Get a Clue - Part 2

Alright, in my last entry I gave you a little history/trivia about the Clue franchise, as well as a listing of all the Clue games I have yet to track down. In this continuation I shall talk about my love of the game and give a mini-review of all the ones I own.
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I fell in love with the game the moment my family introduced me to it. My family had the original game as well as the first in the Clue Jr. spinoffs series. I loved the game so much that my parents bought me another Clue spinoff game: The Great Museum Caper. Great game, though COMPLETELY different from the Clue I was used to. I'll go more in depth in this later. I watched the Clue movie that came out in 1985, and loved the idea of multiple endings to tie in the concept of the changing game outcome. I also had two or three out of the 18 childrens books published between '92 and '97. The older I got the more I loved the series - and murder/mystery games (such as Crack the Case). While in college, I received Clue FX and then I discovered the Sega Genesis game. That's when the obsession truly took hold. I started COLLECTING Clue games! I'm currently up to 14 games, and that's only about 1/3 of them! If you don't count the same game being released for multiple consoles (I have both the Sega Genesis and GBA versions), or the unlicenced variants (which I'll discuss later), there are currently 36 versions of Clue... and I only have 14. Yes, including the original game, and also excluding all the updates to said original game, there have been 35 incarnations of Clue since it's release in 1949.
My family used to own the original, the classic, Clue. However, throughout many a basement flooding, that beloved game has been destroyed. The closest I still have is the Bookshelf Clue. It is the classic game, however the box is in the shape of a book so that you can keep it on a bookshelf, and instead of the normal pawns, this version of Clue actually has little miniature figures of the characters - very cool. I had spotted another variant of this bookshelf game in Target a few years back in which the box was actually a crafted wooden book. Very classy, but I had no money at the time and haven't found it since. I cannot recall if my mother or Remy was the one to purchase this version for me, but it was from Barnes&Noble and was a Christmas gift a few years back. Going chronologically, the first spin-off was actually a VCR interactive game. Clue VCR Mystery Game was published in 1985 and my parents actually owned a copy! Well either that or the game's sequel Clue VCR II: Murder in Disguise which was released in '87. Either way, it was destroyed in flooding much like the original board game. T_T I never even got to play it because by the time I was old enough to appreciate it the tape was already fuzzy with mold. TT_TT
Anyway, moving back to games that I actually DO have still... The next one up, chronologically speaking, is Clue Jr.: Case of the Missing Pet. This was the Clue Jr. I mentioned playing as a kid earlier. Released in '89, the premise is that an animal was stolen from the pet store and hidden in one of the local businesses. The playable characters were the normal six suspects, only as children. You had to figure out the same basic stuff as original Clue: who did it and where, except instead of the non-child-friendly search for a murder weapon, the third component was figuring out what animal was taken from the pet store. Although the game is technically the only "surviving" Clue game of the family's, my sister and mother relinquished the game to me once my passion for the franchise blossomed. ^_^
As mentioned, the first game I got was Clue: The Great Museum Caper, which was released in '91. This one was probably the most different from the actual Clue game. In this game one player plays an art thief and the rest of the players must track down and stop the thief before he clears out the museum. It was so unique, I loved it! My one cousin did too, he ALWAYS wanted to play whenever he was visiting. ^_^
The next game chronologically is actually the last one I came to own. Anyway, it's Clue Jr. The Case of the Hidden Toys, released in '98. Another of the children-aimed Clues, this time the kid-versions of the normal suspects are trying to find a missing toy, where it's hidden, and which pet hid it. In this game the kids have different first names than in the "Case of the Missing Pet" game, there are only four playable characters - Green, Plum, Peacock, and Scarlet, and the clues are presented differently. In the first "Junior" game, the clues were in each local store floor, and a special magnifying glass allowed you to read the clue. Well, apparently reading is too over-rated for the '98 kids, because now everything is in picture form. Also, pictures are placed on the bottom of stands that are randomly placed on characters, furniture, and animals. Kids just look at the stand bottoms to get their clue. Kinda lame, but helps bring kids into the Clue series a LOT younger. Oooo, yeah!... I found out while searching for a link to the '98 release that there was actually a "Case of the Hidden Toys" also released in '95. Basically same exact game, but the '95 version has Mustard, Scarlet, Plum, and Green, and the board is different because the toys could be hidden anywhere throughout the neighborhood, as opposed to just inside the house.
