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A few days ago, I was in the grocery store when I came across a board game promising endless hours of family fun called “Cluedo.” To my surprise, the game parked at the endcap was the British version of Clue. You might remember Clue as the game that made murder an innocent pastime (not unlike Risk did with Napoleonic world domination and unabashed despotism), that gave rise to phrases like “in drawing room with the rope,” and that spawned one of the Greatest Movies of All Time.
Most stunning of all, I learned that Clue is not an American invention. Along with cricket, irony and the efficient subjugation of many different peoples, the legendary mystery board game is something that the Brits gave us! Here’s the full story:
The Retired Clerk with a Pencil in the Study.
Cluedo was invented way back in the 1940s by a retired solicitor’s clerk named Anthony Pratt. His idea was simply to create a murder mystery game that unfolded in an old mansion, with players adopting British aristocrat stereotypes. Colonel Mustard, for example, was a certain type of English military man who’d spent time in India; Professor Plum was the absent-minded professor and Miss Scarlett was the sexy femme fatale. It was a precisely British sort of game, inspired by the genteel detective stories written by the likes of Agatha Christie. Of course, the original version did have some major differences.
When the game was first patented in 1948, the game was called “Murder at Tudor Close.” There were also ten characters instead of six, and a few extra weapons like an axe, a shillelagh (a type of traditional Irish truncheon), a bomb, a hypodermic syringe, poison and a poker. The players and gamepieces were whittled down to make the play a little quicker. As for the strange name, Cluedo was a pun on another popular board game, Ludo. But because game makers thought the word joke wouldn’t fly in the US, they shortened it to Clue. A few other things didn’t survive the transatlantic journey: In the American version, Dr. Black became Mr. John Boddy, the Reverend Green became just Mr. Green, a greed-obsessed mobster-type, and because a “spanner” doesn’t make a ton of sense to Americans, it’s known here as a wrench.
Clue Goes International
Once the game became popular – and it did, reaching more than 50 countries, selling hundreds of millions of copies. In fact, Clue is one of the few board games to surpass $1 billion in sales. Of course, that means game makers had to figure out ways to make it translate into other languages and cultures (many of the cast underwent career changes as well as sex changes to help with the transition). That said, the game is played the same and is generally called Cluedo in countries outside of North America, except in Brazil, where it’s called Detetivo.
Meet the new Clue
It was a sad day that Hasbro decided to update Clue. The new Clue offers a whole new cast of characters, new weapons, and even a new mansion (once it was discovered that people didn’t really know what a “conservatory” is anymore). While the colonels are professors are gone, the new version includes a a whole cast of tabloid stereotypes: a starlet, a former child actress, a football star turned sports announcer and an overnight billionaire who made his money in video games amongst others. The weapons are updated as well, with a bottle of pills (for poisoning not kicks), a trophy, and a barbell; all of which make us long for the original version even more.
Essential Trivia you need to memorize before your next Clue Party
Here are just a few things everyone needs to know about Clue:
* Anthony Pratt, Clue’s inventor, allegedly sold his stake in the game in 1953 to fund his career as a concert pianist.
* According to the BBC, Clue is a popular musical in the States. I’m not entirely sure where they’ve gotten their information on the “popular” part, but Clue is indeed a musical, generally of the high school and community theatre variety. The musical features songs like “She Hasn’t Got a Clue,” “Once a Widow,” and “Seduction Deduction” and premiered off-Broadway in 1997, to somewhat scathing reviews.
* There are 12 licensed versions of Clue currently published by its makers, Hasbro, including a Harry Potter version and a Simpsons version. And there were many other special editions in the past, including Scooby Doo, Alfred Hitchcock, Dungeons & Dragons, Disney’s Haunted Mansion and Disney’s Tower of Terror, and Franklin Mint (presumably, this is played with collectible plates of American presidents and kittens).
* The character of the Singing Telegram girl in the movie Clue was played by Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go’s. Wiedlin also played Joan of Arc in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Alien Communications Officer Trillya in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Just one of those things is enough to render a mere mortal awesome.
* In addition to movies, several TV game shows, and a musical, Clue also inspired series of books for young readers, which were published by Scholastic in the 1990s. There were 18 books in total, with names like The Clue in the Shadows, The Revenge of the Mummy, The Secret Secret Passage and The Case of the Invisible Cat. Each one is broken down into a series of mini-mystery chapters, in which the eternally unlucky Mr. Boddy is always getting bumped off, leaving the reader to have to figure out the mystery.
Got any Clue/Cluedo/Detetivo memories you’d like to share? Any particularly memorable games that you’ve played – maybe even the legendary PikaClue?
