Cluedo
Encyclopedia
Cluedo is a popular murder/mystery
-themed deduction board game
originally published by Waddingtons
in Leeds
, England in 1949. It was devised by Anthony E. Pratt, a solicitor's clerk from Birmingham
, England. It is now published by the United States game and toy company Hasbro
, which acquired its U.S. publisher Parker Brothers
as well as Waddingtons
.
The object of the basic game is for players to strategically move around the game board (a mansion), in the guise of one of the game's six characters, collecting clues from which to deduce which suspect murdered the game's perpetual victim: Dr. Black (Mr. Boddy in North American versions), and with which weapon and in what room.
Several games, books, and a film have been released as part of the Cluedo franchise. The board games form an overall story whose complete chronology can be found at Cluedo chronology
. Overall, several spinoffs have been released, some featuring extra characters, and for some, different game play. More recent editions have restored the name Tudor Mansion to the mansion, and say the mansion is located in Hampshire, England in the year 1926.
In 2008, Cluedo: Discover the Secrets
was created (with changes to board, gameplay and characters) as a modern spin-off.
solicitor's clerk, filed for a patent of his invention of a murder/mystery-themed game, originally named "Murder!" The game was originally invented as a new game to play during sometimes lengthy air raid
drills in underground bunker
s. Shortly thereafter, Pratt and his wife presented the game to Waddingtons
' executive, Norman Watson, who immediately purchased the game and provided its trademark name of "Cluedo" (a play on "clue
" and "Ludo
", which is Latin for I play). Though the patent was granted in 1947, due to post-war shortages, the game was not officially launched until 1949, at which time the game was simultaneously licensed to Parker Brothers
in the United States for publication, where it was re-named "Clue" along with other minor changes.
However, there were several differences between the original game concept and that initially published in 1949, In particular, Pratt's original design calls for ten characters, one of whom was to be designated the victim by random drawing prior to the start of the game. These ten included the eliminated Mr. Brown, Mr. Gold, Miss Grey, and Mrs. Silver, with Nurse White, and Colonel Yellow. The game allowed for play of up to eight remaining characters, providing for nine suspects in total. Originally there were eleven rooms, including the eliminated "gun room
" and cellar. In addition there were nine weapons including the unused axe
, bomb
, syringe
, poison
, shillelagh
(walking stick/cudgel), and fireplace poker. Some of these unused weapons and characters would appear in later spinoff versions of the game.
Some gameplay aspects were different as well. Notably, the remaining playing cards were distributed into the rooms to be retrieved, rather than dealt directly to the players. Players also had to land on another player in order to make suggestions about that player's character through the use of special counter-tokens, and once exhausted, a player could no longer make suggestions. There were other minor differences, all of which would be updated by the game's initial release and remain essentially unchanged in the standard classic editions of the game.
called Tudor Mansion, although previously named variously as Tudor Close or Tudor Hall, and in some editions Boddy Manor or Boddy Mansion). The game box also includes several coloured playing pieces to represent characters, miniature murder weapon props, one or two six-sided dice, three sets of cards, each set describing the aforementioned rooms, characters and weapons, Solution Cards envelope to contain one card from each set of cards, and a Detective's Notes pad on which are printed lists of rooms, weapons and characters, so players can keep detailed notes during the game.
, or character figurine
s. Occasionally they are made from wood or pewter
. The standard edition of Cluedo comes with six basic tokens representing the following original characters:
The playing tokens are typically made out of unfinished pewter, with the exception of the Rope, which may also come in plastic or string depending on edition. Special editions have included gold plated, brass finished and Sterling silver
versions, which have appeared in a variety of designs.
that leads to the room on the opposite diagonal corner of the map. The center room (often referred to as the Cellar, or Stairs) is inaccessible to the players, but contains the solution envelope, and is not otherwise used during game play. Coloured "start" spaces encircle the outer perimeter which correspond to each player's suspect token. Miss Scarlet starts at the red space, Colonel Mustard starts at the yellow space, Mrs. White starts at the white space, Mr. Green starts at the green space, Mrs. Peacock starts at the blue space, and Professor Plum starts at the purple space.
† ‡ denotes secret passages to opposite corner
Players are instructed to assume the token/suspect nearest them. Play begins with Miss Scarlet and proceeds clockwise. Players roll the dice and move along the board spaces accordingly, and entering rooms in order to make suggestions from that room.
The aim is to deduce the details of the murder; that is, the cards in the envelope. There are six different characters
, six possible murder weapons and nine different rooms, leaving the players with 324 distinct possibilities. In the course of determining the details of the murder, players announce suggestions to the other players, for example, "I suggest it was Professor Plum, in the Library, with the candlestick." All elements contained in the suggestion are moved into the room in the suggestion.
The other players must then disprove the suggestion, if they can. This is done in clockwise order around the board. A suggestion is disproved by showing a card containing one of the suggestion components (for example, Professor Plum) to the player making the suggestion, as this proves that the card cannot be in the envelope. Showing the card to the suggesting player is done in secret so the other players may not see which card is being used to disprove the suggestion. Once a suggestion has been disproved, the player's turn ends and moves on to the next player.
The player's suggestion only gets disproved once. So, though several players may hold cards disproving the suggestion, only the first one will show the suggesting player his or her card. A player may only make a suggestion when his or her piece is in a room and the suggestion can only be for that room.
Once a player has sufficiently narrowed the solution, that player can make an accusation. According to the rules, "When you think you have worked out which three cards are in the envelope, you may, on your turn, make an Accusation and name any three elements you want." Players may name any room (unlike a Suggestion, where a player's character pawn must be in the room the player suggests).
The accusing player checks the validity of the accusation by checking the cards, keeping them concealed from other players. If he has made an incorrect accusation, he plays no further part in the game except to reveal cards secretly to one of the remaining players when required to do so in order to disprove suggestions. Also, according to the rules, "If, after making a false Accusation, your character pawn is blocking a door, [you must] move it into that room so that other players may enter." Since a character pawn can only block a door by being outside of a room, this clearly demonstrates that the character pawn need not be in any room to make an Accusation. If the player made a correct accusation, the solution cards are shown to the other players and the game ends.
It is possible for a player to be using the piece representing the murderer. This does not affect the game play; the object of the game is still to be the first to make the correct accusation. If the game is played with two people, the process of elimination diffuses the same information to both players. Such a game tends to pass quickly. All editions of the current version of the game are advertised as a three-six player game only. Traditionally, the UK version was advertised for two-six players.
Choice of suspect
The first opportunity is in choosing the initial playing piece. Mrs. Peacock has an immediate advantage of being one space closer to the first room than any of the other players. However, Miss Scarlet moves first.
Navigating the board
The next opportunity is choice of initial rooms to enter. Again Mrs. Peacock has an advantage in that she is closest to the Conservatory, a corner room with a secret passage, enabling a player on his turn to move immediately to another room and make a suggestion without rolling the dice. Miss Scarlet has a similar advantage with the Lounge. Making as many suggestions as possible gives a player an advantage to gain information. Therefore, moving into a new room as frequently as possible is one way to meet this goal. Players should make good use of the secret passages. Following the shortest path between rooms then is a good choice, even if a player already holds that room in his hand. As mentioned earlier, blocking passage of another player prevents them from attaining rooms from which to make suggestions. Various single space tracks on the board can therefore become traps, which are best avoided by a player when planning a path from room to room.
Making suggestions
Each player begins the game with a minimum of 3 cards in their hands and a maximum of 6. Keeping track of which cards are shown to each player is important in deducing the solution. Detective Notes are supplied with the game to help make this task easier. The pads can keep not only a history of which cards are in a players hand, but also which cards have been shown by another player. It can also be useful in deducing which cards the other players have shown one another. A player makes a suggestion to learn which cards may be eliminated from suspicion. However, in some cases it may be advantageous for a player to include one of his own cards in a suggestion. This technique can be used for both forcing a player to reveal a different card as well as misleading other players into believing a specific card is suspect. Therefore, moving into a room already held in a player's hand may work to his advantage. Suggestions may also be used to thwart a player's opponent. Since every suggestion results in a suspect token being re-located to the suggested room, a suggestion may be used to prevent another player from achieving their intended destination, preventing them from suggesting a particular room, especially if that player appears to be getting close to a solution.
During Cluedo's long history, eight unique Clue editions were published in North America (1949, '56/60, '60/63, '72, '86, '92, '96, & 2002). However, only three distinct editions of Cluedo were released in the UK – the longest of which lasted 47 years from its introduction in 1949 until its first successor in 1996. The eighth North America and fourth UK editions constitute the current shared game design. International versions occasionally developed their own unique designs for specific editions. However, most drew on the designs and art from either the US or UK editions, and in some cases mixing elements from both, while localizing others – specifically suspect portraits.
