60 Fun Facts About Clue

Before the war, Cluedo's inventor Anthony Pratt earned his living doing what?

He played recitals in country hotels and on cruise ships, and the murder-mystery parlour games staged at those hotels seeded the idea for the game.

Which company first manufactured Cluedo in the United Kingdom in 1949?

Managing director Norman Watson bought the game on the spot in 1945 after Pratt demonstrated it, but post-war shortages held up production for four years.

The name Cluedo is a play on the word 'clue' and which board game?

The name was the publisher's idea; Pratt had called his invention Murder!, and it was renamed Clue in North America because the pun would not land there.

Which American company licensed the game for the US market in 1949, renaming it Clue?

Its first American slogan was 'The Great New Detective Game', and early advertising even licensed Sherlock Holmes from the Conan Doyle estate.

In which year did Anthony Pratt file his original patent application for the game?

The application went in on 1 December, in the middle of the war; the patent itself was granted on 1 April 1947 as 'Improvements in Board Games'.

How much did Pratt receive when he sold the game's international rights in 1953?

The publisher told him the game was selling poorly abroad; the cheque let him buy a sweets and tobacco shop, though he kept UK royalties until the patent expired in 1967.

How many characters did Pratt's original design call for, before the published game cut them to six?

One of them was to be picked as the victim by random draw before play began, leaving nine suspects and up to eight players.

Which of these characters was in Pratt's original design but dropped before the 1949 release?

Mr. Brown, Miss Grey and Mrs. Silver were cut alongside him, and two of the survivors were renamed for the shipping version.

Which suspect did Hasbro replace with the new character Dr. Orchid in 2016?

Dr. Orchid, a young biologist and the victim's adopted daughter, got a pink token; the housekeeper returned as Chef White in the 2023 edition.

The victim is Mr. Boddy in North American editions. What is he called in the UK edition?

Hasbro's 2023 relaunch finally reconciled the two names by calling him Boden 'Boddy' Black Jr.

Which UK suspect is renamed plain 'Mr.' in North American editions, losing his clerical title?

North America is the only region that still makes the change; the US character was recast from a shady businessman into a young playboy.

With six suspects, six weapons and nine rooms, how many possible solutions does the classic game have?

Three cards go into the envelope and the rest are dealt out, so with more players each hand is smaller and the deduction is harder.

Which of these is NOT one of the nine rooms on the classic board?

The centre space, often called the cellar or the stairs, holds the solution envelope and cannot be entered by players.

Taking the secret passage from the study lands a player in which room?

Each corner room's passage runs to the diagonally opposite corner, which is why Professor Plum's start beside the study is a strong opening.

How many of the nine rooms contain a secret passage?

Only the corner rooms have them, and Mrs. Peacock's start beside the conservatory lets her use one on her very first turn.

The UK edition's 'spanner' goes by what name in North American editions?

The dagger became a knife and the lead piping a lead pipe across the Atlantic, though the 2016 US edition switched the knife back to a dagger.

Which weapon appeared in Pratt's original design but was left out of the 1949 release?

A bomb, a shillelagh and a fireplace poker were also cut, while the axe and poison from his list turned up in later spin-offs.

Which suspect was added to the cast in 1988's expanded Clue Master Detective?

The bigger game has 12 rooms, 10 characters and eight weapons, adding a horseshoe and poison to the arsenal and a gazebo and fountain to the map.

In the 2008 relaunch Discover the Secrets, where must a player go to make the final accusation?

The redesign also swapped the lead pipe and spanner for a baseball bat, axe, dumbbell, trophy and poison, and fans and critics hated it.

In Hasbro's 2023 edition, Mrs. Peacock was given what new title?

The same refresh turned the clergyman into a mayor and brought the housekeeper back as a chef.

In what year is the game's mansion, Tudor Mansion in Hampshire, said to be set?

The board has carried several names over the years, including Tudor Close, Tudor Hall and Boddy Mansion.

The mansion's layout is reputed to be based on a hotel in which English seaside town?

Early editions were subtitled 'Murder at Tudor Close' after the Tudor Close Hotel there.

Pratt's neighbour Geoffrey Bull, who introduced him to a publisher, had invented which board game?

Pratt's daughter credits Bull with planting the idea of turning the parlour game into a board game in the first place.

Pratt, an accomplished musician, was at one time accompanist to which renowned soprano?

He was an aspiring composer and a huge admirer of Edward Elgar before wartime factory work gave him time to think up a game.

Roughly how many copies of Cluedo had been sold when the publisher went hunting for its inventor in 1996?

The search revealed that Pratt had died two years earlier, aged 90; a blue plaque now marks the Birmingham house where he designed the game.

A 1979 US TV commercial for the game featured a bumbling detective resembling which film character?

Earlier ads leaned on Sherlock Holmes: a 1972 spot showed Holmes and Watson locked in a fiercely competitive game.

In what year was the Clue film, based on the board game, released in cinemas?

It opened on 13 December and fell just short of recouping its budget before finding a cult audience on video.

Who directed the film, and finished its screenplay?

He later adapted his own screenplay for the stage, and Clue: On Stage premiered in 2017.

Which actor plays the butler who greets the guests and reconstructs the night's events?

The whole cast received identical salaries and billing despite their differing fame at the time.

Which British comedian was the second choice for the butler role but was judged not well known enough?

The first choice, Leonard Rossiter, died before filming commenced.