Comments (40)
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I own Clue FX, where there were added rooms and characters, and every-time you move, there was a stupid announcer saying where certain people were in the grounds. Supposedly so you could go and talk to them to get their alibi. Oddest Clue ever.
posted by Kim on 6-22-2009 at 1:25 pm
Clue is my favorite game movie ever.
I had a clue themed birthday party last year. I was Ms.Body and every family had to come in their assigned colors. I hid envelopes around the house asking questions about me and the team that got the most wrong was the team that killed me. The house was decorated with the weapons from the game.
posted by Jordan on 6-22-2009 at 1:56 pm
I can’t believe you didn’t mention that James Lipton, of “Inside The Actor’s Studio” fame, is married to the woman who was the model for Miss Scarlett in one of the previous U.S. editions of the game. He mentioned this in at least two interviews I heard promoting his 2007 autobiography, “Inside Inside.”
Here’s a reference to it on Lipton’s blog at the Bravo web site:
http://www.bravotv.com/inside-the-actors-studio/blogs/james-lipton/scarlet-fever?page=0%2C2
posted by John Carney on 6-22-2009 at 2:02 pm
Cluedo was also a panel game on TV for a while here in the UK.
As always, YouTube has the evidence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQQOipDxoTE
posted by Andrew Green on 6-22-2009 at 2:14 pm
Back in summercamp many many moons ago the camp would have a liveable game of clue. Staff were divided into Snakes and citizens. Campers were sent out to find who killed the director, why and with what. Snakes could “kill” a camper and the camper would have to go to the hospital to be cured. Citizens were stationed all over and answered questions and acted out events.
posted by Andy on 6-22-2009 at 2:22 pm
I read all of the Clue book when I was in elemntary school. My mother probably still has them somewhere.
posted by Laura on 6-22-2009 at 3:13 pm
In the “Meet the new Clue” section… I assume “While the colonels are professors are gone” is supposed to be “While the colonels AND professors are gone”.
I love the movie Clue and will probably not watch the new one they are making.
Love the idea of the Clue books, wish I had heard of them when I was younger as I loved mysteries like Encyclopedia Brown and the Great Brain!
posted by Sarah in CA on 6-22-2009 at 3:19 pm
One of my favorite Clue memories would have to be from “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey,” where they beat Death in a game of Clue.
Too bad about there being an “updated” version of Clue – fortunately, I’ve seen retro versions of the game.
And I too will not be watching the Clue remake (I wasn’t even aware there was a remake in the works).
posted by Steve on 6-22-2009 at 3:36 pm
I remember there being a series of jigsaw puzzles where you read the mystery, put together the puzzle and used the picture to solve the mystery. Than you ripped open the sealed pages and read the solution. Those were fun.
And the RAs of my dorm organized a real life CLUE with staff and faculty acting as characters. The president played Prof. Plumb. You either had to answer a question, do a stunt or take a dare. A security guard stood in the commons, holding the envelope with the answer. That was a fun night.
posted by Tracie on 6-22-2009 at 4:13 pm
I vaguely recall my parents having people over and playing a bizarre version of Clue when I was younger. It had to do with a museum and a thief and a lot of small paintings which everyone positioned around the board before they began playing. The thief had a special cover for his paper because he was ‘invisible’ and only became visible if he accidentally walked into range of several cameras (which were also positioned before the game started) or if someone managed to be in the same room as he was and ’saw’ him. Once the rest of the group figured out where he was then it was a race to catch him before he managed to get out of one of several doors which were placed on various sides of the board. I don’t remember what it was called.
It took forever.
hah! Recaptcha: General manias
posted by Liz on 6-22-2009 at 4:18 pm
I have a framed Clue gameboard from the ’70s on my wall. The newer gameboards aren’t nearly as fabulous.
posted by Rob on 6-22-2009 at 4:30 pm
Clue is one of my favorite movies ever and with Gore Verbinski directing the new one….oh, I’m on the edge of my seat already!
“Everything alright?”
“Yep, two corpses, everything’s fine.”
posted by Jamie on 6-22-2009 at 5:31 pm
Ever wanted to be in the game of Clue?
Want to find a weapon, corner the old geezer in the pool room and whack ‘em?
If you enjoy Clue, you will really, really enjoy KILL DOCTOR LUCK.
It’s what I call pre-clue. The link below is KDL’s profile on Boardgamegeek.com
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/257
Keep Playing!
posted by Will on 6-22-2009 at 5:41 pm
Does anyone else remember the short-lived special edition? I think it was called “Master Clue”, and it may have gone back to the original 10 characters and extra weapons, though I think it also expanded the game board…am I hallucinating? I have such clear memories of playing that version at my cousins’ house when I was young!
posted by Beks on 6-22-2009 at 6:12 pm
@ Liz we used to have that version Clue – “Museum Caper” I think it was – back in the late 90’s.
