With the growing popularity of board games in the 1980s, Parker Brothers took the initiative to expand upon itself and to create some groundbreaking advancements to the gaming industry as a whole. These games range from being squeals to the original, twists on an old classic, and an expanded line up of Clue assets.
Clue VCR Mystery Game was the game that virtually shook the entire toy industry. After the Video Game Crash of 1983, audiences were looking for something to do to entertain the family. As a result, Parker Brothers took it upon themselves to utilize an expanding technology, the VCR, to create something new. Thus the world’s first interactive video tape game was created. For the movie on the tape, they went out and hired local Massachusetts actors to played the characters, which was uncommon at the time. The premise is that the classic suspects came back to Mr. Boddy’s mansion and are joined by Mme. Rose, Monsieur Brunette, Miss Peach, Sgt. Gray, and the butler, Didit as the narrator. The movie was incredibly well put together, the prefect amount of campy and charm. Along with that, there were some interesting plot points like Mme. Rose is Boddy’s sister, Miss Peach is Monsieur Brunette’s adopted daughter, and Sgt. Gray is the illegitimate son of Boddy and Mrs. White. All in all, this game was amazingly will made for being the first of its kind.
Capitalizing of the success of the original, Clue II takes place after the events of the first one. The original cast comes together once again and are all the run for their crimes. Instead of just taking place in Mr. Boddy’s mansion, this time the characters go to Paris, Tangiers, and Rangoon. And hot on their trail is Inspector Pry, the narrator and the officer looking to take them in. The game play is the same as the first VCR game, but the story goes in a whole new direction, focusing on the different suspects working together. While some say it was not as good as the first, it still made its goal of being entertaining to watch and fun to play.
Clue Master Detective was Clue’s first official typical board game spin-off. The slogan was “More Suspects, More Rooms, More Weapons”, which was exactly the case. The VCR characters make their appearance once again with slight changes, like Mme. Rose being Mr. Boddy’s secretary instead of sister. As opposed to taking place at Mr. Boddy’s mansion, it is actually at Mr. Boddy’s summer house, so there’s more rooms to visit. Finally, in addition to the classic 6 weapons, the Poison and Horseshoe are included. The character pawns are made of colored wood, while the weapons consist of highly detailed brass rather than pewter as per usual. In the instructions they included a general history of Clue as well as character bios. When put together, this game truly is a Clue deluxe version.
Clue The Card Game is a clever mini spin-off game. The main premise is that it takes place right after the events of regular Clue, and the murderer has fled the building and is on the run. What the player is to do is to find the suspect, in what location, with what method of travel. Some examples of suggestions would be “Col. Mustard, at the Alamo, with the Hot Air Balloon”, or “Miss Scarlet, at Coney Island, with the Train”. In the European versions of the game, they switched the American locations for British ones like Leeds Castle and Loch Ness. It’s a charming game that can be played by a group for a short or long time, as with most other card games.
One of the major problems with Clue is that it requires too many people to play sometimes. That the issue Clue Suspects sought out to fix by transforming Clue into a single player logic puzzle. Instead of going around on a board, the player looks at a card and tries to place the suspects in a plastic building at the scene of the crime. All the fun of Clue in a handy to-go case.
Going Through Clue 