While the suspects' appearance and interior design of Dr. Black's/Mr. Boddy's mansion changed with each edition, the weapons underwent relatively minor changes, the only major redesign occurring in the fourth 1972 US edition, which was adopted by the second 1996 UK edition and remains the standard configuration across all basic versions since. The artwork for the previous US editions tended to reflect the current popular style at the time they were released. The earlier UK editions were more artistically stylized themes. From 1972 on, the US editions presented lush box cover art depicting the six suspects in various candid poses within a room of the mansion. The UK would finally adopt this style only in its third release in 2000, prior to which Cluedo boxes depicted basic representations of the contents. Such lavish box art illustrations have become a hallmark of the game, since copied for the numerous licensed variants which pay homage to Clue.
, Atari ST
, PC, Game Boy Advance
, ZX Spectrum
, Nintendo DS
, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, CD-i
, Sega Genesis, PC
, Mac, Xbox 360
and Apple iPhone / iPod Touch
. Clue: Murder at Boddy Mansion
, was released in 1998
for Microsoft Windows
. In 1999
Cluedo/Clue Chronicles: Fatal Illusion was released, which was not based directly upon the board game, but instead uses the familiar characters in a new mystery.
An arcade
version of the game was released on an itbox
terminal which involves answering questions with a chance to win money. It is available in many pubs throughout the UK
.
In 1994–1996, there were 6 mysteries: "The Hooded Madonna," "Happy Ever After", "Deadly Patent", "Blackmail", "The Road to Damascus", and "Not in my Backyard", with actors.
Clue Classic was released on June 3, 2008 developed by Games Cafe for Hasbro. It is a single player interactive game based on the latest 2002/2003 boardgame artwork featuring the original 6 characters, weapons and 9 original rooms.
In May 2009 Electronic Arts
released a version of Clue for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch
on the Apple iTunes Music Store. This version is an entirely new game, based on the most recent spin-off game of Clue: Discover the Secrets
.
On the iWin website, there is a Hidden Object Game called "Clue: Accusations & Alibis."
film
Clue
, based on the American version of the game, was released in 1985. In this version, the person murdered was Mr. Boddy. The film, which featured different endings released to different theatres, failed at the box office, but has subsequently attracted a cult following
. All three endings released to theatres are available on the VHS and DVD versions of the film, to watch one after the other (VHS), or to select playing one or all three endings (DVD).
In 2008, Universal Pictures
reported that Hasbro, the makers of Cluedo, had licensed several of its board games to the film company for feature film adaptations; among these was Clue. Gore Verbinski
was announced as director.
version that in fact shows some similarity to the North American movie), and there have been other versions in Germany, France, Italy
, Australia
, Portugal
and Scandinavia
. The format for each puts two teams (each usually containing one celebrity
and one person with law enforcement/research experience) against six in-character actors as the famed colour-coded suspects. There is a new murder victim every episode, who usually has it coming to them for one reason or another.
announced that an original five-part miniseries based on Clue
was in pre-production. The miniseries premiered on November 14, 2011 and featured a youthful, ensemble cast loosely based on the characters of the board game, working together to unravel a mystery.
; Murder, She Wrote
; Sherlock Holmes
and other television series and movies, as well as a look at the board game itself. The one-hour special was hosted by Martin Mull
, who had starred in the feature film adaptation the previous year; clips from the movie are seen intertwined with the footage.
musical
of Clue
, based on the American version of the game, ran Off Broadway in 1997, closing in 1999. At the start of each performance, three audience members each select one card from over-sized versions of the traditional game decks and place them in an envelope. The chosen cards determine the ending of the show, with 216 possible conclusions.
between 1992 and 1997 based on the Clue concept and created by A.E. Parker. The books featured the US Clue characters in short, comedic vignette
s and asked the reader to follow along and solve a crime at the end of each. The answers are printed Upside down with an explantion on the following page following each chapter to see if the reader was able to guesse correctly or not. The crime would usually be the murder of another guest besides Mr. Boddy, a robbery of some sort, or a simple contest, in which case they must figure out who won. The tenth and final vignette would always be the murder of Mr. Boddy. Somehow, Mr. Boddy would always manage to cheat death, such as fainting before the shot was fired or being shot with trick bullets. However, at the end of the 18th book, Mrs. Peacock kills Mr. Boddy out of starvation and Mr. Boddy stays dead. The books feature mysterious-sounding titles such as "Midnight phone calls" "Footprints in the fog" or "The secret, secret passage".
These books are now out of print but can still be bought from various online retailers in both new and used conditions.
In 2003, Canadian mystery writer Vicki Cameron wrote a new set of mini-mysteries, called the Clue Mysteries books. The series is geared toward a more adult audience while still retaining some comic absurdity as did the 1990s series. Only two were published. Both books feature more complex storylines and vocabulary, as well as fifteen mysteries apiece. The first book contains the more modern looking clue game cover by Drew Struzan.
Another book called "CLUE Code-Breaking Puzzles" was released in December 2008 written by Helene Hovanec. The book contains a whopping 60 mysteries.
A similar series of books featuring the Clue Jr. characters was also published. The first book, unlike the others, features thirteen mysteries, not ten, and is titled simply enough Who Killed Mr Boddy?. The name of the book is usually the name of the tenth mystery in which Boddy is killed.
The books notably depart from the film. Mr Boddy is a trillionaire, and the guests are his friends. But since Boddy has his will made out to his friends, they each try to kill him at one point with the intent on cashing in on his will. The guests are all given some sort of defining characteristic for comic effect, as well as to help the reader discern the culprit. Colonel Mustard constantly challenges other guests to duels, Professor Plum often forgets things, even what he is doing or his own name, and Mr. Green is notoriously greedy. Mrs. Peacock is highly proper and will not stand for any lack of manners, the maid Mrs. White hates her employer and all the guests, and Miss Scarlet is beautiful and seductive. The traits all help the reader identify the guests. For example, if a mystery thief suddenly forgets what he is doing, and another guest scolds him for his bad manners, the reader can safely assume the two guests are Plum and Peacock. Mr. Boddy himself is ludicrously naive, to the point where he accepts any attempt to kill him as an accident or a misunderstanding (such as a dropped wrench flying all the way across the Mansion and hitting him in the head), and invites the guests back to the mansion. This explains why he never seeks any legal action against his "friends," and invited them back despite repeated attempts to kill him. However, after a few books, he wises up enough to be suspicious of them, but continues to invite them over against better judgment.
The Clue Jr. series originally had all six characters, but suddenly, some of the characters were taken out, leaving only four. The mysteries usually only included cases similar to the theft of a toy, but sometimes the cases were more serious. They are usually solved when the culprit traps himself in his own lies.
The suspects have new given names and backgrounds, as well as differing abilities that may be used during the game. The revolver is now a pistol, the lead pipe has been removed, and a bat, axe, and trophy have been added. The nine rooms have changed to (in clockwise order): Hall, Guest House, Dining Room, Kitchen, Patio, Spa, Theater, Living Room, and Observatory.
There is also a second deck of cards—the Intrigue cards. In this deck, there are two types of cards, Keepers and Clocks. Keepers are special abilities; for example, "You can see the card". There are eight clocks—the first seven drawn do nothing—whoever draws the eighth is killed by the murderer and out of the game.
The player must move to the indoor swimming pool in the center of the board to make an accusation. This adds some challenge versus the ability to make accusations from anywhere in the original game.
The most significant change to game play is that once the suspect cards have been taken, the remaining cards are dealt so that all players have an even number of cards (rather than dealt out so that "one player may have a slight advantage"). This means that depending on the number of players a number of cards are left over. These cards are placed face down in the middle and are not seen unless a player takes a turn in the pool room to look at them.
The changes to the game have been criticized in the media for unnecessarily altering classic cultural icons.
In Canada and the U.S., the game is known as Clue. It was retitled because the traditional British board game Ludo
, on which the name is based, was less well known there than its American variant Parcheesi
.
The North American versions of Clue also replace the character "Reverend Green" from the original Cluedo with "Mr. Green." This is the only region to continue to make such a change. Minor changes include "Miss Scarlett" with her name being spelt with one 't', the spanner being called a wrench, and the dagger re-named a knife. And until 2003, the lead piping was known as the lead pipe only in the North American edition.
In some international versions of the game (mostly the Spanish-language ones) the colours of some pieces are different, so as to correspond with the changes to each suspect's unique foreign name variations. In some cases, rooms and weapons are changed in addition to other regional variances.
In South America it is licensed and sold under several different names. In particular, it is notably marketed as "Detetive" in Brazil
.
Whodunit
A whodunit or whodunnit is a complex, plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is the main feature of interest. The reader or viewer is provided with clues from which the identity of the perpetrator of the crime may be deduced before the solution is revealed in the final...
-themed deduction board game
Deduction board game
Deduction board games are a genre of board game in which the players must use deductive reasoning and logic in order to win the game. While many games, such as bridge or poker require the use of deductive reasoning to some degree, deduction board games feature deductive reasoning as their central...
originally published by Waddingtons
Waddingtons
Waddingtons was a publisher of card and board games in the United Kingdom. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and Wilson Barratt, under the name Waddingtons Limited...
in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, England in 1949. It was devised by Anthony E. Pratt, a solicitor's clerk from Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England. It is now published by the United States game and toy company Hasbro
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
, which acquired its U.S. publisher Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...
as well as Waddingtons
Waddingtons
Waddingtons was a publisher of card and board games in the United Kingdom. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and Wilson Barratt, under the name Waddingtons Limited...