@ Beks There was an expanded edition Clue “Master Detective” – I still own that one actually. Copyright: 1988. It has 4 additional suspects (Like Monsieur Brunette), there are 12 rooms (eg: the Carriage House) and also adds Poison and Horseshoe as weapons.
I also remember in the late 80’s we had some “Video Clue” games where you would play along with a video to solve different mysteries.
I have the Simpsons edition too. (Smithers, in the Quickie Mart, with the poisioned doughnut…)
posted by Nerak on 6-22-2009 at 7:04 pm
I spent a -lot- of money finding and buying those 18 Clue books. I had a lot of them in grade school, but they were lost, given away, etc. As an adult with some disposable income, I recollected the entire series. Now I want to buy a retro game and the movie. I think I will see the remake by Gore Verbinski. He did the first “Pirates” movie, didn’t he?
posted by Autumn on 6-22-2009 at 7:09 pm
How about the 2 VCR games? One based off the original Clue and a new one with the same characters but in a tropical location… it was hosted by the butler…. Diddit…get it… butler diddit? :) I would kill to have those back….using the wrench.. in the conservatory….
posted by David on 6-22-2009 at 8:14 pm
Beks – as soon as I read your post it was a thank goodness moment. My friends all think I am making up the Master Detective game! Glad someone else remembers. Might have to break out the board game tonight and invite a few friends over.
posted by Jill on 6-22-2009 at 9:29 pm
Liz, you are indeed talking about Clue the Museum Caper. It is one of the best games ever made. Serious and challenging enough for a hardcore gamer, but simple enough to teach someone at a party.
posted by Andy on 6-22-2009 at 9:40 pm
I’ve heard this game “Clue” bandied about the internet and TV from time to time and wondered whether it was a US version of Cluedo, and unsurprisingly it seems like it’s been bastardised by the US – Mr Boddy? How does that fit with the characters being named after colours? I get the concept, Boddy/Dead Body, but if it ain’t broke, why fix it? Cluedo was perfect without the US having to put a crappy stamp on it.
And after a little bit of research I see that the 2002 US version attempted to cover up the change by saying that Mr Boddy’s neighbours sometimes called him Mr Black.
?
Once again the British do it first, and better.
And I’m not even from the UK.
posted by dangermouse on 6-23-2009 at 1:33 am
@Andrew Green: Is that “Ducky” McCallum playing Pr. Plum? There are close ups of him talking in the second part of the episode.
But if so I just had a reasonable heart attack. If not maybe I should fill out for the life insurance talked about in that episode.
posted by Brett on 6-23-2009 at 4:15 am
@Brett — yes. So, we have Steel from Sapphire and Steel, and in another season, the Fourth Doctor himself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oKBHhPjURY
posted by Andrew Green on 6-23-2009 at 5:04 am
Is there a word for beautiful and awesome together?
Beatisome or Awetiful. (Preferably not the second one because if one doesn’t enunciate it’ll just sound weird haha.)
posted by Brett on 6-23-2009 at 5:15 am
@dangermouse: chances are it’s because the States has a long angry history between black folks and white folks, and importing a game in which Mr. Black is killed sounds a bit insensitive.
posted by Mary on 6-23-2009 at 7:51 am
Grammar Police here:
“Once the game became popular – and it did, reaching more than 50 countries, selling hundreds of millions of copies. “
posted by KJ on 6-23-2009 at 8:46 am
We had a Clue party a few years back. We used the \Master Detective\ version since we had more people to invite than regular Cle would allow. Everyone was assigned their character before hand and we played the game. The rule was, if you were found to be the murderer, you had to explain your motive. Afterwards, we watched \Clue\.
My uncle was assigned the role of Mr. Body. We heard his car drive up, but no one came to the door. Upon investigation, we found him layed out in the driveway. Pale skin, blood on his shirt and a rope around his neck. It was good to see that even the victim took his role seriously…
posted by Fred on 6-23-2009 at 8:48 am
Grammar Police infraction #2:
“While the colonels are professors are gone,…..”
posted by KJ on 6-23-2009 at 8:48 am
A few years ago I was fortunate enough to play Miss Scarlet in “Clue: The Musical.” If you embrace the Camp with open arms, it quite possibly can be one of the best shows you will ever do. It’s so over-the-top and wonderful, and every performance was great fun (like in the game, audience members picked the murderer, the weapon, and the room and put the giant cards in a sealed envelope, and we had to adjust the show as necessary).
