Summon the Butler: the Clue DVD Game

I still have my original copy of the board game, Clue. It's in the old Parker Brothers long box format (which, btw, is a pain to fit on shelves) - it's brown, with a magnifiying glass & fingerprint on the cover. The pictures of the suspects are 70's-ish cartoon style which look like they were drawn by the same guy who did the Pink Panther shorts. And the game has seen lots of play... it was one of my favorites growing up. (There are now a number of different editions of "vanilla" Clue, much like Monopoly: Simpsons Clue, Haunted Mansion Clue, Alfred Hitchcock Clue... and, most inexplicably, Dungeons & Dragons Clue.)

As a young man, I purchased Clue: The Great Museum Caper, which is a wonderfully thematic game of stealing art masterpieces. (Well, for one player, that is - the rest are museum guards trying to stop the theft.) Using a hidden movement system (similar to Scotland Yard or Fury of Dracula) on a molded plastic board, the game was/is a nail-biting experience for the thief and a puzzle for the guards. Sadly, it's out of print.

There are other Clue games...

• Clue: The Card Game was released in 2002. (This version is by Phil Orbanes - evidently, there was another Clue Card Game prototype designed by Mike "Mystery Rummy" Fitzgerald in consideration as well. Being a HUGE Mystery Rummy fan, I'd love to play it!)
• Clue: Master Detective was Clue on steroids (extra suspects, locations & weapons).
• Clue Jr has been released in at least three different editions - I'll have more to say about it in a few weeks after Braeden gets it for his birthday. (It's already hidden in the closet - a present from Grandma & Grandpa.)
• Clue FX (a "talking" Clue game) and Clue: Mysteries (prepacked with 50 mysteries) are both on my wish list... I keep waiting for them to go on sale. (Alternately, I put them on my birthday & Christmas wish lists, as people who can't find a specialty game store can actually locate copies of either of these games.)

Which brings us to the newest Clue game, Clue DVD. It's kind of a "Pimp My Ride" version of the original Clue. The guys from Hasbro took the original "street ride" game, stripped it down and then built it back into a "muscle car" version of itself.

What's the same:

• The map is still Mr. Boddy's mansion.
• The map still has secret passages.
• You still have a hand of cards which tell you what isn't the correct answer.
• You still make suggestions & accusations.

What's different:

• No dice - you simply move from room to room.
• Rooms can be "locked" at the beginning of the game... and later unlocked by the DVD.
• It's not a murder, it's a theft.
• There are four categories to figure out: who did it, where they stole it from, when did they steal it, and what did they steal.
• There are ten possible suspects - the original six plus four new folks.
• There are new locations including some outside on the mansion grounds.
• When you make suggestions, you only use three elements of the crime.
• When you make suggestions, you do NOT move the person you are suggesting to that room.
• You must move back to the Evidence Room (in the center of the board) to make an accusation.
• Not all of the cards are dealt out at the beginning of the game - the item cards become available through use of the DVD.

The main differences, however, are part of the DVD innovations. The Inspector interrupts the game at various intervals to give players clues and a variety of new options:

• You can use the secret passage to move... which activates an animation & a random result. It can be good (getting extra information), neutral or bad (being forced to show other players one of your cards).
• You can summon the butler - who appears onscreen to give all of the players a clue. As a reward, you get to add one of the item cards to your hand.
• You can attempt to view an item set in place by the game - this involves a visual/memory puzzle on the DVD.
• You can read some of the Inspector's notes as he makes them available - sometimes they're very helpful, but it costs you a turn to do so.
• Finally, you can make an accusation without being knocked out of the game if you're wrong. Using the red magnifying glass and the DVD, you enter your four choices - and, if you're not completely correct, you simply must reveal & discard one card for each part of the accusation that is incorrect.

As the game progresses, the Inspector begins insisting that the detectives pool their resources... in other words, each of you must reveal & discard cards from your hands. This keeps the game moving in two ways:

1. It forces players to reveal information.
2. It functions as a game timer for the players - if you must reveal a card when you have no cards in your hand, you lose the game.

Suddenly, there's an urgency in making an accusation, even if you're still a bit unsure. Nice addition, that.

You can solve the mystery the old-fashioned way (without paying much attention to the DVD clues) but they can be extremely helpful. In fact, the best strategy is a combination of the two, using suggestions to narrow options & confirm suspicions.

There are ten cases on the DVD... plus, an additional bonus: a "general case" setting that allows you to play Clue DVD after you've gone through the original cases. (Another nice touch.)

Obviously, I'm a big fan... if you enjoy deduction games at all, this is a must-try!

Full Disclosure: My group playtested the American version of this game for Hasbro.