Cluedo
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| Cluedo | |
|---|---|
 Picture of the newest edition of Cluedo |
|
| Players | 3-6 |
| Age range | 8+ |
| Setup time | < 5 minutes |
| Playing time | 45 minutes |
| Random chance | High |
| Skills required | Deduction |
Cluedo (Clue in North America) is a crime fiction board game originally published by Waddingtons in the United Kingdom in 1948. 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 game is set in a mansion, with the board divided into different rooms. The players each represent a character who is a guest staying at this house, whose owner, Dr. Black (Mr. Boddy in the North American version), has been found murdered.
Players take on the role of suspects and attempt to solve the murder. The solution to the murder requires the three components of Suspect, Weapon, and Room.
Contents |
[edit] Game contents
- Instructions
- A game board, representing the location of the murder
- Six colored game pieces, representing the suspects
- Weapon pieces, representing possible weapons used
- Cards, containing depictions of game elements (weapons, suspects or rooms)
- An envelope labeled "Case File: Confidential", to hold the solution in each game (some versions have a thumbprint and no writing)
- A six-sided die (often red in the U.S. version)
[edit] The suspects
- Miss Scarlett (Miss Scarlet in North American versions) (a red piece)
- Professor Plum (a purple piece)
- Colonel Mustard (a yellow piece)
- Rev. Green (Mr. Green in pre-2002 North American versions) (a green piece)
- Mrs. White (a white piece)
- Mrs. Peacock (a blue piece)
[edit] Possible murder weapons
- The Rope
- The Lead Piping
- The Knife (also called "The Dagger")
- The Spanner (called "The Wrench" in Canadian and U.S. version)
- The Candlestick
- The Revolver
Sometimes in special editions, a seventh weapon is added. The 50th Anniversary edition added the Poison. The Limited Gift Edition added the Poisoned Chalice.
[edit] The rooms
There are nine rooms in the mansion where the murder can take place, laid out on the board as follows:
| Kitchen | Ballroom | Conservatory |
| Dining Room | Cellar with envelope |
Billiard Room |
| Library | ||
| Lounge | Hall | Study |
Each of the four corner rooms contains a secret passage that leads to the room on the opposite diagonal corner of the map.
[edit] Chronology
In recent years, Hasbro has made more of an effort to connect their Clue boardgames in an overall story. The boardgames that take place in this chronology are Clue, Clue FX, Clue Mysteries, and Clue DVD. The complete chronology can be found at Clue chronology.
[edit] Gameplay
The game is unusual in that it requires at least three players, as opposed to a minimum of two for most board games.
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 true facts of the case. The remainder of the cards are distributed among the players.
The aim is to deduce the details of the murder—that is, the cards in the envelope. There are 324 possible solutions (6 suspects * 6 weapons * 9 rooms = 324). This is done by announcing suggestions to other players. An example of a suggestion is, "I suggest it was Mrs. White, in the Library, with the Rope." All elements contained in the suggestion are moved into the room in the suggestion (so Mrs. White and the Rope would be moved to the Library).
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 to the player making the suggestion (for example, the Rope), 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 onto 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 thinks he knows the solution, s/he can make an accusation. The player need not be in the room he is making the accusation about. The accusing player checks the validity of the accusation by checking the cards, keeping them concealed from other players. If he made an incorrect accusation, he is ejected from the game because he now knows the correct solution, and the game continues with the remaining players. However, the player making wrong accusation must still reveal cards secretly to remaining players during the game. If the player made a correct accusation, the solution cards are shown to the other players and the game ends.
An interesting feature of Cluedo's design is that it is possible for a player to be using the piece representing the murderer. This doesn't affect the gameplay; the object of the game is still to be the first to make the correct accusation. It does suggest an unusual case of amnesia by the killer.
The game cannot be played with two people, because the process of elimination diffuses the same information to both players. Such a game tends to pass quickly.
[edit] Strategies
- If the current player draws another player's piece into the room (by involving that piece in a suggestion), this might in fact help the owner of the piece by eliminating their need to throw dice to move their own piece there.
- Conversely, if one player apparently wants to go to a certain room, other players can thwart them by pulling their piece to other rooms.
- If no one gives a card on a suggestion, that means either that particular player guessed one card correctly, guessed two cards correctly, or wants to confuse their opponents by suggesting three of their own cards.
- If some player is doing elimination too transparently (by, say, suggesting the same room and killer over and over, only replacing the weapon each time), other players can easily notice that player is doing something, perhaps by the component they change with each suggestion, and thus deduce the cards this player has seen.
- Conversely, the continually suggesting player can use this to trick the other players by suggesting weapons and killers that they already know have been ruled out.
