Good Strategy Based Game (Cluedo)

Member Name: jpegington

Product:	Cluedo
Date:	01/01/07 (1739 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun to play, Makes you think about the Strategic side of the game

Disadvantages: Can be frustrating

ABOUT THE GAME:

Cluedo is a Murder Mystery Board game, which was created by HASBRO. The Manufacturers minimum age is 8 years old. The basic idea of the game is that Dr Black has been murdered in Tudor Hall and you have to solve the case by working out who was killed, how the person was killed (by which weapon) and where the person was killed (i.e. in which room).

HOW TO SET UP THE BOARD:

OK, you have opened Cluedo and want to start playing the game. I have decided to put setting up the board first here, before the rules of the game as it becomes a little clearer once you have the board all set up.

First thing you will notice is the nice actual board. This is an overhead view of Tudor Hall, with 9 rooms (i.e. Ballroom, Study, Hall, etc), there are also 6 suspects (Mrs Scarlett, Rev Green, Col Mustard, Mrs Peacock, Ms White and Professor Plum – the new versions have lovely figurines for these, much better than the older versions of the game) and 6 weapons (Rope, Candlestick, Revolver, Spanner, Dagger and Lead Pipe – although these do vary depending on which version you have). You also have a playing card for each room, weapon and suspect.

First aim is to take the cards and sort them into the three categories (room, suspect & weapon) and without anyone seeing which card, choose one of each and put them into the Murder Wallet that is included with the game, this should be put into the middle of the board on the evidence section. You have now chosen the murderer, weapon and room and this is the information that you are now trying to find out.

Next shuffle the cards together and deal them out to all of the players. NOTE: It is possible that some players have more cards than others, this is fine, they just have a slight advantage. Again it is vital that no one sees the other persons cards at the moment.

Next put the various suspects onto their starting positions on the board, i.e. Ms Scarlett on the place where her name is, and so on. We just distribute the weapons around the various rooms of the house, it does not really matter where they start off, although the official rulebook does state certain rooms for each weapon, this is not important.

Last at this point is to distribute one sheet of the detective cards to each player. These have a list of each room, suspect and weapon along with some further space for your own notes. These should be used by you to list what evidence and suspicions you have in regards to cracking the case.

BASIC RULES & PLAYING OF THE GAME:

OK, the board is set up, you all have your cards and you have chosen which suspect you will be (NOTE: If you are playing with the maximum six players, this means that one of you will definitely be the murderer. This is not important as you play as the detective anyway in reality, so don’t worry).

The good news is that Ms Scarlett should officially always start, although we always throw the dice as it can be a big advantage to be first.

First aim is to get into a room by throwing the dice and moving your character the number of spaces shown, and hopefully into a room.

Now you come to the main part of the game. Once you are in a room, you are allowed to make a guess of a combination as to who did the murder, with which weapon and in the room that you are standing in (NOTE: When making a guess of a combination, you must always be in the room for that combination, but can bring any other suspect and weapon into that room). It is important to remember, that when you bring a suspect into a room, they continue the game from that room and are not returned to their original space. Therefore should you be playing Ms Scarlett and you are in the Study, but are brought into the Ballroom, then you continue playing from there.

By making a guess of a combination, you are asking all of the other players (starting with the person to the left of you) whether they can help (i.e. whether they have one of the cards to the combination that you have picked. Should they be able to help (i.e. have one or more of the cards) then they MUST show you one of the cards from your combination (NOTE: They must only show you one of the cards, and they can choose which one). Again it is important to know that once you have been helped, it is the next persons turn, i.e. you only get shown one card per turn. Should the first person not be able to help you, then you ask the next person and so on until either someone can help you, or no one can help you (which should give you a good indication of at least one of the three options, depending on whether you have been clever and included one of your own card options in the combination).

Play then continues with the next person who rolls the dice and moves (hopefully into a room) and makes his own combination to try to eliminate suspects.
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WINNING THE GAME:

Play continues like this, until one of the players thinks they know who the murderer is, in which room and with which weapon. On their turn, they then make a declaration to the remaining players, that they think the murderer is X, the weapon is X and the room was X (i.e. Ms Scarlett with the revolver in the Ballroom). They then look at the cards in the wallet in the middle (without showing anyone else) to see whether they are right. Should they be right, then the game is over and that person has won the game. Should they be wrong, then the game continues, with the person who make a declaration no longer able to win the game or move his character, but must continue to show his cards to other players when required to by someone choosing a combination. Play continues until someone makes the correct declaration or all players have made a declaration


HINTS & STRATEGY TIPS:

There are so a number of strategy tips that can be used with this game, some of which I mention here. It is however vital, that as you play this game, you make your own strategy that works for you, in order that you can correctly guess who the murderer is.

However some tips from me to help you:

1.) When you first get cards at the beginning, you can mark them off as not being part of the murder, as if you have the cards in your hands, then they cannot be in the wallet in the middle.
2.) Make a note of who shows you what cards when you ask a combination. This is important, as should you ask for a similar combination later with say the same weapon that has been shown to you before, then a clever player will show you the same card again as this will not help you.
3.) Equally important therefore is to remember who you have shown cards to, so that should the opportunity arise, you can show them the same card again.
4.) I always make a note of which players cannot help in any combination. This is good as should you make a note on a certain weapon /suspect/ room that no player can help and you do not have the card, then it must be in the wallet.
5.) ROOMS are hardest to find in Cluedo as you must move into them to make a combination with that room, thus it is usually better to show a suspect or weapons card if possible.
6.) Other suggestions include making notes on combinations that players ask for, this can be useful as you can make a reasonable assumption, that if they keep on using the revolver as a weapon, that they are doing so because they have the revolver and are trying to find either the room or the suspect. Not foolproof, but can be a good help, although your sheet of paper will fill quite quickly with this tactic.

MY OPINION OF THE GAME:

I must admit, I really love this game, but then I just really enjoy Board Games. It is quite an easy game to play so children (from the age of 8 or so) should be able to play it and enjoy it with no problems, although their tactics might not be as good as their parents should be.

It is a fun game to play and as it is a WHODUNNIT, the end is always different. I.e. you never actually know who the murderer is until the end, which is always enjoyable. I prefer games, which are not identical all the time and this is certainly one of those.

I also never think of this game as a particularly long game, although the more players you have, the longer it does take. You are also always participating in the game, even when it is someone else’s turn as you are trying to work out what they are hoping to gain from a combination and who shows them a card. After all, if you know they show a card, then you know that at least one of those 3 cards are not in the wallet.

This can also be a very frustrating game. This is because you have to get into the various individual rooms to make a combination guess, so you can find yourself for a long period of the game, just trying to get to a room to make a guess, only to be called into another room as part of a combination and have to start again from there. Very annoying if this happens.

As Board games go, this is a game that includes a lot of skill and strategy and does not just rely on pure luck and is another reason why I enjoy this game so much. You really do need to think about what you are doing, and should you not want to think at a given time about the game you are playing, then I would recommend another game which is pure luck based as you do need to concentrate to have any hope of winning this game.

In summery this game is fun to play, makes you think about what you doing while enjoying quality time with friends and family and is highly recommended.

Summary: Fun to play while using your Brain at the same time