We now skip ahead a few years to 2002. Clue Card Game. This is a different card game from the one released in '92 (mentioned in the previous post). This time the user has to deduct who killed Dr. Black, their escape vehicle, and their destination. I was first introduced to this game while visiting Remy. This was the first time I found out Clue was more than just a board game. I later learned about the video/computer games - and also discovered the mold-covered VHS game.
The next Clue game release that I own was one of the games that I received in college and therefore jumpstarted my obsessive urge to own EVERY version of Clue. In 2004 Hasbro released Clue FX which is another departure from the original rules. Players actually play as one of the four new characters - Lord Grey, Lady Lavender, Miss Peach and Prince Azure. This time, instead of playing one of the suspects, the four playable characters are completely innocent guests who help Inspector Brown figure out the killer. Another change is that Mr. Boddy isn't the victim this time; his attorney Mr. Miles Meadow-Brook is. The usual suspects are still there, as well as the addition of Mr. Meadow-Brook's now widow and Mr. Boddy's gardener Rusty. The actual movements are also different. The game announces in a random selection who moves, you can move to any connecting room, sound effects tells you when the suspects move, and when you're ready to make your accusation you have to figure out where Inspector Brown moved to. All in all, it's still an entertaining game - even if it tends to take longer than the usual Clue game - mainly because it takes so friggen long to find Brown!!!
My last children's version of the game was given to me by Remy. I think it was a birthday gift, to sort of go along with the latest "crime". Released in '03, Clue Junior: The Case of the Missing Cake REALLY kiddies-up the Clue franchise. The first one has an animal theft, the second (well, third if you count the one I know nothing about - see previous post) is a toy burglar, and now the latest one has someone swiping a piece of cake before dinner. The game play is virtually the same as the "Case of the Hidden Toys" game in which the clues are pictures pasted on the bottom of stands that are randomly placed on characters and furniture. The player must figure out which character ate the cake, what they had to drink with the cake, and at what time they ate it. Still a cute game regardless. It does sort of tie into actual Clue a little better than the rest of the Jrs however. The crime is committed in what appears to be the Tudor Mansion. Also it returns all 6 characters in their adult renderings - but in a very kiddy-cartoony way. Whatever, there really isn't a Clue game I don't like, so I just eat this one up too ^_^.
Pretty much the only Clue games I remember seeing advertisements for were the ones released in 2005. One of those was Clue DVD. This edition of the game has different rules based around DVD interaction. Instead of a murder, Dr. Black has had an item stolen and, in addition to guessing the criminal, room and stolen object, the time of day when the crime took place must also be discovered. In each turn players guess three of these four unknowns; and from time to time Inspector Brown and the butler, Ashe, show up via the DVD with helpful information. I have yet to actually COMPLETE a game. I think I've only tried playing with Remy, and the first few times his DVD player goofed up during the middle of our games. I think I gave up after that, and I don't really have much of a "gaming" family to actually play while at home. But now that I remember that I haven't finished it, perhaps I'll con my fam into joining me in a game. ^_^
I discovered Clue Suspects (2007) at Barnes&Noble on the discount pile for like $4 or something! Total win! Almost as good as the Clue Jr. at the thrift store... Anyway, this is an actual SOLO Clue game. Good old Mr. Boddy has been killed, and your job is to figure out what room everyone was in so you know who was alone with the poor sap when he was killed. This game comes with cards, each one a different game, and these cards give you a small assortment of clues - such as "Miss Scarlet was in the kitchen with a man", and "Prof. Plum was in the room above Mrs. Meadow-Brook". Using these small number of clues you must deduce - mostly through process of elimination - who was where. If you watched the above links to clips from the VHS games than the gameplay is fairly similar. The normal cast of characters are available, along with the introduction of "the butler", as well as Mrs. Meadow-Brook, Rusty, Prince Azure, and Lady Lavender - totalling now at 11 suspects. This game is SUPER simple since I've been doing these types of puzzles since I was about 10, but it is still enjoyable.
