Clue Game Session Report

Clue is a classic detective board game designed by Anthony E. Pratt. The first version of the game is published on 1949. My group played the version of 2011. This game is best with 4 or 5 players. This game takes about 45 minutes to play it. However, if you are completely new to the game and to the category, you may take longer than 45 minutes. That is my group case. Some group mates and I have never play Clue before, so my group used full period to play the game. Clue really needs players to play critically. Before we show how to play Clue, let’s see how to set up this game.

Set-Up

There are six characters, and each character (Scarlet, Mustard, Peacock, Green, White, Plum) of the game needs to be placed in the small square in the center.

Then each player takes a character that has not already been taken by another player.

After that, players need to sort the cards by type (there are three types of cards) and shuffle each pile couple time with facedown.

Without looking at the cards, take one character card that is going to be the suspect, one weapon card (there are 6 weapons: Wrench, Candlestick, Dagger, Pistol, Lead Pipe, and Rope), and one room card (there are 9 rooms: Bathroom, Study, Dining Room, Game Room, Garage, Bedroom, Living Room, Kitchen, Courtyard), and slide them into the envelope.

Then pass out the rest of cards one-by-one clockwise to the players until all cards are passed out.

Players can also have a detective notebook (shows above) to help them eliminating all the false possibilities. Don’t let other players see your notebook once the game start.

Start Play

Each player rolls two dices to determine who goes first. After find out who is first, and turns continue clockwise around players.

Players can only move horizontally or vertically; players can also stay at the same position.

There are also some secrete passage that allows players to jump from one room to others that requires only one move.

Strategies:

First, players need to look at their own cards and mark the cards on the detective notebook to eliminate the false possibilities.  

Each turn, when a player asks a combination of cards (Who? What? Where?) mark them down to the second column. If the left-side player of the player has one of the three cards, he or she must show the card to the player. Otherwise, suggestion continues clockwise around players. If any player showed a card to the player, and other players can guess one of the three cards is not in the envelope.

Player can ask card on his or her own hand, too. This is a good strategy to eliminate false possibilities. For example, if one player has Study and Wrench, but not Green. Then the player can ask who has Green, Wrench, and Study. In this case, if anyone shows the player a card, then the player can eliminate the Green. Otherwise, the Green must be in the envelope.

In some case, the player rolls two dices, but the player gets a smaller number and cannot reach into one of the rooms. The player should try to reach the Question Mark to get extra helping card. Some helping cards are very helpful.

Win/Lose

By repeating those steps show above, if a player thinks that he or she solved the case by eliminating all the false possibilities, the player needs to wait until his or her turn to roll the two dices to move his or her character back into the start place (where is in the center).

After reach to the start place, the player says the combination of three cards. Then the player can open up the envelope and confirm with his or her own answer. If the player has the right answer, then the player wins. Otherwise, the player loses, and secretly replaces the three cards back in the envelope without revealing them to other players. The game continues among other players.

This is a great game for someone who enjoys thinking things out. If anyone has time, I would recommend the game to you.