As a boy, Clue was probably my favorite board game, right after Monopoly. It had a strong theme and concept, and was based on more than movement of pieces. Players took the role of detectives, and through both process of elimination, observation of other players, and occasionally guesswork, solved the murder. I haven’t played Clue in years, but I do have fond memories of it uncontaminated by the contempt I have for more grueling ancient games like Monopoly and Risk.
USAopoly may have just given me both a good reason to play Clue again, as well as the means to sell the other players in my gaming group on the idea. We’re all nuts about HBO’s Game of Thrones, you see, and USAopoly, a publisher of made to order licensed games, now has a Clue: Game of Thrones edition of Hasbro’s vintage board game.
This isn’t the Clue that I grew up with. At some point, I gather from googling here and there, “Intrigue Cards” were added to original Clue, and Clue: Game of Thrones has this innovation as well.
What’s original about Clue: Game of Thrones is that it sports a double-sided game board based on concept art from the show: the Red Keep of King’s Landing on the one side, and the streets of Mereen on the other side. Each side of the board has its own mystery to solve, so avid board gamers could have the excuse to play both in one eventing in a mini campaign event. Also, you have six different suspects for each side of the board, twelve in all. In the Red Keep you’ll find Jamie Lannister, Sansa Stark, Margaery Tyrell, Tyrion Lannister, Cersei Lannister, and Petyr Baelish; and, Meereen is inhabited by Daenerys Targaryen, Daario Naharis, Hizdahr Zo Loraq, Jorah Mormont, Grey Worm, and Missandei.
And look at the cute little replicas of famous murder weapons in Game of Thrones: Crossbow (with which Tyrion kills his dad Tywin on the crapper), Poison Vial (remember that time that we smiled broadly when we watched Game of Thones?), Arakh (Daario and Khal Drogo killed lots of people with theirs), Faceless Man (Arya’s first murder weapon of choice), Catspaw Assassin Dagger (used by the assassin sent by the Lannisters to dispatch Bran) and the Battle Axe (Styr, the Magnar of Thenn’s weapon of choice).
Make no mistake; unless you’re enamored with Game of Thrones or you have nostalgia for vintage family games, you may be drumming your fingers a lot while playing this Clue: Game of Thrones. It could be a lot of fun with the right group though. If it finds its way to our game group, you’ll see the full review on Board of Life.
This article was cross-posted on Board of Life.
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May 20, 2016
I know something about the “intrigue cards”. Clue/Cluedo was modernised with a version called “Discover the Secrets” around nine or ten years ago (you know you’re living in the future when classic board games get a franchise reboot!) and the changes were heavily criticised.
The characters and setting lost that Agatha Christie feel and reflected the 21st century, e.g. Reverend Green became Jacob Green, “a go-to guy with all the ins” – no, I don’t know what that means either. Classic rooms such as the library and ballroom vanished and were replaced with a guest house and spa – “Kasandra Scarlet, in the pool, with the baseball bat” we could now say. This is when “intrigue cards” were introduced.
After about five years, a “classic” version was brought in but it is still slightly modern. If anyone knows what’s different between the modern “classic” version and the real classic “classic” version I’d be interested to hear.