[edit] Legacy
[edit] Movie
A comedy film named Clue was based on the game, as well as several interactive video versions. In the US film version, the person murdered was Mr. Boddy. The film, which featured different endings released to different theaters, failed at the box office but has attracted a cult following.
There is also a French version of this film named Cluedo, released in 1993.
[edit] Musical
A musical named Clue was also created based on the board game. The cast is composed of five men and three women. The female roles are Mrs. Peacock, Miss Scarlet and the Detective. The male roles are Reverend Green, Colonel Mustard, Professor Plum, Mr. Boddy, and Mrs. White. The role of Mrs White is traditionally played by a crossdressing man.
[edit] Television
There have been several television game shows based upon this game. There have been, to date, four seasons of the British version of Cluedo (and a Christmas version that in fact shows some similarity to the North American movie), and there have been other versions in Germany, France, Australia and Scandinavia. The format for each pits two teams (each usually containing one celebrity and one person with law enforcement/research experience) against six very in-character actors as the famed color-coded suspects. There is a new murder victim every episode, who usually has it coming to them for one reason or another.
[edit] Spin-off games
Waddingtons, Parker Brothers and Hasbro have created many spin-off versions of the game. Spin-off games fall under two categories, alternative rule variations such as Clue Master Detective, and themed versions such as Simpsons Clue. These include:
[edit] Rule variants
- Clue VCR Mystery Game (1985)[1] 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, Gun, Rope, and Poison) and five rooms (Dining Room, Kitchen, Hall, Conservatory, and Library) are featured but there are a total of ten suspects (original six plus M. Brunette, Madam Rose, Sgt. Gray, and Miss Peach).
- Super Cluedo Challenge (1986)[2] 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 blunderbuss, 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)[3] more scenarios to add to the first VCR game.
- Clue Master Detective (1988)[4] released as Super Cluedo in France) is an expanded version of the original game. In addition to the original characters, weapons and rooms, the game introduces four new characters (Mme. Rose, Sgt. Grey, M. Brunette and Miss Peach), 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: The Great Museum Caper (1991)[5] is rather different from the original. One player is a thief moving in a museum stealing paintings, while the other players cooperate to catch the thief. The thief keeps track of his 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)[6] is a shedding-type card game, 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)[7].
- Cluedo Junior (1993) [8] 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.
- Cluedo Super Sleuth (1995)[9] 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 incidental character. There are three incidental characters in the game (Inspector Grey, Hogarth the Butler, and the Black Dog) who 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)[10] 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: 50th Anniversary (1999)[11], also released as Clue: 50th Anniversary this edition came in a deluxe format with an extra murder weapon, a bottle of poison.
- Cluedo Passport to Murder (2000)[12] was an update of Super Cluedo Challenge with the setting changed to an Orient Express style train in Istanbul station. There is very little change to the mechanics of the game (except you can only play the six original characters), with mainly cosmetic changes and updates to the characters.
- Cluedo Card Game (2002)[13] 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.
- Clue FX (2003)[14] released as Cluedo SFX in the UK, (2004), and Super Cluedo Interactif in France, (2004) is another departure from the original rules. You play as one of four new characters (Lord Grey, Lady Lavender, Miss Peach and Prince Azure, adding a 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 gameplay 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)[15] is another children's variation where you have to find out who ate the cake.
- Clue Mysteries (2005)[16], released in the UK as Cluedo Mysteries(2006) This is another change of rules, and this time the gameplay is based heavily on another boardgame called "Mysteries of Old Peking".
- Cluedo DVD Game (2005)[17] This is the most recent edition of the game, with different rules based around 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.
[edit] Theme versions
- Alfred Hitchcock Edition Clue (1999) is set on the sound stage where a number of Hitchcock’s films are being shot, otherwise plays like regular Clue.
- The Simpsons Clue (2000) is themed after the TV series, The Simpsons. With the players trying to find out who killed Mr. Burns. It features Homer as Mr. Green, Bart as Prof. Plum, Krusty as Col. Mustard, Marge as Mrs. Peacock, Lisa as Miss Scarlet, and Mr. Smithers as Mrs. White. The weapons are a Plutonium Rod, Necklace, Saxophone, Poisoned Doughnut, Slingshot and the Extend-O-Glove.
- Clue Dungeons & Dragons (2001) was produced by Hasbro shortly after their purchase of Wizards of the Coast, owners of the Dungeons & Dragons 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 game (Mace of Disruption, Flaming Axe, etc.). Gameplay is identical to standard Clue unless you use the optional Wandering Monsters deck. 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) The Disney Theme Park Edition
- Scooby-Doo! Where are you? Clue (2002) is themed after the TV series, Scooby-Doo, Where are You!. Like the episodes, the gang has to figure out whodunit. It 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 where the Study has been replaced by the Kitchen and the original Kitchen has been turned into a cemetery after its walls started crumbling.
