Cluedo

Cluedo, called Clue in North America, is a game in which the players have to use clues to determine which of the characters are responsible for the murder of the owner of a mansion. The characters are all guests of the owner, named Dr. Black in the UK version and Mr. Boddy in the US version. Waddingtons, in the UK, originally published the game, but Anthony Pratt, who was a clerk in a solicitor’s office and part time clown living in Birmingham, England, created it. Hasbro now publishes the game in the United States.

The board for this game is divided into different rooms of a mansion. Players attempt to solve the murder using three main components: Suspect, Weapon and Room. At the beginning of the game one card from each of the three piles – Suspect, Weapon and Room- is placed in an envelope. This is the solution that the players have to figure out. The remainder of the cards are dealt out to the players who have to figure out which character is the murderer, what weapon was used and in what room it took place.

The characters of the game are:

Colonel Mustard
Miss Scarlett
Professor Plum
Reverend Green (Mr. Green in the US)
Mrs. White
Mr. Peabody
Dr. Black (Mr. Boddy in the US)

There are nine rooms in the mansion: hall, lounge, dining room, kitchen, ballroom, conservatory, library, billiard room and study. There are 324 possible solutions and players study the cards they have in their hand to make an announcement, such as “I suggest it was Mr. Peabody in the lounge with the knife.” The other players then have to disprove this statement by showing they have one of the cards for one part of this suggestion. By the process of elimination and disproving the hypotheses, players try to deduce the solution. When a player feels that he/she has the solution, then it is time to make an accusation. If the accusation is incorrect, then that player is out of the game because in order to determine whether or not it is correct the player has to look at the solution cards.