Cluedo- Prof. Plum, in the Studio using a Candle Stick!

I guess I would be wring calling this a review. This game is so popular that it doesn't need a review. For more than 60 yrs this Parker Brother's game has intrigued people and I should add, is still continuing to do so. I say a great game to introduce mystery genre games for newbies (3-6 players)

I have lot of people on Boardgame Geek tell that Settlers of Catan was a genre breaking game that actually got a lot of them back to boardgaming. But I'm a little different. Coming from India, my knowledge of boardgames was extremely limited to say the least and this game actually got me into boardgaming and hence a special affiliation towards Cluedo :-)

I was probably one of those in India who had no clue about this game, though some of my friends had played it years ago. Unfortunate is all that I can say. But all this changed when a friend of mine showed me this game in Target or Big W in Melbourne i.e. during B-School days. He said "why don't we pick this game up for our weekend?" We were supposed to have some friends at my home and spend time and he suggested that this was an interesting game.

This set the ball rolling :-)

Cluedo the age old game of mystery and intrigue has reached immense heights where people host Cluedo Parties, murder Mystery parties etc. All that is required is to identify a hypothetical murder that has taken place- you need to tell who don it, with what weapon and in which room. In fact there has been many better murder mystery games after this, but to me this stays close to my heart!

BTW, this is available across all stores in India and don't wait to read this review to buy this game :-) If you look at my pictures you can probably make out how worn out this game is- i.e. how much I've played this :-)

Cluedo or Clue by Anthony E. Pratt

Anthony E. Pratt (August 10, 1903 - April 9, 1994) was an English game designer who is credited with creating the popular board game Clue. He came up with the game idea while working as a fire warden during World War II in Leeds. He was inspired to create the game by Geoffrey Bull, inventor of the board game Buccaneer. (Boardgame Geek)

What do you get in the Box?



This game perhaps comes in so many flavors that I really can't say with certainty that there are the things in the box. But the Parker Brothers version that I have has the following:

• Nice big game board depicting 9 rooms
• 6 colored pieces representing 6 different characters (Ms. Scarlet, Mrs. White, Prof. Plum, Col. Mustard etc.)
  
• 6 miniature weapons (knife, revolver, candle stick, rope, wrench, lead pipe)
• 9 room cards
• 6 weapon cards
• 6 character cards
  
• Dice and deduction sheets

Neat components. Also you can download deduction sheet from BGG whenever you run out of it or create your own.

How does it play?

• Each player chooses a character, gets deduction sheet and start off from their respective character's starting position
• one card at random is chosen from each of the 3 stacks i.e. character, weapon, room) and set aside. This is what is needed to be deduced.
• The rest of the cards are distributed among the players and it doesn't matter if is it unevenly distributed.
  
• Ms. Scarlet starts 1st, else choose a way that you like
• Throw the dice and move the counter towards the entrance of any of the rooms that you want to enter
• Once a player is at the door step others can't enter the room
• Another player cannot enter the room already having a detective by throwing a dice
• How ever other characters can be summoned by detectives on their turn to the room that they are currently present
• Players can suggest/suspect using the following combination- Character name- Weapon- The current room that they are in. Eg. Scarlet-revolver-kitchen (assuming the player is in kitchen)
• Players can suspect/suggest themselves as well i.e person playing Scarlet can suspect Scarlet themselves
  
• Note: Players cannot suggest that the murder happened in another room by staying in one- so you cannot stay in Study while suggesting the murder happened in Ballroom
• After a player makes a suggestion he/she goes round the table asking if anyone has an objection to that combination. If they have they must prove it showing one of the cards of the combination (i.e in case more than one card of the combination used). Remember all players have to be truthful when it comes to objecting and cannot bluff.
• Play continues like this round the table until a time when someone comes forward to accuse- Each player gets just one chance to accuse. i.e by accusing you are publicly saying that you know he combination of room, character and weapon and you take a look at the hidden cards. If you are right you win, else you are out of the game. Even if you lose you have to be present in the game to show the clues to others. So be very sure before making an accusation
  
• If you have a winner, people can decide if they want to continue the game or each one can go and make an accusation (this is how we play)

People use some interesting strategies like using clues from their hand and trying to mislead others into believing that the combination is a strong possibility of being the right answer ;-)

How long does it play?

This game usually takes somewhere between 45 min to 75 depending on how experienced your group is. But this game is fun so don't worry about the time :-)

Who do you recommend it to?

Well, I would like to say that this game is for all. But yes, if you are starting out on boardgaming and have no idea about what board games are, you should not miss this one. Yes I do accept that there are better games, but this is surely one of the good games. If people have been playing it for more than 60 yrs, I surely believe that there is substance to play this game.

Any Downsides?

Having said that this game is fun, enjoyable etc. this game is not without flaws. One thing that really makes this game annoying after you become comfortable is the dice mechanism- unnecessarily slows things down. This is where games like Mystery of the Abbey- MoA (which I own as well) scores over Clue. After many plays you'll exactly know that there are 3-4 different strategies to crack this and it is just a matter of time before someone cracks it. Again games like MoA or American Werewolf or Werewolves of Miller's Hollow (the last 2 are very different to MoA and Clue) scores. Some people find it hard to keep track of things on the small deduction sheet. Some people have also complained that this game is more of an elimination than deduction. But honestly I have played this close to 80 times and still don't mind playing it, though the preference has gone down a bit.

Final Thoughts!

This game got me into Board gaming and just for that reason alone, I'll not be getting rid of this game :-) I still get kicks playing this, but definitely enjoy MoA more due to the mechanics involved and the complexity involved. Having said that I would say this game should be played by everyone in case you have not played it before. I really don't mind if you don't want to buy, but not playing this is a crime :-)