Another '07 Clue game - that I also bought at Barnes&Noble - is Clue Express. As the name suggests, it's designed to be a fast variant of the game - capable of play in about twenty minutes. In this game you use dice to make your suggestion, but you still mark things off on a detective pad, and other players still prove you wrong with cards. This time you're trying to figure out who was the brains, who was the brawn, and who was the get-away driver. It was indeed fun and an interesting twist. Also, due to it being compact, it's a great Clue game to take on the go.
The final spin-off in the series came out last year. This is Clue Discover the Secrets - another gift from Remy. Hasbro actually created this addition to REPLACE the original Clue! That's right! Almost 60 years and it gets replaced! TT_TT The game is still ridiculously fun however. It's been completely updated for the new era, including new weapons - keeping the poison that was introduced during the Limited Gift and 50th Anniversary editions, as well as introducing an axe, dumbbell, and trophy, and replacing the revolver with a pistol with a silencer, and the lead pipe with a baseball bat. The pawns are completely redone. Instead of "making a suggestion" players now "start rumors". Players now don't start with an "advantage" by having more cards than other players; if there are cards left over after an even split those cards are put in a pile in the center for all players to look at. The character backstories are completely redone, and each character is also given different "powers" - such as "once per game you may look at a clue being given to another player". Another character "change" is the victim isn't Mr. Boddy, or Dr. Black, or even Mr. Meadow-Brooke, he is just some unnamed millionaire and he has "gone missing" and just "suspected" of being killed. *shrugs* The biggest change, and the best spin in my opinion, is the introduction of Intrigue cards. There are two types. One set gives you different advantages that you can play throughout the game - such as allowing you to not show a player the card that would disprove his/her "rumor". The second set is the most interesting: clock cards. There are eight. Basically, there is a time limit on finding the killer in this game. The first seven cards do nothing, but if some unfortunate player pulls the last clock card it means that too much time has passed and the killer has just killed you! Once drawn, the eight card is shuffled back in the deck and the next player to pull it also "dies". Your cards become general information for everyone, but it is possible that all players pull the eighth clock card, die, and the murderer gets away with it. Interesting twist, and when we all played at Remy's 25th birthday party we did end up losing at least 1/2 the players ^_^.
And now for the one licenced variant that I own. I'm not a fan of the books, and I only "enjoy" the movies, but it was a Clue game, and it turned out to be a greatly enjoyable twist. The Hasbro-approved Harry Potter Clue takes place at Hogwarts. A student has gone missing and players have to determine what spell was used, who cast it, and where the student was attacked. There are three added twists in this game to make it truly Harry Potter. The first is the idea of Hogwarts' moving staircases. There is a die that has each of the four house crests, as well as the Dark Mark on each side. When the die is rolled you then turn a dial on the board that shifts the "staircases" - opening and closing doors to rooms and changing where secret passage ways lead. Another twist is the idea of House Points. You lose House Points whenever the Dark Mark shows up, and so - much like in Discover the Secrets - the game could win. Cards are introduced as the third twist in the game, and they directly effect the House Points componant. There are two sets; Dark cards are used when the Dark Mark appears and takes away House Points. The second set are the Help cards which can be played to protect your House Points when a Dark card is played. So it's Clue, but advanced with just enough of that Harry Potter flavor. Enjoyable, but - much like Clue FX - it tends to take longer than traditional Clue due to the new features and the difficulty navigating the board.
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I just LOOOOVE this game! I love the skill I have at winning it! I love how it changes each time. I love the strategy (and some luck) needed to win. I love pulling "a little poker" into it by reading the other player's tell-tale to know who has what. I love the different variants of the game. I just LOOOOOOOOOVE Clue! I'm obsessed about it, and so concludes my "Get a Clue" obsession post. ^_^

Get a Clue - Part 1

With the advent of a certain Miss Scarlet not only commenting on my posts, but starting up a blog of her own (which reviews mystery novels), I decided it's about time to work on yet another obsession of mine: CLUE GAMES!!!!! ^_^ (or Cluedo as it's called in it's originated England).
