As the board game play is identical from
version to version, we probably won't bother to review them all in
full. But we will attempt to keep up with the versions by publishing
news items for you.
The owner of a mansion has been murdered
and the six guests at the house (the players) are all suspects. Players
must gather clues from the nine rooms of the house, interrogate their
fellow guests and try to solve the murder.
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The original game
pieces in the Clue board
game had colours to match their names. These names have entered into
modern folklore, so don't be surprised if you've heard them before:
- Professor Plum
- Miss Scarlet
- Reverend Green
- Mrs. Peacock
- Colonel Mustard
- Mrs. White
There are cards matching each of these
characters, plus
a card for each of the nine rooms of the mansion and six murder weapons
(which have physical representations too). Clue
board game
, especially
in
its classic form, definitely has an indefinable English
country manor feel to it that's very appealing, not to mention eerily
familiar to fans of murder mysteries!

One of each
type of card is placed unseen
into an envelope. These unseen cards - person, room, weapon -
tell the players 'Whodunnit', and how, at the end of the game.
The rest of the cards are dealt equally to the players. Each player
also receives a pencil and a list of the rooms, suspects and murder
weapons.
Finding out the facts of the case in the
Clue board game requires observation, strategy and careful note-taking,
by eliminating known cards from the players' lists to narrow down the
possible conclusion. For example, if a player is dealt five cards at
the start of the game, that's five that can't be in the murder
envelope. These can be crossed off their list immediately.


Each player begins at a designated
starting
point on the board. By throwing dice, they move around the mansion.
Once in any of the rooms, they can make a suggestion of a
possible murder combination involving that room. That
combination is recreated.
So, if a player reaches the Library, says,
"I suggest Professor Plum with the revolver in the Library",
the Professor Plum and revolver tokens are moved to the Library.

Now, clockwise
around the board, the
other
players must disprove the suggestion, if they can, by showing ONLY the
current player ONE of the three cards he has mentioned. If the first
player has none of them, the next must show one and so on. The current
player can then cross another potential location, weapon or suspect
from his list and the game continues.
The winner of the Clue board game is the
first person to make a correct accusation, in the same format: "I
accuse X person with Y weapon in Z room." He opens the
envelope without showing the other players.
Once an accusation is made by a player,
it's binding. If he's correct, the game ends. If not, he is eliminated
from the game, returns the envelope and the other players
continue.
Click
here to read part two of the (Cluedo) Clue board game review