[edit] Unlicensed variants
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Mystery at Hogwarts Game (2000).[1] This variant of Clue has the players trying to find out which student cast which forbidden spell in which room in Hogwarts 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 Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, though, for unknown reasons, Malfoy and Crabbe are depicted in silhouette on their cards.
- Mystery Museum is a version of Clue but has 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.
[edit] Books
A series of 18 humorous children's books were published in the United States by Scholastic Press between 1992 and 1997 based on the Clue concept and created by A.E. Parker (possibly of Parker Brothers). The books featured the US Clue characters in short, comedic vignettes and asked the reader to follow along and solve a crime at the end of each. 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. A similar series of books featuring the Clue Jr. characters was also published. The first book, unlike the others, features 13 mysteries, not 10, 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 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.
The Clue Jr. series originally had all 6 characters, but suddenly, some of the characters were taken out, leaving only 4. 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.
[edit] Computer and video games
Various versions of the game have shown up on Commodore 64, PC, Game Boy Advance, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis. The latest official version, Clue: Murder at Boddy Mansion was released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows and is still available from Hasbro. 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.
[edit] The Secret Policeman's Ball Sketch
In the 2006 Secret Policeman's Ball, a sketch was performed by "The Amnesty Players" called "Murder in Marston Manor" which parodied the game.
The sketch was based on a murder (the victim was Russell Brand) being solved by a Detective (Richard E. Grant) and his assistant, Constable Sidekick (Stephen Mangan). At the beginning, they know that all the people in the manor at the night of murder have one thing in common - their surnames are also a colour. They also know they are only six possibilites. Death by shooting, by strangling, by piece of string, by a lead-based drainage pipe, by spanner, or by candlestick.
They then call in the suspects. They are meant to start of with Miss Scarlet, described as a beauty, but instead Mrs. White (Jo Brand) enters wearing a red coat. She then tells them that Gordon Ramsey was meant to play the part, but he did not want to do drag. The Detective then tells Mrs. White to stand in the corner, whilst he inexplicably questions everyone in front of everyone else. Miss Scarlet (Julia Davis) then enters, claiming the body isn't hers, and that all the people she murdered are in the summer house. Then enters a shy Professor Plum who is one for the ladies, played by Graham Norton, who constantly makes gay double entendres. Then Mrs. Peacock (Jessica Stevenson) enters, and walks up to Constable Sidekick, trying to chat him up, then talks to Grant about Gosforth Park and Stephen Fry being the detective, then asks Grant if he is going to do any more commercials for Argos. Mrs. Peacock then goes with with the other suspects. The next suspect is Mr. Pink (Seth Green) from the film Reservoir Dogs, aruging about why he has to be Mr. Pink. Professor Plum then says he wouldn't mind being Mr. Pink. The final suspect is Reverend Green (Julian Rhind-Tutt), who claims he was with Miss Scarlet, in the bedroom, with the rope.
The Detective then accuses the Reverend Green. He then admits his guilt, claiming that the Detective asked him the fiendish question of whether or not he committed the murder. But then he unvails that he is armed with the candlestick, and kills himself by stabbing himself to death with it. The Dectitve then claims that he is proud to have solved the case and to do the entire sketch without making a single joke about Withnail and I, and celebrates by asking for the finest wines available to humanity, wanting them here and wanting them now.
[edit] Variants
A variant of the game involves removing the dice rolling in the game. Instead each player has nine "moves" to use on a turn with each move onto another space counting as one move and an accusation, use of a secret passage, or guess, costing three moves adding more strategy into the game. This variant is offered in the 1998 version of the Clue computer game.
[edit] Trivia
- 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. [18] There are also localised versions for Japan and China.
- Expressions such as "Ms. Scarlet, in the Ballroom, with the candlestick," have entered popular culture.
- Enough rope has been included in Clue and Cluedo games to encircle the world.
- In some international versions of the game (mostly the Spanish-language ones) the colors of some pieces are different, so as to correspond with the changes to each suspect's name [19].
- In the CSI: NY episode "Trapped," there is a conversation between two of the detectives (Stella Bonasera & Don Flack, Jr.), in which Stella asks if there's a butler in the house. When Flack asks why, her response is the butler always did it, and she follows it with a statement implying that's how it worked in Clue. Flack's response to that was that he was a Monopoly guy.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- Kill Doctor Lucky
- 13 Dead End Drive
- Orient Express (board game)
[edit] External links
- Hasbro's U.S. Clue site
- Instructions for U.S. Clue
- CluedoFan.com - Cluedo/Clue fan site which includes game history and other game facts
- Cluedos 2.0 - A Cluedo/Clue solving computer program
- Cluedo at BoardGameGeek