The thing is, however, that I started this blog entry THURSDAY (10/22) and it seemed a bit longer than anticipated, so I decided to break it into two posts. THIS post will talk about what took me so long to actually make the post, as well as a little Clue trivia and a listing of the games I DON'T have in the series. The next post (to be done either tomorrow or Sunday, depending on my free time) will talk about my love of the series, why I'm obsessed, and a listing of the games I DO have, along with a mini review of each game.
OK, so what kept me so long? Well, first of all I had multiple distractions - TV shows to watch, neighbors visiting for an hour, family poking their heads in my room to talk to me while I wrote, Instant Messaging with a friend of mine about his love life, and finally the actual research into the series. Oh, and then I had to work late, took a 10-year-old to see "Where the Wild Things Are" (great movie) for her birthday, and then had the birthday party itself... so it's been a bit of a crazy weekend and not the most opportune time to do such a long blog. AAAAANYWAY...
I knew I had a LOT of different Clue games (14 to be exact), but I didn't know how many there were total, so I checked out the Wiki page. You can go ahead and just read the Wiki, but I'll give you the trivia highlights here... your choice. ^_^
First of all, Clue is only known as such in North America. That is because the original name (Cluedo) was based on the British game Ludo. Since North America knew Ludo's variant Parcheesi better, using the Ludo reference would be lost on North Americans, and so it was just dropped to Clue. Another curious change was that, until recently (2002), the Green character was changed from Reverend Green to simply Mr. Green. It's not really explained why the change took place. Perhaps it was deemed less likely for Americans and Canadians to believe a Reverend could be a valid suspect for a murder. *shrug*
Anyway, the game was created by Anthony E. Pratt, a solicitor's clerk and part-time clown from Birmingham, England. Although it was patented in 1947, World War II prevented production of the game until 1949. The game was more-or-less unchanged until the first "spin-off" game - which was a VCR interactive movie - in 1985. That's 36 years before the game errupted into - according to the Wiki page - 24 game spin-offs, 8 licenced theme variants, a video-game version for systems from Commodore 64 to GBA to iTouch (and everything in between), a computer game, an online game, an arcade game, a series for the CDi, a MMORPG mini-game, a film, a series of British game shows, a comedic off-Broadway musical where the audience actually picked the play's conclusion by selecting 3 over-sized cards - just like the game, a similar non-musical British play, an 18-book children series based on the actual Clue games and another children book series based on Clue Jr. - which involved such things as toy theft, as well as at least 5 unlicenced variants. Let's re-calculate. So, besides the original Clue game that came out in 1949, there are 48 encarnations of Clue since 1985! Out of which, I only own 14! If I'm going to own as many incarnations as I can I better get a move on! >_<
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Clue games I do not yet own, in chronilogical release order:
Super Clue Challenge ('86): An advanced rules variation to the original Clue which included the new characters Mr. Slate-Gray, Captain Brown, and Miss Peach, as well as three more weapons - the blunderbuss, poison and axe.
Clue Master Detective ('88): Sort of a suplimental game to the original Clue, this one added rooms and weapons, as well as the four new characters that were introduced in the VHS games - Madam Rose, Sgt. Grey, M. Brunette and Miss Peach.
Clue Card Game ('92): Players attempt to match cards featuring the locations, weapons, and characters from the original game with a central pile of cards.
Clue Little Detective ('92): I actually never heard of this game, and there is no info on Wikipedia, so I have no clue... (excuse the pun)
Junior Clue ('93): Apparently flipping the words in the title creates a new game... This time the "kid's version" of Clue is more like that of the original game, except the characters are trying to find the ghost of their ancestor and remember which room they spotted the ghost.
Clue Super Sleuth ('95): Another advanced version of the original Clue. A wee bit too complicated to sum up here, but the basics is that there is no board, just random tiles to be placed on the table, and there are also three non-playable characters introduced - Inspector Grey, Hogarth the Butler, and the Black Dog.
Clue Limited Gift Edition ('97): This edition isn't all that exciting, except that it came in a deluxe format with the option to play with an extra murder weapon, a Poison Chalice.
