Clue board game review

Growing up my Mom and I got into cop dramas. Our favourite was Homicide Life on the Street. We used to place bets on how many murders each week. So a good murder mystery game was something we liked. Clue is one of those murder mystery games.

In Clue you take on a role of one of the detectives. Mrs White, Professor Plum, Miss Scarlet, Colonel Mustard, Mr Green or Mrs Peacock. You are in the mansion of Mr Boddy, who is the victim of foul play. Your job is to collect the clues to figure out who murdered Mr Boddy with what weapon in which room.

At the start of the game three clue cards are selected at random. One weapon, one
suspect and one room. These are put into the case file envelope. This is the answer to the riddle for the game. The remainder of the clue cards are shuffled together and dealt to each player. This will be your starting clues.

Now players have to collect the clues of the other players. This is done by moving around the board and once you enter a room you may make a suggestion like "Colonel Mustard in the kitchen with the wrench!" Proceeding clockwise around the table each player determines if they have a clue. The first player to have one of those clues secretly shows it to the suggester. Only one card must be shown. So if I have both Colonel Mustard and the wrench I would decide between the two to show.

Proceed play until a player figures out the clues. On their turn they make an accusation in the same way as a suggestion but must be clear they are making an accusation. They then secretly check the case file envelope. If they are right they win, if not they lose and play proceeds without them. Make sure you have the clues right. People do lose by getting the clues wrong.

Weapons, from wikipedia because it's easier this way.

As a detective game Clue is very basic in play. The rules are simple and don't really reflect true detective work. However it does teach that there is a process of collecting clues and that criminals do get caught eventually. Good lessons for kids.

Some tips for upping your game are, say one or more of the clues in your hand. If you make an a suggestion and it goes the entire way around the board you don't want the next person to be able to win. If you have Colonel Mustard and the wrench in your hand and nobody shows a clue you now know that the kitchen is the correct room. You no longer need to figure out the room but nobody else can win on your work. Once people know you use your own clues then you can occasionally make wild suggestions without the risk of another player winning on your effort. Next is to mark your note pad as to who has which clue. If you know I showed both the Colonel Mustard and Wrench Cards and the Mr Green player is showing a card, process of elimination means it's the kitchen card. This means to also pay attention to everyone else's turn. If you weren't watching another player make the same suggestion then you could miss simple clue gains.

Some people think that murder should not be in a kids game, but I can tell you that murder children learn about these things without you if you don't find a responsible way to teach them about it. Clue is actually a great structured way to teach them that crime and murder are wrong and that there is a detective process for catching the culprits.

A bonus is that after playing the game you can watch the movie. It's cheesy and weird. Of course Tim Curry is in it so that's a given, but that also means that its a fantastic movie too.

To sum up I love this simple detective game. The randomness of the clues does change the game play up enough to make it replayable. It's fun for all ages and can be great for family night. It's light on strategy while still being challenging. I would recommend this game to families or game groups who want some lightweight process of elimination type challenge.

Check back next week when I review Red Dragon Inn 2