“Clue” is probably the movie I have seen the most times in my life (no, I am not exaggerating – I’ve had it on VHS and/or DVD formats for over 15 years). IMHO, there is no possible remake that could compare to the perfection that is Madeline Kahn, Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Martin Mull and the rest of that talented cast.
posted by LizBlizz on 6-23-2009 at 9:28 am
I’ve seen Clue performed by a Rocky Horror Picture Show cast. It was quite a show, especially with the audience interaction.
posted by Sheila on 6-23-2009 at 12:23 pm
Clue is one of the best games that I remember from my childhood!
And the movie also one of the best.
posted by Michelle on 6-23-2009 at 2:13 pm
“Most stunning of all, I learned that Clue is not an American invention. Along with cricket, irony and the efficient subjugation of many different peoples, the legendary mystery board game is something that the Brits gave us! Here’s the full story:”
First of all, is it really that surprising that someone invented something and they weren’t American?
Secondly, your comment on subjugation is found to be inappropriate an offensive, as a Briton myself. I’d kindly like it removed.
posted by Luis on 6-24-2009 at 4:21 am
I remember seeing “Clue” in the theater when it first came out. Theatergoers were given a piece of paper printed like the “process of elimination” sheet in the game so that you could follow along in the movie and try to figure out whodunnit. It was such great fun! And it still is one of my all time favorite movies. Tim Curry rules!
posted by alicia on 6-24-2009 at 11:24 am
I used to LOVE the books! They were a great introduction to mystery novels, and they paved a path that led me to becoming a huge mystery novel addict. I think my library had all of them.
It’s sad that they’ve “updated” the game – it was fun before!
Recaptcha: Tamas tombs
posted by Kate on 6-25-2009 at 2:24 pm
@John – you’re absolutely right. I expected better from mental_floss than this. I’m not herd to say that England’s history is rosy, but such comments are uncalled for. I also would ask for it to be removed. Perhaps even an apology.
posted by John on 6-27-2009 at 1:48 am
Just a quick note about the typo: In Brazil it is called ‘Detetive’ not ‘Detetivo’.
posted by Matt on 6-27-2009 at 12:01 pm
I have a Clue video game for either the Sega or Play Station (I can’t remember which). It can take an hour if you play it in master mode but can be beat in about 5 minutes in easy. I think I’m going to pull it out and play it again tonight.
posted by Beth on 6-28-2009 at 7:44 pm
i gotta agree with john and luis man. that bit about the british and subjugation was just WRONG and rude. if someone else wrote something about the american slave market or something you’d all be angry. you should really remove it
posted by Jason on 7-1-2009 at 5:45 am
i seem to recall having some kind of electronic detective game back in the 80’s. i’m sure it was a rip-off of the popularity of the original clue game.
it had this little hand-held thingy that resembled a remote control and you would program in the number of steps you wanted to take and it would make weird footstep-sounds as it \walked\ you to your destination.
you also had to program your guess into it and it would make more weird noises based on whether your guess was correct or not.
the original clue was much better.
\Picked up the dagger, ran down the hall, and stabbed the cook!\
posted by nancy on 7-15-2009 at 11:13 am
I own the following:
1. Basic Clue (Target bookshelf)
2. Speed Clue (travel game)
3. Clue Great Museum Caper
4. Clue Master Detective
5. VCR Clue*
6. VCR Clue 2*
7. A version that someone created for me based on my three years living in Green Bay, WI, USA. Very impressive.
* = I mastered the VHS tapes into simple iMovie DVD’s – much easier to replay a scene.
posted by TonyC on 7-16-2009 at 7:13 pm
This massive Cluedo fan says you can’t game better than with the 1986 Super Sleuth Challenge rules-no old fashioned card envelope here-the guilty parties are put in 3 plastic folders and all suspect/weapon/room cards have a square in each corner with 2 numbers and 2 colours-and moves are determined by stepping old plastic numbered tiles and following the clue the detective notes tell you.
Not only that but 3 new suspects appear to swell the ranks-Miss Peach, Captain Brown and Mr Slate-Grey. Also 3 new weapons-an old Blunderbuss, Ice Axe and Paraffin (a poison).
But wanting to go even wider and swell the ranks further I bought several other cluedos but always with the intention of adding to the rooms, weapons and suspects. Now I’ve amassed an impressive number of weapons-incorporating objects made for old-style dollhouses-frying pans, computer cables, sword, poker and so on. Wonderful! This game is the best!
posted by Mark on 9-24-2009 at 3:26 pm