Cluedo, also known as Clue in North America, is a classic murder mystery board game designed by British board game designer Anthony E. Pratt in 1943. The game was first manufactured by Waddingtons in the UK in 1949 and has since become a popular game among players of all ages.
Clue Rules & Instructions
In the game of Clue, three to six players roll a die and move a token along the board, navigating through different rooms in a mansion. Players search for clues to find three cards hidden in a secret envelope. These cards reveal the murderer, the weapon, and the room where the crime occurred.
Rules For Cluedo Play
The game of Clue requires deductive reasoning skills and a bit of luck. To engage in the game, each participant takes a turn to roll the dice and maneuver their designated token along the squares and into the rooms of the mansion. Throughout the game, players must use their sleuthing skills to eliminate incorrect possibilities and identify the murder weapon, the location, and the perpetrator of the crime.
How To Play Clue Board Game
Clue, also known as Cluedo, requires players to solve a murder mystery and is designed for three to six players aged eight and up. Typically, it takes about an hour to play.
Components
- Clue game board
- 6 suspect tokens
- 6 murder weapons
- Dice
- Detective notebook
- Secret envelope
- Room cards
- Weapon cards
- Character cards
Game Setup
The game begins with each player placing character pieces on its particular starting square and placing each weapon in a different room. Shuffle the cards into three groups: suspects, weapons, and rooms. The players then secretly place one card from each group into the envelope and shuffle the remaining cards together.
Gameplay
The first player chooses a starting character and goes in the first place. Afterward, players walk in turns rolling dice and moving their character token that number of spaces all over the board.
Players can move forward, backward, left, and right, but not diagonally. During their turn, players are prevented from moving onto the same space twice or onto or through a space already occupied by other players.
Moving the Pieces
For moving pieces, players start with Miss Scarlet and move their playing pieces by the yellow or white squares on the board. The ability to maneuver is limited to horizontal or vertical directions, never diagonally.
Indeed, players can enter rooms through doorways by rolling the die and reaching the required number. More than two players can be in the same room, and players can also use secret passages to move between rooms.
By rolling a die and going through a doorway, using a secret passage, or being observed and automatically transferred to another room, they can leave a room.
Taking Turns
On the player’s turn, they must roll both dice and move their character to token an appropriate number of spaces orthogonally on the board. This means that players can’t move diagonally, or enter the same space more than once during their turn.
When they encounter a red question mark, they stop their movement and if they land successfully, they must pick up a bonus card. When they roll a magnifying glass, pick up a clue card for each magnifying glass you roll, and read it out loud.
Making Suggestions
When a player moves their piece into a room, they can suggest eliminating suspect possibilities. The suggestion includes the murderer, murder weapon, and murder location.
The player to the left must disprove the suggestion by producing a card from their hand that matches one of the suggested elements. If they have multiple matching cards, they can only show one. If they can’t disprove the suggestion, the next player tries, and so on.
Accusations
On a player’s turn, they can accuse any room, regardless of where they are on the board. To make an accusation, the player must say “I accuse,” along with the suspect, weapon, and room they think were part of the crime.
If any part of the accusation is incorrect, the player must return the cards to the envelope. When you’re feeling confident, you can make a formal accusation, declaring who you believe the murderer was, the weapon they used, and what room they were in.
Winning
The first player who guesses the three cards legitimately that are in the case file envelope wins. So, you win the game if you’re the first player to guess correctly the three cards that are in the case file envelope.
