Clue Mysteries Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Summary
• Object
• Components
• The First Time You Play
• Set Up the Game
• How to Play
  • On Your Turn
  • Pawn Movement
  • Gameboard Spaces
  • Questioning a Character
  • Marking Your CLUE Sheet
  • Making an Accusation
  • How to Win
• Casebook
  • Mystery Index
  • Solutions

Game Summary

The CLUE Mysteries game features 50 cases to solve, 12 shady suspects, and six wary witnesses. As a detective, try to solve each case by questioning the witnesses and decoding their statements.

Record the clues in your detective notebook to eliminate some suspects and zero in on others. Can you discover who the culprit is, and where he or she is hiding?

Object

Be the first detective to solve the mystery by discovering 1) which suspect committed the crime, and 2) where he or she can be found.

Figure 1 shows a 3-player game assembled, set up and ready for play. Its labelled parts are: character wheels, card deck, pawns on Town Center, scene token (one in each corner), spyglass, location key, secret mirror, detective folder with CLUE sheet.

Components

• Hampshire gameboard
• Pad of CLUE sheets
• 24 CLUE cards
• 8 two-piece character wheels with plastic buttons and stands
• 4 scene tokens
• Spyglass
• Secret mirror
• Location key
• Die
• 6 detective pawns and notebooks
• Label sheet

The First Time You Play

Carefully detach the game parts from their cardboard sheets, and discard the waste.

The character wheels: The characters on these wheels are the ones you'll be questioning in each mystery. There are six witnesses: Professor Plum, Colonel Mustard, Mrs. Peacock, Miss Scarlet, Mrs. White, and Reverend Green. Because these witnesses are also suspects, they may or may not tell you anything of value; and they may or may not be telling the truth!

The characters on the other two wheels are Inspector Brown, who can tell you which witness (if anyone) is lying; and Mr. Boddy, who always knows where the culprit is!

Assembling the wheels: Take a folder, its matching wheel, and a plastic button. Because all of the wheels are different, make sure the name printed on the wheel matches the name on the folder. Assemble each wheel as follows:

1. Open the folder color-side down. Press the wheel's coded side against the back of the folder, line up the two holes, and push the small end of the button through the holes. See Figure 2A. Then close the folder and push the button through the hole in front. Fit the assembled character wheel into a plastic stand. Figure 2B shows the wheel assembled.

Figure 2A shows Mrs. Peacock's folder and wheel before assembly; Figure 2B shows Mrs. Peacock's wheel assembled.

The secret mirror: Carefully apply the foil label to the secret mirror, as shown in Figure 3.

Set Up the Game

1. The pawns: After laying out the gameboard, all players choose a pawn and place it in the Town Center (the round space in the center of the gameboard). Place any extra pawns out of the game.

2. The scene tokens: There are four of these tokens: the Parade, the Fair, the Cart and the Bus. In each mystery, the culprit is located at one of these scenes. Place one scene token in each gameboard corner, on the space just in front of a building space. It doesn't matter which token goes in which corner. See Figure 1 for sample placement.

3. The CLUE cards: Shuffle the cards, and place the deck near the gameboard.

4. The secret decoders: Place the spyglass, the secret mirror, and the location key near the gameboard.

5. The detective notebooks: Take a detective notebook and slide a CLUE sheet under the flap, as shown in Figure 4. Keep a pencil (not included) handy, to track the clues. All players do the same. Fold your notebook so that your opponents can't see your notes.

Figure 4 shows a detective notebook with a CLUE sheet under the flap.

The suspects: Notice that your notebook features 12 suspects. In each game you must discover, by the process of elimination, which suspect is the culprit! (Six of the suspects are also witnesses, so be wary of their statements. They may lie to throw you off the trail!)

6. The mystery: Choose the mystery that you'll try to solve in this game, and read it aloud. (Any player can do this.) We suggest that you play the mysteries in order, starting with Mystery #1; but if you prefer, you may "skip around" and play them in any order you want. The mysteries appear on pages 9 through 33.

Setting the wheels: After reading the mystery, set each character wheel according to the Wheel Settings listed below the mystery. To set each wheel, turn the knob to the number listed. Figure 5 shows an example. After setting each wheel, stand it up near the gameboard with the front facing the players.

Figure 5: To set Professor Plum's wheel for Mystery 1, turn the wheel until number 51 appears in the opening.

How to Play

Each player in turn rolls the die. The highest roller goes first, then play continues clockwise.

On Your Turn

On each of your turns, roll the die, then move your pawn space by space along the gameboard. After moving and following any directions for the space you land on, your turn is over.

Pawn movement and gameboard spaces are explained below.

Pawn Movement

• You must move the full count of the die, with these two exceptions: 1) you may stop short to land on a building space; and 2) to make an accusation, you may stop short to land on a scene token.
• You may move your pawn in any direction, as long as you don't move onto the same space twice in one turn.
• Your pawn may pass other pawns, and may share spaces with other pawns.
• Path-blocking scene tokens: Your pawn may not pass or land on a scene token; if a token is in your way, you must find a way around it. Exception: See Making an Accusation.

Gameboard Spaces

The Town Center space: Players start the game on this space, and may land on it or pass it as they play. If you end your move here, your turn ends.

Building spaces: There are eight of these spaces along the outside of the gameboard path. When you end your move on a building space (not necessarily by exact count), you may "question" the character who is located there by decoding the statement on that character's wheel (see Questioning a Character). You may pass a building space without stopping there.