.
The object of the basic game is for players to strategically move around the game board (a mansion), in the guise of one of the game's six characters, collecting clues from which to deduce which suspect murdered the game's perpetual victim: Dr. Black (Mr. Boddy in North American versions), and with which weapon and in what room.
Several games, books, and a film have been released as part of the Cluedo franchise. The board games form an overall story whose complete chronology can be found at Cluedo chronology
Cluedo chronology
In recent years, Hasbro has released a whole line of Cluedo-based boardgames. They each include a storyline that connects them with the other games in chronological order. The games included in this chronology are Cluedo, Cluedo SFX, Cluedo Mysteries, and the Cluedo DVD Game...
. Overall, several spinoffs have been released, some featuring extra characters, and for some, different game play. More recent editions have restored the name Tudor Mansion to the mansion, and say the mansion is located in Hampshire, England in the year 1926.
In 2008, Cluedo: Discover the Secrets
Cluedo: Discover the Secrets
Cluedo : Discover the Secrets is a 2008 board game designed by Hasbro to modernize the world-famous game Cluedo. Though the game's main title is still simply "Cluedo" or "Clue", many retailers list the game with a "Reinvention" suffix, to distinguish it from the original game...
was created (with changes to board, gameplay and characters) as a modern spin-off.
History
In 1944, Anthony E. Pratt, an EnglishEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
solicitor's clerk, filed for a patent of his invention of a murder/mystery-themed game, originally named "Murder!" The game was originally invented as a new game to play during sometimes lengthy air raid
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
drills in underground bunker
Bunker
A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...
s. Shortly thereafter, Pratt and his wife presented the game to Waddingtons
Waddingtons
Waddingtons was a publisher of card and board games in the United Kingdom. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and Wilson Barratt, under the name Waddingtons Limited...
' executive, Norman Watson, who immediately purchased the game and provided its trademark name of "Cluedo" (a play on "clue
Clue
Clue may refer to:* Cluedo , a crime fiction board game** Clue , based on the board game** Clue , based on the board game** Clue , based on the board game...
" and "Ludo
Ludo (board game)
Ludo is a simple board game for two to four players, in which the players race their four tokens from start to finish according to dice rolls. Like other cross and circle games, it is similar to the Indian Pachisi, but simpler...
", which is Latin for I play). Though the patent was granted in 1947, due to post-war shortages, the game was not officially launched until 1949, at which time the game was simultaneously licensed to Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...
in the United States for publication, where it was re-named "Clue" along with other minor changes.
However, there were several differences between the original game concept and that initially published in 1949, In particular, Pratt's original design calls for ten characters, one of whom was to be designated the victim by random drawing prior to the start of the game. These ten included the eliminated Mr. Brown, Mr. Gold, Miss Grey, and Mrs. Silver, with Nurse White, and Colonel Yellow. The game allowed for play of up to eight remaining characters, providing for nine suspects in total. Originally there were eleven rooms, including the eliminated "gun room
Trophy hunting
Trophy hunting is the selective hunting of wild game animals. Although parts of the slain animal may be kept as a hunting trophy or memorial , the carcass itself is sometimes used as food....
" and cellar. In addition there were nine weapons including the unused axe
Axe
The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...
, bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
, syringe
Syringe
A syringe is a simple pump consisting of a plunger that fits tightly in a tube. The plunger can be pulled and pushed along inside a cylindrical tube , allowing the syringe to take in and expel a liquid or gas through an orifice at the open end of the tube...
, poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
, shillelagh
Shillelagh (club)
A shillelagh is a wooden walking stick and club or cudgel, typically made from a stout knotty stick with a large knob at the top, that is associated with Ireland and Irish folklore.- Construction :...
(walking stick/cudgel), and fireplace poker. Some of these unused weapons and characters would appear in later spinoff versions of the game.
Some gameplay aspects were different as well. Notably, the remaining playing cards were distributed into the rooms to be retrieved, rather than dealt directly to the players. Players also had to land on another player in order to make suggestions about that player's character through the use of special counter-tokens, and once exhausted, a player could no longer make suggestions. There were other minor differences, all of which would be updated by the game's initial release and remain essentially unchanged in the standard classic editions of the game.
Equipment
The game's current equipment consists of a board which shows the rooms,corridors and secret passages of an English country houseEnglish country house
The English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a London house. This allowed to them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country...
called Tudor Mansion, although previously named variously as Tudor Close or Tudor Hall, and in some editions Boddy Manor or Boddy Mansion). The game box also includes several coloured playing pieces to represent characters, miniature murder weapon props, one or two six-sided dice, three sets of cards, each set describing the aforementioned rooms, characters and weapons, Solution Cards envelope to contain one card from each set of cards, and a Detective's Notes pad on which are printed lists of rooms, weapons and characters, so players can keep detailed notes during the game.
Suspects
Depending on edition, the playing pieces are typically made of coloured plastic, shaped like chess pawnsPawn (chess)
The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...
, or character figurine
Figurine
A figurine is a statuette that represents a human, deity or animal. Figurines may be realistic or iconic, depending on the skill and intention of the creator. The earliest were made of stone or clay...
s. Occasionally they are made from wood or pewter
Pewter
Pewter is a malleable metal alloy, traditionally 85–99% tin, with the remainder consisting of copper, antimony, bismuth and lead. Copper and antimony act as hardeners while lead is common in the lower grades of pewter, which have a bluish tint. It has a low melting point, around 170–230 °C ,...
. The standard edition of Cluedo comes with six basic tokens representing the following original characters:
- Miss Scarlett (spelled Miss Scarlet in North American versions – a red piece)
- Colonel Mustard (a yellow piece)
- Mrs. White (a white piece)
- Reverend Green (named Mr. Green in pre-2002 North American versions – a green piece)
- Mrs. Peacock (a blue piece)
- Professor Plum (a purple piece)
Weapons
Sterling silver
Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by mass of silver and 7.5% by mass of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925....
versions, which have appeared in a variety of designs.
- CandlestickCandlestickA candlestick, chamberstick, or candelabrum is a holder for one or more candles, used for illumination, rituals, or decorative purposes. The name 'candlestick' derives from the fact that it is usually tall and stick-shaped.Candlesticks are also called candle holders...
- DaggerDaggerA dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...
(A KnifeKnifeA knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...
in North American editions, each represented by a respective depiction) - Lead PipeWater pipeWater pipes are pipes or tubes, frequently made of polyvinyl chloride , ductile iron, steel, cast iron, polypropylene, polyethylene, or copper, that carry pressurized and treated fresh water to buildings , as well as inside the building.-History:For many centuries, lead was the favoured material...
(called Lead Piping in earlier UK editions, the early tokens were made out of actual leadLeadLead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
and therefore pose a risk of lead poisoningLead poisoningLead poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the heavy metal lead in the body. Lead interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems...
) - RevolverRevolverA revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
(first depicted in the UK as a Dreyse M1907Dreyse M1907The Dreyse Model 1907 is a semi-automatic pistol designed by Louis Schmeisser. The gun was named after Nikolaus von Dreyse, the designer of the Dreyse Needle Gun...
semi-automatic pistol, and in North America as a Colt M1911 pistol. All current editions typically represent an Allan & ThurberEthan Allen (armsmaker)Ethan Allen was a major American armsmaker from Massachusetts. He is believed to be unrelated to the revolutionary Ethan Allen. His first firearm, the "Pocket Rifle" was developed in 1836, and his first patent was granted in 1837....
Pepper-box revolverPepper-boxThe pepper-box revolver or simply pepperbox is a multiple-barrel repeating firearm that has three or more barrels grouped around a central axis. It mostly appears in the form of a multi-shot handheld firearm...
first depicted in the 1972 Clue edition) - RopeRopeA rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...
(originally represented by a natural fibre coiled piece of string, the standard edition now consists of molded plastic or metal) - SpannerWrenchA wrench or spanner is a tool used to provide grip and mechanical advantage in applying torque to turn objects—usually rotary fasteners, such as nuts and bolts—or keep them from turning....
(called Wrench in North American editions and depicted as a Monkey wrenchMonkey wrenchThe monkey wrench is an adjustable wrench, a later American development of eighteenth century English coach wrenches. It was popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but is now used only for heavier tasks, having been mostly replaced by the lighter and sleeker shifting adjustable or...
