networking session between student councils, you would have been very, very wrong.
Welcome to Council Royale, the second annual collaboration between the Sunway University Student Council (SUSC), the Monash University Student Association (MUSA), and Taylor’s University Student Council (TUSC). What began last year as a smaller initiative between Monash and Taylor’s quickly evolved into a much larger inter-university gathering featuring student leaders from institutions including Monash University Malaysia, Taylor’s University, University Malaya (UM), Asia Pacific University (APU), UCSI University, INTI International University, TAR UMT, Sunway College Council (SCC), and more.
Within minutes, student leaders from seven universities were yelling over fake celebrity endorsements, accusing each other of murder, folding suspiciously tragic origami, and trying not to blink in front of a “loan shark” whose entire job was to intimidate people into laughing.
Sponsored by Kiehl’s, the event aimed to strengthen communication and collaboration between student councils in a way that did not involve painfully formal networking circles or awkward LinkedIn exchanges. Instead, participants were thrown directly into interactive games designed to test leadership, communication, teamwork, and problem-solving, all while making new connections along the way.
And honestly? Chaos might have been the best networking strategy possible.
The event kicked off with an opening speech by the president of the Sunway University Student Council, who reflected on how Council Royale was created to bring student leaders together beyond their own campuses. The goal was simple: create stronger relationships between universities and encourage future collaboration that could positively impact student communities.
Then the games began.
The first icebreaker sounded harmless enough: Can’t See, Can’t Speak, Can’t Touch.
It was not harmless.
Groups of seven were strategically mixed with students from different universities and genders. Each participant was assigned a bizarre restriction. Two people could not see. Two people could not speak. Two people could not touch anything. And somewhere in the middle of this already collapsing communication system was one secret saboteur trying to ruin everything.
The challenge? Fold origami correctly.
What followed looked less like teamwork and more like a survival reality show.
People shouted directions at blindfolded teammates. Silent participants aggressively pointed at instructions nobody understood. The “can’t touch” members hovered uselessly beside unfolding disasters while the saboteur quietly fuelled confusion. Somehow, through all the yelling and panicking, teams still managed to complete the task.
Barely.
But just when everyone thought the worst was over, the room transformed into a full-scale bidding war.
The second challenge, Auction Market, gave each team an imaginary RM10,000 budget to organise an event. Sounds manageable, until resources started disappearing under aggressive bidding.
“Celebrity endorsement advertised by Cristiano Ronaldo, bidding starts at RM2500!”
“Three thousand!” one team yelled instantly.
“Three point five!”
“Three point six!”
“FOUR THOUSAND!”
Gasps erupted across the room as one group sacrificed nearly half their budget just to secure the endorsement. Meanwhile, another team battled for logistics that somehow escalated from RM100 to RM1000 within seconds.
Every team had to carefully balance spending across essentials like food, venue, marketing, and logistics before presenting their final event concepts to the crowd. The pressure intensified when participants scanned a QR code afterward to vote for the event they would actually attend.
For one minute, every group transformed into mini entrepreneurs, desperately pitching their ideas like startup founders on live television.
Then the lights dimmed.
And suddenly, someone was dead.
The final segment, Murder Mayhem, completely shifted the atmosphere from playful competition to full psychological investigation. Participants were introduced to Maya, an influencer whose polished online image hid toxic relationships, manipulation, and conflict with almost everyone around her.
A dramatic opening video revealed testimonies from Maya’s assistant, boyfriend, producer, best friend, and other people in her life. Each suspect had a motive. Each interaction felt suspicious. And every clue seemed to raise more questions than answers.
Groups moved from room to room interrogating different characters under bizarre mini-game conditions. In one room, participants had only three minutes to ask questions, but the suspects were instructed to give intentionally wrong answers.
“What does a doctor do?”
“Pakistan.”
Another challenge involved solving mental math equations on whiteboards without calculators. One mistake could cost teams an important clue. Elsewhere, students raced to assemble picture puzzles, sort colored papers under pressure, survive rounds of “Simon Says,” and maintain completely emotionless faces while sitting across from the terrifying loan shark character who attempted to provoke reactions.
At one point, another shocking video twist dropped: Maya’s assistant and boyfriend were secretly having an affair.
The room collectively lost its mind.
Armed with maps, clues, testimonies, and rapidly collapsing theories, teams scattered across the halls searching for NPC suspects independently. No guides. No instructions. Just thirty minutes of frantic investigation and increasingly unhinged conspiracy theories.
By the end, giant sheets of paper were covered in arrows, accusations, timelines, and evidence connecting suspects together like scenes from a detective crime drama.
Finally, the answer was revealed.
Yi Chen was the murderer.
The weapon? A tripod.
The reveal triggered cheers, shocked reactions, and immediate debates from teams convinced they had “literally known it from the start.”
The event concluded with a prize-giving ceremony featuring certificates, medals, and Kiehl’s gift bags for participants. Group 3 secured third place; Group 1 came in second; and Group 10 emerged victorious as the overall champions of Council Royale 2026.
But beyond the rankings, what made the event memorable was how naturally it brought people together. Throughout the day, students who had never met before were strategizing side by side, yelling across tables, accusing fictional suspects together, and somehow bonding through collective confusion.
Council Royale proved that networking does not always need formal introductions and business attire. Sometimes, the strongest connections are built while arguing over fake budgets, failing at origami, and investigating fictional murders with complete strangers.
And somehow, that made it unforgettable.
Photos by Ryan Isaac and Qai
musamonga.com 