Open Road spaces: If you land on one of these spaces, draw the top CLUE card from the deck, read it aloud, then immediately follow the directions on it. If the card directs you to another space, follow the directions for that space. When you're done, place the card faceup beside the deck in a draw pile. Your turn is over. Note: If you run out of cards, just shuffle the discard pile to form a new draw pile.

Vehicle spaces: These four spaces are shortcuts. If you land by exact count on a vehicle space, you may immediately "hop in," move your pawn to any other space, and follow the directions. Note: You may not land on a scene token unless you're ready to make an accusation.

Scene spaces: These are spaces with scene tokens on them. They will shift constantly as players draw cards directing them to move the tokens to other spaces.

Because scene tokens are path-blockers, move them strategically, either to block the path of another player, or to unblock your own path. Important: Never place a scene token where it would completely block off a player or a space.

Questioning a Character

Any time your pawn is on a building space, you may question the character who is there. To do this, take the matching character wheel and the decoder that you must use with it. Then turn the wheel to the back, decode the clue and record it on your CLUE sheet (see Marking Your CLUE Sheet).

After decoding and marking the clue, replace the character wheel where it was, with the front facing the players. Here's how to use each decoder:

The spyglass: Use this to decode the statements of the six witnesses. Just hold the spyglass above the statement, and the words will suddenly be clear!

The secret mirror: Use this to decode Inspector Brown's statement, and you'll discover if any of the witnesses' statements are false. To use the mirror, just hold it at an angle above the message. Brown's message will suddenly and magically appear in the mirror!

The location key: Use this to decode Mr. Boddy's very important (and always truthful) message: where the culprit is hiding! Just fit the key into the slot in Mr. Boddy's wheel, and the letters (FAIR, PARADE, CART or BUS) will show through the holes! (You may need to adjust the wheel a little, so the letters will show clearly through the keyholes.)

Marking Your CLUE Sheet

After you question a character, secretly record your findings next to that character's name on your CLUE sheet. But remember, until you visit Inspector Brown, you can't trust what any of the witnesses say, so you can't yet eliminate any suspects!

Visiting Inspector Brown: It's good strategy to visit the Police Station to question Inspector Brown early in the game. He will either tell you that all of the witnesses are being truthful, or he will mention that one of the witnesses is a liar. If a witness is lying, make a note of it next to that character's name on your CLUE sheet.

Even if a witness is lying, make sure that you question him or her; you may still get a valuable clue, because a lying character's statement is actually the opposite of what he or she tells you! For example, if Inspector Brown says, "It always surprises me that Mrs. White tells so many lies," and Mrs. White's clue is: "The suspect did not have gray hair," you can be sure that the suspect does have gray hair!

Eliminating suspects: Notice that each suspect has a number that matches a circle on your CLUE sheet. After visiting Inspector Brown, you can begin to eliminate suspects until only one remains. To eliminate a suspect, just cross off that suspect's circle, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Eliminate suspects by crossing off their numbers.

In this game, you've learned from Inspector Brown that all of the witnesses are being truthful. When Miss Scarlet tells you, "I saw a man who looked very suspicious," you can cross off all female suspects!

Making an Accusation

Once you know (or, if you're daring, think you know) which character is the guilty party and where he or she is located, you may make an accusation at any time on your turn.

When you make an accusation, your pawn must be on the scene token in Mr. Boddy's clue: for example, if Mr. Boddy says that the culprit is at the parade, your pawn must be on the parade token. You do not have to land on the token by exact count. This is the only time that a pawn is allowed on a scene token.

Once you've moved your pawn to the scene token, make your accusation by saying, for example, "Reverend Green did it, and he's at the parade." Then open the casebook to the page with that mystery's solution, and read it to yourself.

• If you're correct, congratulations, detective! You win the game! Read the solution aloud. Now all players will know how and why the crime was committed, and what secrets, if any, are revealed!
• If you're not correct, sorry, you're out of the game. Don't reveal the solution, because your fellow detectives will continue playing until someone else makes a correct accusation.

How to Win

The first detective to make a correct accusation wins the game, and reads the solution aloud to the other players.

Casebook

In the summer of 1925 the colorful CLUE characters were very busy in Hampshire, making mischief, witnessing it, and lying about it! As a detective, your goal is to work with Inspector Brown to investigate and solve each case.

We suggest that you play these mysteries in order, from 1 to 50 (June 1st to August 7th, the day before the murder of Miles Meadow-Brook). Read the mystery, then set the character wheels to the numbers indicated below it. Then play the game to discover whodunit, and where the culprit is located. A player making an accusation must turn to the solution on the indicated page to discover if he or she is correct. If correct, the player wins and reads the solution aloud; if incorrect, the player loses and the game continues.

Have fun, and happy sleuthing!

Mystery Index

Each mystery begins with its title and a narrative, then a Wheel Settings list and a "Solution appears on page" line. The narrative is not reproduced here. Set each wheel to the number in its column. The last column gives the printed page of that mystery's solution.

No.	Mystery	Plum	Peacock	Scarlet	Mustard	White	Green	Boddy	Brown	Solution page
1	The Parting Shot	51	68	55	22	26	78	59	77	37
2	The Phantom of the Theatre	14	27	40	54	86	91	79

Solutions

The solutions are printed shuffled and inverted, so each one must be turned to the page named for its mystery. Each solution begins with a heading "SOLUTION TO MYSTERY [number]: [title]", followed by the culprit and scene, and then the solution narrative. The culprit and scene lines and the narrative are omitted from this transcription.