, it may also be shown as an Open-ended spanner in some traditional UK versions)
Rooms
There are nine rooms in the mansion where the murder can take place, laid out in a circular fashion on the game board, separated by pathways overlaid by playing spaces. Each of the four corner rooms contains a secret passageSecret passage
Secret passages, also commonly referred to as hidden passages or secret tunnels, are hidden routes used for stealthy travel. Such passageways are sometimes inside buildings leading to secret rooms. Others allow occupants to enter or exit buildings without being seen...
that leads to the room on the opposite diagonal corner of the map. The center room (often referred to as the Cellar, or Stairs) is inaccessible to the players, but contains the solution envelope, and is not otherwise used during game play. Coloured "start" spaces encircle the outer perimeter which correspond to each player's suspect token. Miss Scarlet starts at the red space, Colonel Mustard starts at the yellow space, Mrs. White starts at the white space, Mr. Green starts at the green space, Mrs. Peacock starts at the blue space, and Professor Plum starts at the purple space.
| † | Ballroom Ballroom A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms... |
‡ | ||||||
| Kitchen Kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a... |
Conservatory | |||||||
| Dining Room Dining room A dining room is a room for consuming food. In modern times it is usually adjacent to the kitchen for convenience in serving, although in medieval times it was often on an entirely different floor level... |
"Cellar Basement __FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system... " with envelope |
Billiard Room Billiard room A billiard room is a recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center, with a billiards, pool or snooker table... |
||||||
| Library Private library A private library is a library under the care of private ownership, as compared to that of a public institution, and is usually only established for the use of a small number of people, or even a single person. As with public libraries, some people use stamps, stickers, or embossing to show... |
||||||||
| Hall Hall In architecture, a hall is fundamentally a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age, a mead hall was such a simple building and was the residence of a lord and his retainers... |
||||||||
| Lounge Living room A living room, also known as sitting room, lounge room or lounge , is a room for entertaining adult guests, reading, or other activities... |
Study Study (room) A study is a room in a house which is used for paperwork, computer work, or reading. Historically, the study of a house was reserved for use as the private office and reading room of a family father as the formal head of a household, but today studies are generally either used to operate a home... |
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| ‡ | † | |||||||
† ‡ denotes secret passages to opposite corner
Rules
At the beginning of play, three cards — one suspect, one weapon, and one room card — are chosen at random and put into a special envelope, so that no one can see them. These cards represent the facts of the case. The remainder of the cards are distributed among the players.Players are instructed to assume the token/suspect nearest them. Play begins with Miss Scarlet and proceeds clockwise. Players roll the dice and move along the board spaces accordingly, and entering rooms in order to make suggestions from that room.
The aim is to deduce the details of the murder; that is, the cards in the envelope. There are six different characters
Cluedo characters
The board game Cluedo and the associated 1985 film Clue, contains six murder suspects, all of whom survived into the final 2002 edition of the game. They typically represent "types," or stock characters, of European and American high society, as typified in the murder mysteries pioneered by Agatha...
, six possible murder weapons and nine different rooms, leaving the players with 324 distinct possibilities. In the course of determining the details of the murder, players announce suggestions to the other players, for example, "I suggest it was Professor Plum, in the Library, with the candlestick." All elements contained in the suggestion are moved into the room in the suggestion.
The other players must then disprove the suggestion, if they can. This is done in clockwise order around the board. A suggestion is disproved by showing a card containing one of the suggestion components (for example, Professor Plum) to the player making the suggestion, as this proves that the card cannot be in the envelope. Showing the card to the suggesting player is done in secret so the other players may not see which card is being used to disprove the suggestion. Once a suggestion has been disproved, the player's turn ends and moves on to the next player.
The player's suggestion only gets disproved once. So, though several players may hold cards disproving the suggestion, only the first one will show the suggesting player his or her card. A player may only make a suggestion when his or her piece is in a room and the suggestion can only be for that room.
Once a player has sufficiently narrowed the solution, that player can make an accusation. According to the rules, "When you think you have worked out which three cards are in the envelope, you may, on your turn, make an Accusation and name any three elements you want." Players may name any room (unlike a Suggestion, where a player's character pawn must be in the room the player suggests).
The accusing player checks the validity of the accusation by checking the cards, keeping them concealed from other players. If he has made an incorrect accusation, he plays no further part in the game except to reveal cards secretly to one of the remaining players when required to do so in order to disprove suggestions. Also, according to the rules, "If, after making a false Accusation, your character pawn is blocking a door, [you must] move it into that room so that other players may enter." Since a character pawn can only block a door by being outside of a room, this clearly demonstrates that the character pawn need not be in any room to make an Accusation. If the player made a correct accusation, the solution cards are shown to the other players and the game ends.
It is possible for a player to be using the piece representing the murderer. This does not affect the game play; the object of the game is still to be the first to make the correct accusation. If the game is played with two people, the process of elimination diffuses the same information to both players. Such a game tends to pass quickly. All editions of the current version of the game are advertised as a three-six player game only. Traditionally, the UK version was advertised for two-six players.
Strategy
Though gameplay is relatively straightforward as described above, various strategies allow players to maximize their opportunities to make suggestions and therefore gain the advantage of accumulating information faster. As alluded to above, blocking the entrance to a room is one way to prevent an opponent from entering a desired room and making a suggestion.Choice of suspect
The first opportunity is in choosing the initial playing piece. Mrs. Peacock has an immediate advantage of being one space closer to the first room than any of the other players. However, Miss Scarlet moves first.
Navigating the board
The next opportunity is choice of initial rooms to enter. Again Mrs. Peacock has an advantage in that she is closest to the Conservatory, a corner room with a secret passage, enabling a player on his turn to move immediately to another room and make a suggestion without rolling the dice. Miss Scarlet has a similar advantage with the Lounge. Making as many suggestions as possible gives a player an advantage to gain information. Therefore, moving into a new room as frequently as possible is one way to meet this goal. Players should make good use of the secret passages. Following the shortest path between rooms then is a good choice, even if a player already holds that room in his hand. As mentioned earlier, blocking passage of another player prevents them from attaining rooms from which to make suggestions. Various single space tracks on the board can therefore become traps, which are best avoided by a player when planning a path from room to room.
Making suggestions
Each player begins the game with a minimum of 3 cards in their hands and a maximum of 6. Keeping track of which cards are shown to each player is important in deducing the solution. Detective Notes are supplied with the game to help make this task easier. The pads can keep not only a history of which cards are in a players hand, but also which cards have been shown by another player. It can also be useful in deducing which cards the other players have shown one another. A player makes a suggestion to learn which cards may be eliminated from suspicion. However, in some cases it may be advantageous for a player to include one of his own cards in a suggestion. This technique can be used for both forcing a player to reveal a different card as well as misleading other players into believing a specific card is suspect. Therefore, moving into a room already held in a player's hand may work to his advantage. Suggestions may also be used to thwart a player's opponent. Since every suggestion results in a suspect token being re-located to the suggested room, a suggestion may be used to prevent another player from achieving their intended destination, preventing them from suggesting a particular room, especially if that player appears to be getting close to a solution.
Editions
Parker Brothers and Waddingtons each produced their own unique editions between 1949 and 1992. Hasbro purchased both companies in the early '90s and continued to produce unique editions for each market until 2002/2003 when the current edition of Clue/Cluedo was first released. At this time, Hasbro produced a unified product across markets. The game was then localized with regional differences in spelling and naming conventions.During Cluedo's long history, eight unique Clue editions were published in North America (1949, '56/60, '60/63, '72, '86, '92, '96, & 2002). However, only three distinct editions of Cluedo were released in the UK – the longest of which lasted 47 years from its introduction in 1949 until its first successor in 1996. The eighth North America and fourth UK editions constitute the current shared game design. International versions occasionally developed their own unique designs for specific editions. However, most drew on the designs and art from either the US or UK editions, and in some cases mixing elements from both, while localizing others – specifically suspect portraits.
While the suspects' appearance and interior design of Dr. Black's/Mr. Boddy's mansion changed with each edition, the weapons underwent relatively minor changes, the only major redesign occurring in the fourth 1972 US edition, which was adopted by the second 1996 UK edition and remains the standard configuration across all basic versions since. The artwork for the previous US editions tended to reflect the current popular style at the time they were released. The earlier UK editions were more artistically stylized themes. From 1972 on, the US editions presented lush box cover art depicting the six suspects in various candid poses within a room of the mansion. The UK would finally adopt this style only in its third release in 2000, prior to which Cluedo boxes depicted basic representations of the contents. Such lavish box art illustrations have become a hallmark of the game, since copied for the numerous licensed variants which pay homage to Clue.
Notable Editions
- Cluedo: 50th Anniversary (1999), also released as Clue: 50th Anniversary, this standard edition came in a "deluxe" format with the option to play with an extra murder weapon, a bottle of poison. This edition was also issued in a miniaturized Cluedo European travel version. Drew StruzanDrew StruzanDrew Struzan is an American artist known for his more than 150 movie posters, which include all the films in the Indiana Jones, Back to the Future and Star Wars film series. He has also painted album covers, collectibles, and book covers.- Early life and education :Drew Struzan was born in Oregon...
provided artwork for the game, which was originally created for the US 1996 edition and additionally used for The Limited Gift Edition and the US Clue Card Game (he did not create the Rev. Green portrait used in the Cluedo editions). - Clue "Nostalgia Edition" (2003, 2007) Hasbro began offering a retro Nostalgia edition of the game, essentially a re-issue of the 1963 design in a wooden box. In the UK it was released under the Cluedo brand, and was an official re-issue of the original 1949 Waddingtons' design.