Clue 50th Anniversary ('99): Very much like the above Limited Gift Edition, the only major componants of this game is the deluxe format and the Bottle of Poison. Vertually the same thing as the LGE (but I'll try to get both regardless... cuz it IS a collection... >_<)
Clue Passport to Murder (2000): First Clue of the new Millennium! This wasn't much more than an update of Super Clue Challenge with the setting changed to an Orient Express style train in Istanbul station. There is very little change to the mechanics of the game (except you can only play the six original characters), with mainly cosmetic changes and updates to the characters.
Clue Jr. Pirate Treasure Hunt (2000): The Clue Jr. detectives (Green, Scarlet, Plum, & Peacock) must find out which legendary pirate hid what valuables in the treasure chest! Be your piratey self for this kid's take.
Clue Mysteries ('05): This is another change of rules, and this time the game play is based heavily on another board game called "Mysteries of Old Peking". Basically, much like with the original Clue Jr. (the one with the missing pet), this version of Clue has the clues hidden and you need to use the red glasses to read the clues properly. I actually remember seeing this version advertised. There aren't too many versions of Clue that I actually remember TV commercials for... Clue DVD was the other one I remember, perhaps because they were released in the same year....
Clue Secrets & Spies ('09): Oh yea, that's right, Hasbro released ANOTHER Clue game just this year! Haven't gotten it yet, tho... In this incarnation it's up to you to stop Agent Black - Clue's most notorious spy. The player must complete missions and attend secret meetings in order to stay a step ahead of the other players and receive the title of "ultimate spy". Sounds to me that this is drastically different from the age-old Clue game, but we'll have to wait until I play to see how much I like it. I mean, I fell in love with The Great Museum Caper and that also has nothing to do with most Clue games. In fact, Secrets & Spies is starting to sound like some much-awaited sequel to TGMC.
Clue Jr. Case of the Missing Prizes ('09): Well, I'm PRESUMING it was just released this year since my search for it only provided links to seller sites, that and The Art of Murder doesn't have it posted on the site. Anyway, it appears that this Clue Jr. spin-off consists of figuring out which prize was stolen and where it was hidden - or something along those lines. I don't really know much more about this game.
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And now for the Clue Variants that I must get!
Licenced:
Alfred Hitchcock Edition ('99): Set on the sound stage where multiple Hitchcock films are being shot. Played like normal Clue.
The Simpsons Clue (2000): Based off of the Fox TV series, it's played like normal Clue, except all of the traditional characters are replaced by Simpsons characters. There are actually two main versions of this game in which the Simpsons characters that are used for the Clue cast are different depending on the version. I may have to hunt down both. The North American Cast - Mr. Burns as Mr. Boddy, Homer as Mr. Green, Bart as Prof. Plum, Lisa as Miss Scarlet, Marge as Mrs. Peacock, Krusty as Col. Mustard, and Mr. Smithers as Mrs. White, contrary to early promotional material which had Maggie as Mrs. White (however, we all already know it was Maggie, with the Gun, in the Car Seat). The British (Euro?) version (the Cluedo version), as mentioned, switches up the cast a bit - Homer as Prof. Plum, Bart as Col. Mustard, Fat Tony as Mr. Green, Lisa as Mrs. Peacock, Edna Krabappel as Miss Scarlet, and Marge as Mrs. White. In both versions, the weapons are a plutonium rod, necklace, saxophone, poisoned doughnut, slingshot and the extend-o-glove.
Clue Dungeons & Dragons ('01): THE. MOST. EPIC! HOW DO I NOT ALREADY HAVE THIS ONE!?!?!?! It was produced by Hasbro shortly after their purchase of D&D owners Wizards of the Coast. The characters are D&D character types (such as Monk, Rogue, Wizard, etc.). The rooms depicted on the board are fantasy-themed (Dungeon, Dragon's Lair, Lost Crypt, etc.), and weapons also taken from the popular RPG (Mace of Disruption, Flaming Axe, etc.). Game play is identical to standard Clue unless you use the optional Wandering Monsters deck. Using this deck, players must battle monsters when landing on special spaces on the board. The players must battle monsters via dice rolls and are rewarded with magic items that confer special powers.
