Clue Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Suspects, Weapons & Rooms
• Setup
• Play
  • On Your Turn
• Win
• Two-Player (or Team) Game
• Detective Tips
  • Marking Your Sheet
  • Process of Elimination
  • Using Your Cards

Contents

AGES 8+ · 2-6 Players

• Gameboard
• 6 character tokens
• 6 miniature weapons
• 30 cards (6 character cards, 6 weapon cards, 9 room cards, and 9 clue cards)
• Case file envelope
• Pad of detective notebook sheets
• 2 dice

Suspects, Weapons & Rooms

The detective notebook sheet tracks three sets of cards:

• Who? Green, Mustard, Orchid, Peacock, Plum, Scarlett
• What? Candlestick, Dagger, Lead Pipe, Revolver, Rope, Wrench
• Where? Ballroom, Billiard Room, Conservatory, Dining Room, Bathroom, Kitchen, Library, Lounge, Study

Setup

1. Place all six character tokens on their named spaces, even if there aren't six players. Choose your character.

2. Place all weapons in random, separate rooms.

3. Shuffle the nine clue cards and place them facedown in a pile near the board.

   To play the traditional game of CLUE, remove these cards from the game.

4. Separate the other cards into three decks: characters, weapons, and rooms. Shuffle each deck and place it facedown.

5. Slide the top card from each of those three decks into the case file envelope so no one sees.

   These cards answer the questions: Who did it? With which weapon? Where?

6. Shuffle the remaining character, weapon, and room cards together and deal them out facedown among players. It's okay if some players have more cards than others.

   For a two-player game, you'll deal the cards out differently. See the Two-Player (or Team) Game section for details.

7. Everyone takes a notebook sheet and a pen (not included). Mark each player's initial (including your own) at the top.

8. Secretly look at your cards and mark them on your sheet. They cannot be in the envelope! Keep your sheet secret.

Play

Miss Scarlett always goes first, and play continues clockwise. (If no one is playing as Scarlett, the next player clockwise on the board starts.)

On Your Turn

1. Roll the dice. If you roll the magnifying glass icon, draw a clue card. Read it aloud and do what it says, then return it to the bottom of the deck.

   • If you roll two icons, draw two cards.
   • If a character, weapon, or room card is revealed, mark it on your sheet.

2. Do ONE of three things:

   • Move your character token the number of squares you rolled. (The magnifying glass counts as 1.) Try to get to a room!
   • Use a secret passage: If you're in a room with a secret passage at the start of your turn, you can move your token to the room the passage connects to.
   • Stay in the room your token is already in.

   Moving: You cannot move diagonally, go through the same square twice on a turn, or land on or move through a square occupied by another token.

   Entering Rooms:

   • You must enter rooms through doorways.
   • If you roll a number higher than what you need to enter, just stop moving once you're inside.
   • Any number of tokens and weapons can be in a room at a time.
   • You cannot pass through a doorway blocked by another player, whether you're inside or outside of that room.

3. If you reach or stay in a room, make a suggestion for whodunit, with what, and where. Say, "I suggest [any character], with [any weapon], in [the room you are in]."

   • Move the suspect character and weapon into that room. (They'll remain there after your turn.)
   • The player to your left secretly shows you one of the cards from your suggestion, if they have one. If they have more than one, they choose which to show you.
   • If they don't have one, then the next player secretly shows you a card from your suggestion, and so on.
   • No one has a card? You may have cracked the case!

4. Mark your sheet with the card you were shown. It can't be in the envelope. If you weren't shown any cards, that could mean your suggestion is correct!

   Think you know whodunit? You can make an accusation right after you make a suggestion! See the Win section for details.

That's it. Now the player to your left goes!

Win

Once you think you know whodunit, make your accusation! You can only make one per game. It must be on your turn, but it can be right after you make a suggestion. You must be in a room, but you don't have to be in the room you're going to name.

1. Say, "I accuse [character], with [weapon], in [room]."
2. Secretly open the envelope. Are all three cards you named inside?

YES! You win! Congratulations on solving the case!

NO! Uh oh, you're wrong! Without letting anyone see, put the cards back in the envelope. You can't take any more turns, but you must show cards when other players make suggestions or name cards they want revealed. The game continues until someone makes a correct accusation. If no one does, the murderer gets away!

Two-Player (or Team) Game

This variation plays like the classic game, with two exceptions:

• Set up: After you've completed steps 1–5, shuffle the remaining cards and place four cards facedown randomly in any four rooms. (For a speedier game, place them in the corner rooms.) Then continue setup as usual.
• Play: If you enter a room with a card, secretly look at that card and mark your sheet before making your suggestion as usual.

Detective Tips

Marking Your Sheet

When someone shows you a card, mark it on your sheet in the first column and in the column under their initial. Knowing who has which cards will let you strategize when making suggestions, and you may be able to pick up on clues when other players make suggestions.

Process of Elimination

Suggestions help you figure out whodunit by process of elimination. As players reveal cards, you narrow down which character, weapon, and room cards might be in the envelope.

Using Your Cards

Use the cards in your hand to your advantage when making suggestions. If you want to know if a player has a specific card, try naming one or two of your own cards.

In this example, Orchid is the murderer!