- Clue "Vintage Edition" (2005, 2009), also released as Cluedo "Vintage Edition", Hasbro re-formatted the nostalgia edition into a "vintage" bookshelf collection along with a series of other popular boardgames. In the Cluedo version, they continued to use the 1963 design and adapted it for the UK market for the first time with localized characters and naming conventions.
- Clue Classic (2010),this game is the relaunched classic version under its new name Clue Classic or Clue: The Classic Edition.
Spinoffs
Waddingtons, Parker Brothers and Hasbro have created many spin-off versions of the game. Spin-off games consist of alternative rule variations of the original game, which are not to be confused with themed "variants" which utilize the same rules and game configuration. In addition, commencing in 1985, the brand expanded to include feature films, television series, a musical, as well as numerous books.Other games
In addition to revising the rules of gameplay, many of the games also introduced new characters, rooms and locations, weapons and/or alternative objectives.- Clue VCR Mystery Game (1985) released as Cluedo: The Great Video Detective Game in the UK. It uses an hour-long VHS tape containing humorous scenes of the suspects interacting at Boddy Mansion shortly after Mr. Boddy's death instead of a board. Players uncover details of several murders per game by matching clues given on cards to the action on the video. Only five weapons (candlestick, knife, revolver, rope, and poison) and five rooms (Dining Room, Kitchen, Hall, Conservatory, and Library) are featured but there are a total of ten suspects (the original six plus M. Brunette, Madam Rose, Sgt. Gray, and Miss Peach).
- Super Cluedo Challenge (1986) is an advanced version of the Cluedo rules, introducing three new characters (Captain Brown, Miss Peach and Mr. Slate-Grey) and three more weapons (the blunderbussBlunderbussThe blunderbuss is a muzzle-loading firearm with a short, large caliber barrel, which is flared at the muzzle and frequently throughout the entire bore, and used with shot and other projectiles of relevant quantity and/or caliber. The blunderbuss could be considered to be an early form of shotgun,...
, poison and axe). The rules are greatly expanded, with each card having coloured and numbered squares in each corner, which are uncovered by special card holders. These allowed 'clues' to be given by uncovering a small segment of the card, showing only a colour/number. Rather than the remaining cards being dealt out at the start of the game, they had to be 'discovered' by reaching one of the many blue counters scattered on the board. - Clue VCR II: Murder in Disguise (1987) Sequel to Clue VCR Mystery Game; more scenarios with the same 10 characters from the first VCR game. The rooms this time around are the Dining Room, Lounge, Hall, Billiard Room, and Hotel Room.
- Cluedo Master Detective (1988, released as Super Cluedo in France, Germany and UK) is an expanded version of the original game. In addition to the original characters, weapons and rooms, the game adds four characters (Madam Rose, Sgt. Grey, M. Brunette and Miss Peach—the same four new characters from the VCR games), two weapons (poison and horseshoe), and seven rooms (courtyard, gazebo, drawing room, carriage house, trophy room, studio and fountain) to the mansion. This version was also made into a computer game.
- Clue Jr.: Case of the Missing PetClue Jr.: Case of the Missing PetClue Jr.: The Case of the Missing Pet is a board game that was released in the USA in 1989 by Parker Brothers. It is a variant of Clue aimed at younger players.- Overview :This is the first Clue Jr Game in the United States...
(1989) This game was a clue variant aimed for kids. The player played as one of the old six suspects, who are kids, and try to find out who took the missing pet and where they hid it. - Travel Clue (1990) More than just a miniaturized version of the standard game as offered for the UK Cluedo editions, the first US travel edition is played somewhat differently. Instead of rolling dice, players simply choose a room to visit on their turn. Once there, they can see any cards in the room and question other players.
- Clue: The Great Museum CaperClue: The Great Museum CaperClue: The Great Museum Caper, was a spinoff of the board game Cluedo . It was produced by Parker Brothers and Waddingtons Games. Clue: The Great Museum Caper was originally produced in 1991, and production ceased soon thereafter...
(1991) is rather different from the original. One player is a thief whose goal is to steal paintings while the other players attempt to apprehend the thief. The thief keeps track of his or her position secretly on paper and is thus not seen by the detectives, until the thief is spotted by a detective or the museum's security system. Ideally, multiple rounds are played, with each player getting to be the thief once. The winner of the match is then the thief who stole the most paintings without getting caught. - Cluedo Card Game (1992) is a shedding-type card gameCard gameA card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
, where players attempt to match cards featuring the locations, weapons, and characters from the original game with a central pile of cards. - Clue Little Detective (1992) Perhaps in one of the biggest departures from the standard game, the object of this game is to be the first to reach the front gate from the attic after hearing a scary noise.
- Junior Cluedo (1993) is the first Junior game for Cluedo. Instead of finding the murder, the players need to find the ghost of their ancestors and remember where they are.
- Travel Clue Jr. (1994) Like the regular Travel Clue game, it is not merely a miniaturized version of the Clue Jr. series, but a unique format with its own set of rules. Instead of rolling dice, a spinner is used, to move around the board for an opportunity to open a door and obtain a clue.
- Cluedo Super Sleuth (1995) is another advanced version of the Cluedo rules, though in a different manner. There is no set board to this game, instead the board is made up of twelve tiles which are laid out randomly as players enter new rooms, to create a 4x3 grid. The murder cards remain unchanged to the basic edition, but are not dealt to each player, instead there are 'clue' squares on the board marked by small plastic magnifying glasses, which players collect to get clues. In addition to the "clue" counters there are also item counters, which allow the player to pick a card from an item deck. These item cards allow such things as making more than one suggestion per turn, or moving an extra character. Extra characters in the game include a Black Dog, Inspector Grey and Hogarth the Butler. They can serve as help or hindrance and are controlled through the item and event cards. Event cards are drawn from a deck upon a certain roll of the die and can have varying impact on a game.
- Clue Jr.: The Case of the Hidden Toys (1998) is themed for children. Instead of solving a murder, the children search for clues for the whereabouts of some lost toys. The rules are significantly different from those for the regular board game. The characters, which look like the original game's suspects as children, are named Mortimer Mustard, Georgie Green, Peter Plum, Wendy White, Polly Peacock and Samantha Scarlet.
- Cluedo: Passport to Murder (2000) was an update of Super Cluedo Challenge with the setting changed to an Orient ExpressOrient ExpressThe Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train service originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. It ran from 1883 to 2009 and is not to be confused with the Venice-Simplon Orient Express train service, which continues to run.The route and rolling stock...
style train in IstanbulIstanbulIstanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
station. There is very little change to the mechanics of the game (except each player can only play the six original characters), with mainly cosmetic changes and updates to the characters. - Cluedo Card GameCluedo Card GameCluedo: The Card Game is a card game version of the classic board game Cluedo . There have been two different games made with the same name. Despite the common name, the games play very differently...
(2002) is a different card game from the previous game, this time the user has to deduct the Dr. Black's killer, their escape vehicle and their destination. - Cluedo SFX (2003) released as Clue FX in the US, (2004), and Super Cluedo Interactif in France, (2004) is another departure from the original rules. Each player plays as one of four new characters (Lord Grey, Lady Lavender, Miss Peach and Prince Azure), adding the first non-Caucasian character since the early Asian Miss Scarlet, none of whom are suspected in the crime. The murder is not of Dr. Black (Mr. Boddy) but of his attorney Miles Meadow-Brook. The usual suspects are in place, this time bolstered by two new people Mrs. Meadow-Brook and Rusty the Gardener. The game play is completely different though, with the introduction of the electronic section announcing moves and clues and no die rolling. Instead players move from location to location to track down each of the suspects to gain their clues, before finding Inspector Brown to make an accusation.
- Cluedo Junior: The Case of the Missing Cake (2003) is another children's variation where the players have to find out who ate a cake.
- Cluedo MysteriesCluedo MysteriesCluedo Mysteries is a board game which is based on Cluedo, but varies greatly from the original. It was released in 2005 in the United States, as part of a new line of Cluedo games including the 2002 edition of Cluedo, Cluedo FX, and the Cluedo DVD Game.-Overview:The most obvious difference...
(2005), released in the US as Clue Mysteries (2006) This is another change of rules, and this time the game play is based heavily on another board game called "Mysteries of Old Peking". - Cluedo DVD Game (2005) This edition of the game has different rules based on DVD interaction. Instead of a murder, Dr. Black has had an item stolen and, in addition to guessing the criminal, location (room) and stolen object, the time of day when the crime took place also has to be discovered. In each turn players guess three of these four unknowns; and from time to time Inspector Brown and the butler, Ashe, show up via the DVD with helpful information.
- Clue Suspects (2007) A single-player logic puzzle version of the game. Players are given a set of clues and must deduce the location of the murder and the murderer.
- Cluedo: Discover the SecretsCluedo: Discover the SecretsCluedo : Discover the Secrets is a 2008 board game designed by Hasbro to modernize the world-famous game Cluedo. Though the game's main title is still simply "Cluedo" or "Clue", many retailers list the game with a "Reinvention" suffix, to distinguish it from the original game...