Carrie Fisher was cast in the film but withdrew to enter treatment. Which role was hers?

Lesley Ann Warren, who took over the part, had originally been cast as the widow with five dead husbands.

Which cast member improvised the celebrated 'flames' monologue?

The director screened His Girl Friday for the cast as a model for the rapid-fire delivery he wanted.

Which actor plays Professor Plum, a former psychiatrist stripped of his licence?

His character now works for the World Health Organization after an affair with a patient cost him his medical licence.

Which actor plays Mr. Green, the closeted State Department employee?

Howard Hesseman appears uncredited as the Chief of Police in the film's closing minutes.

In what year is the film set?

The guests' secrets are framed as 'un-American activities', a nod to the McCarthy era in which the story unfolds.

A fourth ending was written but scrapped. Who was the killer in it?

The butler poisons the champagne so there are no witnesses; its star reckoned it was dropped for being too obvious.

In the scrapped fourth ending, the killer's escape in a stolen police car is foiled by what?

The novelisation and the children's storybook, both published the same year as the film, print this ending; the Dobermanns attack from behind him.

Against its $15M production budget, roughly how much did the film gross in North America?

Gene Siskel gave it 2.5 stars and complained it needed 'three different middles rather than three different endings'.

After filming, the mansion set was bought by the producers of which TV series?

They reused it as the fictional hotel The Carlton; the set had been dressed with antiques rented from private collectors, including Theodore Roosevelt's estate.

Which musician plays the Singing Telegram Girl?

Her character is a former patient of Professor Plum, and one of the informants the host wanted silenced.

Which guest is being blackmailed over war profiteering during World War II?

Martin Mull's character later worked on a top-secret fusion bomb project, which is what makes his secret dangerous.

In the third, 'true' ending, which guest is an undercover FBI agent who shoots the host?

He closes the film by announcing that he is going home to sleep with his wife, upending the secret he was supposedly hiding.

In the third ending, the butler reveals that he is really whom?

The man shot in the study earlier was actually his own butler, and he planned to keep blackmailing the guests.

Which series' 2013 episode '100 Clues' reunited three of the film's stars?

The episode had separate East and West Coast endings chosen by viewers, and was dedicated to the memory of a late cast member.

How many possible endings does the script of Clue The Musical provide for?

Six suspects, six weapons and six rooms give the number; the show ran just 29 performances Off-Broadway in 1997 before amateur theatres adopted it.

The ITV game show Cluedo (1990-93) restaged a killing each week at a stately home called what?

It was filmed at Arley Hall in Cheshire, chosen because its ground-floor layout matched the board so well.

Which presenter of the ITV Cluedo game show later called it 'the worst thing I've ever done'?

He hosted the 1991 series, sandwiched between James Bellini and Richard Madeley, and complained the studio audience had to be rotated during the marathon tapings.

Which former Doctor Who actor played the Professor in series 3 of the ITV Cluedo game show?

David McCallum had the role the year before, and Lewis Collins was that series' Colonel.

Which Absolutely Fabulous star played Mrs. Peacock in the final 1993 series of the ITV Cluedo game show?

Stephanie Beacham, Kate O'Mara, Rula Lenska and Susan George had all worn the peacock blue before her.

Which of these was one of four new suspects introduced in the Clue VCR Mystery Game?

Three other newcomers debuted alongside him, and a butler named Didit walked players through the 60-minute tape.

The 2011 five-part Clue miniseries with a teenage cast aired on which US network?

Shot in Vancouver for Hasbro Studios, it followed six sleuths nicknamed after the suspects and was later re-cut as a two-hour TV film.

Which classic detective's estate licensed his name to Cluedo's 1949 North American launch?

Ads promised players would follow 'the path of the criminal' like the great detective, though he never actually appeared on the box.

Which suspect traditionally starts one space closer to the first room than any other player?

She also sits nearest the Conservatory, a corner room with a secret passage; Miss Scarlett's old first-move advantage vanished with the high-roll rule.

How many rooms does the expanded 1988 edition Clue Master Detective feature?

It also grew to ten characters and eight weapons, adding poison and a horseshoe plus rooms such as the gazebo and carriage house.

Under what name is Cluedo marketed in Brazil?

North America renamed it Clue because Ludo, the game behind the pun, was less familiar there than its cousin Parcheesi.

Which famous artist created the box art used on the US 1996 Clue edition and the 50th anniversary set?

The movie-poster legend did not, however, paint the Reverend Green portrait used in the UK Cluedo editions.

Which classic screwball comedy did director Jonathan Lynn screen for the Clue cast as inspiration?

The rapid-fire delivery of the 1940 Cary Grant film was the model; Madeline Kahn's 'flames' speech was improvised.

Which crime novelist was reported in 1981 to be writing a multi-ending screenplay for the Clue film?

Producer Debra Hill had acquired the rights from Parker Brothers; the film that finally emerged in 1985 was written by Lynn from a story with John Landis.

Which actor optioned a first-look deal in 2018 to star in a Clue remake written by the Deadpool screenwriters?

Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick were to write it; Jason Bateman and director James Bobin were later attached before rights moved to TriStar in 2024.

The Clue film's ballroom and driveway exteriors were shot at a mansion in which California city?

Matte paintings by Syd Dutton made the house look far bigger; it burned down in 2005 and was rebuilt, though the original front gate survives.