Clue The Haunted Mansion ('02): Based on the Haunted Mansion attraction from the Disney theme parks (relying heavily on the Walt Disney World version of the attraction as far as design.) One of the six guests in the house (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Pluto) was scared by one of the six ghosts (The Traveller, The Skeleton, The Prisoner, Emily the Bleeding Bride, The Opera Singer, and the Mariner) in one of the nine rooms (Foyer, Portrait Gallery, Library, Conservatory, Seance Room, Ballroom, Attic, Graveyard, and Crypt.) The detail on the board draws from the scenes depicted in the Haunted Mansion attraction and contains Hidden Mickeys.
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Clue ('02): Themed after the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! TV series. Like the episodes, the gang has to figure out whodunit. It features Fred as Mr. Green, Shaggy as Prof. Plum, Scooby as Col. Mustard, Velma as Mrs. Peacock, Daphne as Miss Scarlet, and Mrs. White as their host. This edition takes place in a run-down version of the mansion where the Study has been replaced by the Kitchen and the original Kitchen has been turned into a cemetery after its walls started crumbling.
Clue - The Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror ('07): Another Disney Theme Park Edition, like the above Haunted Mansion game. It features The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction from the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park as the board game. Rather than a murder, the players are trying to discover who disappeared, where, and with which prop. The details, of the characters, props, and rooms draw from the scenes depicted in the Tower of Terror attraction. This version also contains Hidden Mickeys much like the Haunted Mansion version.
Clue - 24 ('09): Another new Clue game from this year! This one is themed after the 24 TV series. The game itself features Audrey Raines, Bill Buchanan, Chloe O'Brian, Mike Doyle, Nadia Yassir, and Tony Almeida. Players must find out which of the six characters is about to launch one of nine attacks (weapons) from within one of the rooms inside CTU.
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Now the unlicenced:
Kill Doctor Lucky ('96): An inversion and perhaps a parody of the series written by James Ernest for Cheapass Games. This one is sort of a reverse version of Clue. Instead of trying to solve the murder, in Kill Doctor Lucky players compete to COMMIT the murder.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Mystery at Hogwarts Game (2000): This variant of Clue is unlicenced, but Hasbro released a licenced variant (which I have) in 2008. Very much like it's future licenced variant, players try to find out which student cast which forbidden spell in which room in Hogwarts School. The suspects are Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.
Mystery Museum: The Biblical Artifacts Detective Game (2000): A version of Clue with Evangelical Christian elements to it. In the game, six people of different professions visit a Bible-history museum and steal one of the artifacts. It must be determined who is the thief, which artifact they stole, and where they hid it. Throughout the game, players learn about the Bible.
Clue of Cthulhu (2000): Probably the only unlicenced version I actually want to actively track down - even though I haven't done anything with the Cthulhu Mythos. Anyway, this version of Clue, as suggested, uses elements from the Cthulhu Mythos and was offered at Gen Con 2000.
PikaClue (2001): A version of Clue using elements from the Pokémon universe. Rooms are replaced with towns and cities, weapons are replaced with forms of energy and suspects are replaced with Pokémon creatures. This variant was offered at Gen Con 2001 and was inspired by the Clue of Cthulhu variant.
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Well, there you have it, after a full weekend, I finally finished Part 1! YAY! Anyway, I'm now off to bed and I'll attempt Part 2 (which is going to be how my love for the franchise started as well as the list of the Clue incarnations I do have) sometime tomorrow - but most likely Tuesday -_-

**UPDATE 10/28/09: Went to the mall today and saw that Boscovs has another Clue variant - Clue The Office! Sweeeeet! Apparently it was released August of this year. It seems that Good old Michael is forcing his staff to play a real-life game of Clue - very a la Murder Mystery party games. The hit? Poor, HR rep Toby. Our cast? Pam, Jim, Angela, Stanley, Andy, and Dwight. Game play is like the newest edition of Clue - Clue Discover the Secrets. See above post for more info on that gameplay.