(2008) This is the most recent edition of the game, The game was created in an effort to update what Hasbro considered to be an old-fashioned game, however, the traditional version of the game will remain on sale as well. The game features new, up-to-date weapons, rooms, and suspects as well as changes to the rules of gameplay (see below). - Clue: Secrets In Paris (2009) In this most recent variant of the game, this edition features the same weapons, as well as changes to the rules of gameplay as Discover the Secrets (see above). However, in this spin-off, the location has been changed to Paris, and the suspects are now youthful, teenage versions of their adult counterparts, on a class field trip, who must discover which of their classmates has stolen a piece of art from the Louvre.
Computer and Video games
Various versions of the game were developed for Commodore 64Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, PC, Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
, ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
, Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, CD-i
CD-i
CD-i, or Compact Disc Interactive, is the name of an interactive multimedia CD player developed and marketed by Royal Philips Electronics N.V. CD-i also refers to the multimedia Compact Disc standard used by the CD-i console, also known as Green Book, which was developed by Philips and Sony...
, Sega Genesis, PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, Mac, Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and Apple iPhone / iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
. Clue: Murder at Boddy Mansion
Clue (computer game)
Clue is a computer game based on the board game of the same name. Its formal name is Clue: Murder at Boddy Mansion or Cluedo: Murder at Blackwell Grange. It runs on Microsoft Windows. It was developed in 1998 for Hasbro Interactive by EAI...
, was released in 1998
1998 in video gaming
-Events:*Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo to the AIAS Hall of Fame*British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts the 1st annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards...
for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. In 1999
1999 in video gaming
-Events:*British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts the 2nd annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards*March – Game Over republished as “Game Over: Press Start to Continue”...
Cluedo/Clue Chronicles: Fatal Illusion was released, which was not based directly upon the board game, but instead uses the familiar characters in a new mystery.
An arcade
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
version of the game was released on an itbox
Itbox
itbox is a networked gambling games terminal which is found in thousands of pubs, leisure centres and amusement arcades in the United Kingdom. Classified as a "skill with prizes" machine, each itbox terminal typically includes 25 different games. Each game costs 50p or £1 to play and lasts between...
terminal which involves answering questions with a chance to win money. It is available in many pubs throughout the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
In 1994–1996, there were 6 mysteries: "The Hooded Madonna," "Happy Ever After", "Deadly Patent", "Blackmail", "The Road to Damascus", and "Not in my Backyard", with actors.
Clue Classic was released on June 3, 2008 developed by Games Cafe for Hasbro. It is a single player interactive game based on the latest 2002/2003 boardgame artwork featuring the original 6 characters, weapons and 9 original rooms.
In May 2009 Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
released a version of Clue for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
on the Apple iTunes Music Store. This version is an entirely new game, based on the most recent spin-off game of Clue: Discover the Secrets
Cluedo: Discover the Secrets
Cluedo : Discover the Secrets is a 2008 board game designed by Hasbro to modernize the world-famous game Cluedo. Though the game's main title is still simply "Cluedo" or "Clue", many retailers list the game with a "Reinvention" suffix, to distinguish it from the original game...
.
On the iWin website, there is a Hidden Object Game called "Clue: Accusations & Alibis."
Film
A comedicComedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
Clue
Clue (film)
Clue is a 1985 comedy mystery film based on the board game of the same name . The film is a murder mystery set in a Gothic Revival mansion, and is styled after Murder by Death and other various murder/dinner parties of mystery...
, based on the American version of the game, was released in 1985. In this version, the person murdered was Mr. Boddy. The film, which featured different endings released to different theatres, failed at the box office, but has subsequently attracted a cult following
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
. All three endings released to theatres are available on the VHS and DVD versions of the film, to watch one after the other (VHS), or to select playing one or all three endings (DVD).
In 2008, Universal Pictures
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
reported that Hasbro, the makers of Cluedo, had licensed several of its board games to the film company for feature film adaptations; among these was Clue. Gore Verbinski
Gore Verbinski
Gregor "Gore" Verbinski is an American film director, writer and musician. He is best known for directing the films The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Rango.-Early life:...
was announced as director.
Game shows
There have been several television game shows based upon this game. To date, there have been four seasons of the British version of Cluedo (and a ChristmasChristmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
version that in fact shows some similarity to the North American movie), and there have been other versions in Germany, France, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
. The format for each puts two teams (each usually containing one celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
and one person with law enforcement/research experience) against six in-character actors as the famed colour-coded suspects. There is a new murder victim every episode, who usually has it coming to them for one reason or another.
TV series
On August 6, 2010, The HubThe Hub (TV network)
The Hub is an American digital cable and satellite television channel that launched on October 10, 2010. The channel, which replaced Discovery Kids, is a joint venture of Discovery Communications, Inc. and Hasbro...
announced that an original five-part miniseries based on Clue
Clue (TV series)
Clue is an American five-part mystery television miniseries based on the Parker Brothers board game of the same name, which aired on The Hub from November 14, 2011 to November 17, 2011...
was in pre-production. The miniseries premiered on November 14, 2011 and featured a youthful, ensemble cast loosely based on the characters of the board game, working together to unravel a mystery.
Documentary
The Clue title and theme were used in the 1986 US documentary Clue: Movies, Murders and Mystery which took a look at mystery-related pieces of media including Murder on the Orient ExpressMurder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on January 1, 1934 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of...
; Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
; Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
and other television series and movies, as well as a look at the board game itself. The one-hour special was hosted by Martin Mull
Martin Mull
Martin Mull is an American actor who has starred in his own television sitcom and acted in prominent films. He is also a comedian, painter, and recording artist...
, who had starred in the feature film adaptation the previous year; clips from the movie are seen intertwined with the footage.
Musical
A comedicComedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
of Clue
Clue (musical)
CLUE The Musical is a musical based on the board game ClueCLUE The Musical brings the internationally popular board game to life on stage. This is an interactive musical starting with three audience members selecting one card each from three oversized decks and placing it in an envelope marked...
, based on the American version of the game, ran Off Broadway in 1997, closing in 1999. At the start of each performance, three audience members each select one card from over-sized versions of the traditional game decks and place them in an envelope. The chosen cards determine the ending of the show, with 216 possible conclusions.
Play
Penned by Robert Duncan with the cooperation of Waddingtons, the first official theatrical adaptation of Cluedo was presented by the amateur theatre group: The Thame Players in Oxfordshire in July 1985. The play was subsequently picked up by Hiss & Boo productions and began a successful tour of the UK. A second tour was undertaken in 1990. Like the musical, the play involved the audience's random selection of three solution cards which were revealed towards the end of the play, whereupon the actors would then conclude the play by performing one of the 216 endings possible. Presently the play is not available for performance due to a restriction by Hasbro, since Hasbro has been planning to make a new movie. It is unclear whether the restriction applies to the musical as well.Books
A series of 18 humorous children's books/teen books were published in the United States by Scholastic PressScholastic Press
Scholastic is a global book publishing company known for publishing educational materials for schools, teachers, and parents, and selling and distributing them by mail order and via book clubs and book fairs. It also has the exclusive United States' publishing rights to the Harry Potter book...
between 1992 and 1997 based on the Clue concept and created by A.E. Parker. The books featured the US Clue characters in short, comedic vignette
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
s and asked the reader to follow along and solve a crime at the end of each. The answers are printed Upside down with an explantion on the following page following each chapter to see if the reader was able to guesse correctly or not. The crime would usually be the murder of another guest besides Mr. Boddy, a robbery of some sort, or a simple contest, in which case they must figure out who won. The tenth and final vignette would always be the murder of Mr. Boddy. Somehow, Mr. Boddy would always manage to cheat death, such as fainting before the shot was fired or being shot with trick bullets. However, at the end of the 18th book, Mrs. Peacock kills Mr. Boddy out of starvation and Mr. Boddy stays dead. The books feature mysterious-sounding titles such as "Midnight phone calls" "Footprints in the fog" or "The secret, secret passage".
These books are now out of print but can still be bought from various online retailers in both new and used conditions.
In 2003, Canadian mystery writer Vicki Cameron wrote a new set of mini-mysteries, called the Clue Mysteries books. The series is geared toward a more adult audience while still retaining some comic absurdity as did the 1990s series. Only two were published. Both books feature more complex storylines and vocabulary, as well as fifteen mysteries apiece. The first book contains the more modern looking clue game cover by Drew Struzan.
Another book called "CLUE Code-Breaking Puzzles" was released in December 2008 written by Helene Hovanec. The book contains a whopping 60 mysteries.
A similar series of books featuring the Clue Jr. characters was also published. The first book, unlike the others, features thirteen mysteries, not ten, and is titled simply enough Who Killed Mr Boddy?. The name of the book is usually the name of the tenth mystery in which Boddy is killed.
