Cluedo: Discover the Secrets is a 2008 board game

Board game

A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...

 designed by 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...

 to modernize the world-famous game Cluedo

Cluedo

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...

. 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. The game was created in an effort to update what Hasbro considered to be an old-fashioned game, and became available in October 2008. However, the traditional version of the game will remain on sale as well.

It has been criticized for destroying the quaintness and charm of the original Cluedo.

Changes

Several modifications and updates have been made to the original game's equipment and rules.

Suspects

The six suspects from the original crime have been updated to include first names and more modern-day lifestyles. Each character has a special ability or "power" which can be used once during a game.

• Miss Scarlett becomes Kasandra Scarlet, a famous actress often featured in tabloids.
• Colonel Mustard becomes Jack Mustard, a former football player.
• Mrs. White becomes Diane White, an ex-child star seeking the spotlight.
• Reverend Green becomes Jacob Green, a go-to guy "with all the ins".
• Mrs. Peacock becomes Eleanor Peacock, a manners freak from a political family.
• Professor Plum becomes Victor Plum, a billionaire video game designer.

Weapons

The lead pipe, spanner/wrench, and revolver have all been dropped from the original list of possible weapons used and replaced with the baseball bat

Baseball bat

A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the game of baseball to hit the ball after the ball is thrown by the pitcher. It is no more than 2.75 inches in diameter at the thickest part and no more than 42 inches in length. It typically weighs no more than 33 ounces , but it...

, dumbbell

Dumbbell

The dumbbell, a type of free weight, is a piece of equipment used in weight training. It can be used individually or in pairs .-History:...

, and pistol

Pistol

When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...

. Likewise, the knife officially replaces the dagger in UK editions. In addition, an 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...

, trophy

Trophy

A trophy is a reward for a specific achievement, and serves as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics...

, and 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....

 have been added, bringing the total number of murder weapons up to nine as follows:

• Rope (orig.)
• Candlestick (orig.)
• Knife (orig. US, replaces Dagger in UK ed.)
• Pistol (orig. Revolver – early editions represented by an actual pistol)
• Baseball bat (new, replaces Lead piping/Spanner)
• Dumbbell (new, replaces Lead pipe/Wrench)
• Trophy (new)
• Poison (used in some previous spin-off editions and included with the 50th Anniversary ed.)
• Axe (used in some previous spin-off editions)

Rooms

The nine standard rooms on the board have been changed as indicated by an "*" (with the original room name in parentheses). In addition to these changes, the center room, Swimming Pool (the "cellar" in the original game), is now a playable, accessible room in the game, to be entered by the player prior to making the final accusation. The starting spaces for Scarlet and Mustard have also moved clockwise by 3 positions. Secret passages still connect the rooms of opposite corners of the gameboard.

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...	Patio* Deck (building) In architecture, a deck is a flat surface capable of supporting weight, similar to a floor, but typically constructed outdoors, often elevated from the ground, and usually connected to a building...   (Ball Room)	Spa* Hot tub A hot tub is a large tub or small pool full of heated water and used for soaking, relaxation, massage, or hydrotherapy. In most cases, they have jets for massage purposes. Hot tubs are usually located outdoors, and are often sheltered for protection from the elements, as well as for privacy....  (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...	Pool* Swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...   (Cellar)	Theatre* Home cinema Home cinema, also commonly called home theater, are home entertainment set-ups that seek to reproduce a movie theater experience and mood with the help of video and audio equipment in a private home....   (Billiard Room)
		Living Room* 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...  (Library)
Guest House* (Lounge)	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...	Observatory* Observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...  (Study)

Rules

While the game generally follows the classic rules, there are several new additions to the game. A new deck of cards has been added to the game: the Intrigue cards. This deck consists of two types of card: Keepers and Clocks. Keepers give the drawer special abilities, such as the ability to look at another player's cards, however, these cards do not override the original rules. Of the eight Clocks, the first seven that are drawn do nothing. The player who draws the eighth Clock is "killed" by the murderer, and is out of the game. However, this new game-play device creates a problem. Given the deduction method of an ordinary Clue game, the outcome is random. Thus, supposing the player who plays Jack Mustard gets murdered, but then the solution is revealed to be, "Mustard with the Dumbbell in the Spa" suggests murder and subsequent suicide or being killed by a new murderer. Intrigue cards are linked to new "?" spaces on the board, which require one to be drawn when landed upon.

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.

Criticism

Kate Summerscale wrote that the "Englishness and datedness of the original game are intrinsic to its appeal". She notes that "the contemporary detail is bound to feel tacky before long". She concludes that elements of Cluedo have become cultural reference points, and states that "the game itself has always had a nostalgic aura, blurrily reminiscent of creepy old houses and buried family secrets". Journalist Cole Moreton compares the release of the new game to the New Coke

New Coke

New Coke was the reformulation of Coca-Cola introduced in 1985 by The Coca-Cola Company to replace the original formula of its flagship soft drink, Coca-Cola...

debacle in 1985 and suggests it is only a matter of time before Hasbro makes the correction. In the mean time, he suggests that one should "borrow granny's. Far better to die in England than Blingland". Robert Colvile of the Telegraph questions Hasbro's stated rationale: "that the game should reflect 21st-century society - but do its makers really imagine that the faux-Edwardiana of the original, in which the vicar and the doctor and the local spinster gathered at the manor, was an accurate reflection of late-1940s society?" and suggests that "the appeal of these games is not that they reflect the real world, but that they take you away from it."