The books notably depart from the film. Mr Boddy is a trillionaire, and the guests are his friends. But since Boddy has his will made out to his friends, they each try to kill him at one point with the intent on cashing in on his will. The guests are all given some sort of defining characteristic for comic effect, as well as to help the reader discern the culprit. Colonel Mustard constantly challenges other guests to duels, Professor Plum often forgets things, even what he is doing or his own name, and Mr. Green is notoriously greedy. Mrs. Peacock is highly proper and will not stand for any lack of manners, the maid Mrs. White hates her employer and all the guests, and Miss Scarlet is beautiful and seductive. The traits all help the reader identify the guests. For example, if a mystery thief suddenly forgets what he is doing, and another guest scolds him for his bad manners, the reader can safely assume the two guests are Plum and Peacock. Mr. Boddy himself is ludicrously naive, to the point where he accepts any attempt to kill him as an accident or a misunderstanding (such as a dropped wrench flying all the way across the Mansion and hitting him in the head), and invites the guests back to the mansion. This explains why he never seeks any legal action against his "friends," and invited them back despite repeated attempts to kill him. However, after a few books, he wises up enough to be suspicious of them, but continues to invite them over against better judgment.
The Clue Jr. series originally had all six characters, but suddenly, some of the characters were taken out, leaving only four. The mysteries usually only included cases similar to the theft of a toy, but sometimes the cases were more serious. They are usually solved when the culprit traps himself in his own lies.
Jigsaw puzzles
A series of jigsaw puzzles (500 piece Clue/750 piece Cluedo/200 Jr. ed.), based on the game was introduced in 1991. The jigsaw puzzles presented detailed stories with a biography for each of the standard suspects. The object was to assemble the jigsaw puzzles and then deduce the solutions presented in the mystery stories from the clues provided within the completed pictures.Variants
The following games are licensed thematic variations of the original Cluedo game, which follow the basic rules and configuration of the original edition or its spinoffs.- Clue The Collector's Edition (1996) After the success of the first "collector's tin anniversary edition" of MonopolyMonopoly (game)Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
(for the 50th anniversary), a "luxury" edition of the game was produced by the Franklin MintFranklin MintThe Franklin Mint is a private corporation founded by Joseph Segel in 1964. The private mint operated from Wawa, Pennsylvania but that operation has now closed...
, the first edition to be published outside Parker Brothers. It is a three-dimensional representation of the gameboard encased in glass and wood with 24K gold-plated playing pieces and gameboard accents. Drew StruzanDrew StruzanDrew Struzan is an American artist known for his more than 150 movie posters, which include all the films in the Indiana Jones, Back to the Future and Star Wars film series. He has also painted album covers, collectibles, and book covers.- Early life and education :Drew Struzan was born in Oregon...
provided VictorianVictorian eraThe Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
-themed artwork for the game. It was also sold as Cluedo, however it used the North American localizations. Though only sold for a brief time, the edition was re-issued in 2007 by Restoration HardwareRestoration HardwareRestoration Hardware is an American furniture chain of home furnishings, bath fixtures and bathware, functional and decorative hardware and related merchandise. The company defines its wares as classic and authentic American. Restoration Hardware, Inc. sells its merchandise offering through its...
as the Premiere edition, however it is a smaller, scaled-down version with gold-coloured plastic pieces and accents which sold for significantly less.
- Clue: Limited Gift Edition (1997), this edition from Winning MovesWinning MovesWinning Moves Games is a maker of classic card games and board games, puzzles, action games and adult party games.-History:Winning Moves Games was founded in 1995 by four game industry professionals: Tom Kremer , Philip Orbanes , Mike...
, came in a deluxe format with the option to play with an extra murder weapon, a Poison ChaliceChalice (cup)A chalice is a goblet or footed cup intended to hold a drink. In general religious terms, it is intended for drinking during a ceremony.-Christian:...
. It also utilized the 1996 US edition artwork by Drew Struzan.
- Alfred Hitchcock Edition ClueAlfred Hitchcock Edition ClueAlfred Hitchcock Edition Clue is a version of the board game Cluedo themed using elements from the films of Alfred Hitchcock.-Game contents:* Instructions* A game board, representing the location of the murder...
(1999) is set on the sound stage where a number of Alfred HitchcockAlfred HitchcockSir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
’s films are being shot.
- The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
Clue (2000), also released as The Simpsons Cluedo, has players trying to find out who killed Mr. Burns and where in Springfield it happened. The first edition features HomerHomer SimpsonHomer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
as Mr. Green (Reverend Green in the UK), BartBart SimpsonBartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
as Prof. Plum, LisaLisa SimpsonLisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
as Miss Scarlet, MargeMarge SimpsonMarjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
as Mrs. Peacock, Krusty as Col. Mustard, and Mr. SmithersWaylon SmithersWaylon Smithers, Jr., usually referred to as Smithers, is a recurring fictional character in the animated series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer. Smithers first appeared in the episode "Homer's Odyssey", although he could be heard in the series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open...
as Mrs. White. Early promotional material had MaggieMaggie SimpsonMargaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James...
as Mrs. White and Grandpa as Col. Mustard. Later editions were published exclusively by HasbroHasbroHasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
. The third edition (2007) has players determine who killed Mr. Burns in the Springfield MuseumMuseumA museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
and reassigns the characters with HomerHomer SimpsonHomer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
as Prof. Plum, BartBart SimpsonBartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
as Col. Mustard, Fat TonyFat TonyMarion Anthony "Fat Tony" D'Amico is a recurring character in the animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Joe Mantegna and first appeared in the third season episode "Bart the Murderer"...
as Mr. Green (Reverend Green in the UK), LisaLisa SimpsonLisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
as Mrs. Peacock, Edna KrabappelEdna KrabappelEdna Krabappel is a fictional character from the animated TV series The Simpsons, voiced by Marcia Wallace. She is a 4th grade teacher at Springfield Elementary School. Krabappel is the only character Wallace voices on a regular basis.- Profile :...
as Miss Scarlet, and MargeMarge SimpsonMarjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
as Mrs. White.
- Clue Dungeons & DragonsClue Dungeons & DragonsClue Dungeons & Dragons is a board game was made in 2001. It was produced by Hasbro shortly after their purchase of Wizards of the Coast, owners of the Dungeons & Dragons license. The game contains artwork in the Dungeons & Dragons style. The character positions of the cover are in the style of the...
(2001) was produced by Hasbro shortly after their purchase of Wizards of the CoastWizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
, owners of the Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
license. The characters are D&D character types (such as Monk, Rogue, Wizard, etc.). The rooms depicted on the board are fantasy-themed (Dungeon, Dragon's Lair, Lost Crypt, etc.), and the weapons also draw inspiration from the popular role-playing gameRole-playing gameA role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
(Mace of Disruption, Flaming Axe, etc.). Game play is identical to standard Clue unless the optional Wandering Monsters deck is used. Using this deck, players must battle monsters when landing on special spaces on the board. The players must battle monsters via dice rolls and are rewarded with magic items that confer special powers.
- Clue – The Haunted Mansion (2002) This Disney Theme Park Edition is based on the Haunted MansionHaunted MansionThe Haunted Mansion is a dark ride located at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland. A significantly re-imagined incarnation of the ride, known as Phantom Manor, is located in Disneyland Paris...
at Disney theme parksDisneyland (disambiguation)Disneyland is the original Disney theme park in Anaheim, California.Disneyland may also refer to:-Theme parks:* Tokyo Disneyland, a theme park near Tokyo, Japan* Disneyland Park , a theme park at Disneyland Paris...
. One of the six guests in the house (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Pluto) was scared by one of the six ghosts (The Traveller, The Skeleton, The Prisoner, Emily the Bleeding Bride, The Opera Singer, and the Mariner) in one of the nine rooms (Foyer, Portrait Gallery, Library, Conservatory, Seance Room, Ballroom, Attic, Graveyard, and Crypt.) The detail on the board draws from the scenes depicted in the Haunted Mansion attraction and contains Hidden Mickeys.
- Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!Scooby-Doo, Where are You!Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is the first incarnation of the long-running Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo. It premiered on September 13, 1969 at 10:30 a.m. EST and ran for two seasons on CBS as a half-hour long show. Twenty-five episodes were produced...
Clue (2002) features Fred as Mr. Green, Shaggy as Prof. Plum, Scooby as Col. Mustard, Velma as Mrs. Peacock, Daphne as Miss Scarlet, and Mrs. White as their host. This edition takes place in a run-down version of the mansion with a cemetery.
- Clue: First Edition 1949 Classic Reproduction. (2003) Winning MovesWinning MovesWinning Moves Games is a maker of classic card games and board games, puzzles, action games and adult party games.-History:Winning Moves Games was founded in 1995 by four game industry professionals: Tom Kremer , Philip Orbanes , Mike...
released a re-issue reproduction of the original 1949 US Clue edition. Accurate in every way, notable features include wooden pawns and the original string rope, as well as a pewter version of the traditional plastic rope.
- Dunhill Cluedo (2003) Following in the vein of "luxury" editions of family boardgames, Dunhill released a custom edition of Cluedo designed by British game maker Geoffrey Parker. The game consisted of a hand-inlaid leather clad box, with Sterling silver playing pieces. The design won a British Interior Design Association award in 2008.
- Clue – The Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror (2007) This Disney Theme Park Edition is based on The Twilight Zone Tower of TerrorThe Twilight Zone Tower of TerrorThe Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, more commonly known as Tower of Terror, is a drop tower thrill ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios , Disney California Adventure Park, Tokyo DisneySea and Walt Disney Studios Park . It is based upon the television show The Twilight Zone...
at Disney's Hollywood StudiosDisney's Hollywood StudiosDisney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. Spanning 135 acres in size, its theme is show business, drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s...
theme park. Players try to discover who disappeared, where, and with which prop. The details, of the characters, props, and rooms draw from the scenes depicted in the Tower of Terror attraction. This version also contains Hidden Mickeys much like the Haunted Mansion version.
- Clue: Harry Potter Edition (2008), also released as Cluedo: Harry Potter Edition, involves a student disappearing from the school. Players use the characters Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna or Neville to find how, when and what spell was used to attack the student. This variant, while loosely based on the reinvention makeover, is a major departure from traditional gameplay and constitutes a spin-off in its own right, as it includes along with the standard complement of equipment, Help cards, Dark cards, Mystery cards, house point tokens (the loss of which can eliminate a player from a game), and a variable configuration game board which changes during the course of play.
- Clue: 2424 (TV series)24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
Edition (2009) has players attempt to find out which character is about to launch one of nine attacks (weapons) from within CTU.
- Clue: The Office Edition (2009) Players at the Dunder Mifflin office are instructed by their boss Michael ScottMichael Scott (The Office)Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
to find out who "killed" HR rep Toby FlendersonToby FlendersonToby Wyatt Flenderson, M.S.W. born 1971 is a character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Paul Lieberstein. He is an original character and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.-Overview:...
.
- Clue: SeinfeldSeinfeldSeinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
Collector's Edition (2009) has players attempt to determine who bonked Newman on the head and hid his scandalous tabloid exposing the suspects' secrets.
- Clue: Juicy Couture (2009) was produced as part of USAopoly custom corporate games service for US clothing designer Juicy CoutureJuicy CoutureJuicy Couture is a contemporary line of both casual and dressy apparel based in Arleta, Los Angeles, California founded by Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor in 1996...
. Players take on the role of one of six characters as they attempt to determine who stole what couture item in the fashion line was stolen, who took it, and where the item is hidden before the fashion show begins the next day.
- Clue: The Classic Edition. (2010) Another standard edition produced by Winning MovesWinning MovesWinning Moves Games is a maker of classic card games and board games, puzzles, action games and adult party games.-History:Winning Moves Games was founded in 1995 by four game industry professionals: Tom Kremer , Philip Orbanes , Mike...
, combines design elements from its Limited Gift Edition and its 1949 re-issue edition, to produce a new traditional edition of the game using the original 6 suspects, weapons and 9 rooms – the first of its kind released since the introduction of the Discover The Secrets spin-off game in 2008.
- Clue: Family GuyFamily GuyFamily Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
Collector's Edition (2010) has players attempt to determine who killed the Giant Chicken.
Unlicensed variants
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Mystery at Hogwarts Game.(2000) This variant of Cluedo has the players trying to find out which student cast which forbidden spell in which room in HogwartsHogwartsHogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or simply Hogwarts is the primary setting for the first six books of the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, with each book lasting the equivalent of one school year. It is a fictional boarding school of magic for witches and wizards between the ages of...
School. One of the small rules changes is that players must go to an extra room to make their final accusations. The suspects are Harry PotterHarry Potter (character)Harry James Potter is the title character and main protagonist of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. The majority of the books' plot covers seven years in the life of the orphan Potter who, on his eleventh birthday, learns he is a wizard...
, Ron WeasleyRon WeasleyRonald Bilius "Ron" Weasley is a fictional character and one of the three protagonists in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. His first appearance was in the first book of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as the best friend of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger...
, Hermione GrangerHermione GrangerHermione Jean Granger is a fictional character and one of the three protagonists in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. She initially appears in the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as a new student on her way to Hogwarts...
, Draco MalfoyDraco MalfoyDraco Malfoy is a fictional character and a major antagonist in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. He is a Slytherin student in Harry Potter's year. He is frequently accompanied by his two accomplices, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, who act as henchmen...
, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.
- Mystery Museum: The Biblical Artifacts Detective Game (2000). A version of Cluedo but with Evangelical Christian elements to it. In the game, six people of different professions visit a Bible-history museum and steal one of the artifacts. It must be determined who is the thief, which artifact they stole, and where they hid it. Throughout the game, players learn about the Bible.
- Whodunit (1972) A similar game in which 6 players move around the board as investigators, obtaining opportunities to view other player's "alibi" tokens and collecting other "clues" to the identify of the murderer, weapon used, room in which committed, and a new category: motive. Whodunit draws on a similar setting and character types, including a colonel and maid, but in which the suspects are not the players.
Cluedo: Discover the Secrets
On August 8, 2008, Hasbro redesigned and updated the board, characters, weapons, and rooms. Changes to the rules of game play were made, some to accommodate the new features.The suspects have new given names and backgrounds, as well as differing abilities that may be used during the game. The revolver is now a pistol, the lead pipe has been removed, and a bat, axe, and trophy have been added. The nine rooms have changed to (in clockwise order): Hall, Guest House, Dining Room, Kitchen, Patio, Spa, Theater, Living Room, and Observatory.
There is also a second deck of cards—the Intrigue cards. In this deck, there are two types of cards, Keepers and Clocks. Keepers are special abilities; for example, "You can see the card". There are eight clocks—the first seven drawn do nothing—whoever draws the eighth is killed by the murderer and out of the game.
The player must move to the indoor swimming pool in the center of the board to make an accusation. This adds some challenge versus the ability to make accusations from anywhere in the original game.
The most significant change to game play is that once the suspect cards have been taken, the remaining cards are dealt so that all players have an even number of cards (rather than dealt out so that "one player may have a slight advantage"). This means that depending on the number of players a number of cards are left over. These cards are placed face down in the middle and are not seen unless a player takes a turn in the pool room to look at them.
The changes to the game have been criticized in the media for unnecessarily altering classic cultural icons.
Worldwide differences
Besides some rule differences listed above, some versions label differently the names of characters, weapons, rooms and in some instances the actual game itself.In Canada and the U.S., the game is known as Clue. It was retitled because the traditional British board game Ludo
Ludo (board game)
Ludo is a simple board game for two to four players, in which the players race their four tokens from start to finish according to dice rolls. Like other cross and circle games, it is similar to the Indian Pachisi, but simpler...
, on which the name is based, was less well known there than its American variant Parcheesi
Parcheesi
Parcheesi is a brand name American adaptation of the Indian Cross and Circle game Pachisi. Created in India perhaps as early as 500 AD, the board game is subtitled Royal Game of India because royalty played using color-costumed members of their harems as pieces on large outdoor boards. Such a court...
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The North American versions of Clue also replace the character "Reverend Green" from the original Cluedo with "Mr. Green." This is the only region to continue to make such a change. Minor changes include "Miss Scarlett" with her name being spelt with one 't', the spanner being called a wrench, and the dagger re-named a knife. And until 2003, the lead piping was known as the lead pipe only in the North American edition.
In some international versions of the game (mostly the Spanish-language ones) the colours of some pieces are different, so as to correspond with the changes to each suspect's unique foreign name variations. In some cases, rooms and weapons are changed in addition to other regional variances.
In South America it is licensed and sold under several different names. In particular, it is notably marketed as "Detetive" in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
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Merchandising
The Clue and Cluedo brands are well-merchandised through umbrellas,books, toys, clothing and other miscellaneous items.See also
- List of Cluedo characters
- Clue (computer game)Clue (computer game)Clue is a computer game based on the board game of the same name. Its formal name is Clue: Murder at Boddy Mansion or Cluedo: Murder at Blackwell Grange. It runs on Microsoft Windows. It was developed in 1998 for Hasbro Interactive by EAI...
- 13 Dead End Drive13 Dead End Drive13 Dead End Drive is a murder-themed board game from Milton Bradley. Released in 1993, it was followed in 2002 by a sequel, 1313 Dead End Drive.The story behind the game indicates the death of a wealthy old woman triggers feuding over her will...
(related board game) - Kill Doctor LuckyKill Doctor LuckyKill Doctor Lucky is a humorous board game designed by James Ernest and released in 1996 by Cheapass Games. In 1998, Kill Doctor Lucky won the Origins Award for Best Abstract Board Game of 1997....
(related board game and parody) - Orient ExpressOrient Express (board game)Orient Express is a crime fiction board game published by Jumbo and Just Games. The game is based on the book Murder On the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. The game was designed by Jeff Smets and released in 1985. The game contains 10 different murder cases, each of which can be played only once...
(related board game)
External links
- Clue official website Hasbro (US site)
- 50th Anniversary web site (at Archive.org) official 1999–2000 product line
- Cluedofan.com — A detailed resource, including information on film & television productions
- List of international Cluedo/Clue editions at Cluedofan.com
- TheArtofMurder.com – A well organized and detailed site maintained by a US collector
- Pete's CLUEDO fan site – A detailed site with component images from every edition of the game.
- Android electron paper for game records – A simple android application to help you record the game.