Clue VCR Mystery Game

***Clue VCR Mystery Game*** is a interactive multimedia game based on the board game *Clue* (known as *Cluedo* outside North America). Released in 1985, the *Clue VCR Mystery Game* was the first moving picture rendition of Clue/Cluedo, coming out only months before the film adaptation of the board game, *Clue*. Parker Brothers ended up making many VCR games, but this one was always their best seller. The game was released in Europe as well under the *Cluedo* label.

*Clue VCR Mystery Game* uses a VHS videocassette containing 60 minutes of footage with three separate segments, eighteen individual games, three sets of clue cards, 18 investigation cards, and ten suspect cards.

## Production

Earlier before production began, a prototype Clue VCR game was created for Parker Brothers. Several employees of Parker Brothers were cast to play the suspects.

The film was shot at Seven Pines in Wenham, Massachusetts, during the course of three weeks.

## Plot and gameplay

The film on the VHS is split into several parts: an introductory scene, instructions of how to play the game, and three story segments.

Mr. Boddy is dead (again) and all of his old friends show up for the reading of the will by his lawyer, Monsieur Brunette. Also at the house is Mr. Boddy's sister, Madame Rose. Supposed stranded motorist Miss Peach also arrives, as does police officer Sergeant Gray. Everyone becomes trapped at Boddy Mansion when Gray tells them the river's flooded and the bridge is washed out. Turns out, everyone in attendance of the reading of the will has a part in the inheritance--they just have to be the last person living.

The next day everyone wakes up in casts and bandages. In fear, Madam Rose burns the will. M Brunette announces that there is an original will hidden in the house and it's a race to find it. When it's finally "found," it states that this time the inheritance will be divided between his five friends, maid and sister. But, wait, if Mr. Boddy's long lost child returns, that child gets everything. Mrs. White confesses she had a love child with Boddy, but that it was stolen. Miss Peach then begins to impersonate the child, after finding out it is actually Sgt. Gray.

Slowly, the characters begin to learn the secrets about everyone, from Col. Mustard being the laughing stock of the spy world and Prof. Plum's experiments on his wife to Mrs. Peacock's kleptomania and Miss Peach's French accent. After much wackiness, a séance and dozens of attempted murders, the game ends with everyone chasing everyone around the house like maniacs.

## Cast and characters

* Walter Covell as Colonel Mustard - Col. Mustard was once with the Royal Fusiliers in India, but is now retired. He has busied himself since as a big-game hunter, or so he says. He was also a top international spy until a freak accident magnetized the steel plate in his head. He likes to booze occasionally and once killed his brother Reggie for the family inheritance.

* Janet Wong as Miss Scarlet - Miss Scarlet spends much of her time in exotic lands and the rest of her time denying that she was ever there. She ran her own successful freelance spy business (winning the coveted "Mata Hari Award"), but since she went into partnership with Col. Mustard, she's been looking in the "Help Wanted" section every day. She is Swiss and would like to someday open her own gas station.

* Jack Neary as Professor Plum - Prof. Plum teaches chemistry at a non-accredited college and on the side he does research in undetectable poisons and explosives, once inventing self-destructing tape. He refuses to use rats in his other experiments, choosing two-legged creatures instead. He's currently wanted for multiple homicide.

* Betty Lee Bouge as Mrs. Peacock - Mrs. Peacock is a respectable married woman fourteen times, having had all of her husbands die under mysterious circumstances. Each time she vows the new husband will be her last, which always comes true. She travels for her health--and a possible new late husband. She is also a kleptomaniac.

* Barry Doe as Mr. Lyman Green - Mr. Green claims to be a businessman, but refuses to discuss the business he's in. He was a salesman for a well known crime family, but a suitcase full of his day's receipts mysteriously wandered away--and so did he. He is good at making things like cars explode and he has never attended charm school.

* Cheryl McMahon as Mrs. White - Mrs. White was the color-blind maid at Boddy mansion for twenty-five years and knows more than she should about everyone. She still falls back upon her job as a maid from time to time, but is doing well now as an apprentice blackmailer. Sgt. Gray is her love child from a relationship with Mr. Boddy.

* Michael Dell'Orto as Monsieur Brunette - Monsieur Brunette is allegedly French, allegedly Mr. Boddy's lawyer, and allegedly needs the eye patch he's wearing. He paid a high price for his foreign accent from a croissant baker on La Rue Nice and always calls himself an "artiste de con" who plans to go straight after just a few more jobs. He adopted Miss Peach in France.

* Mara Clark as Madame Rose - Madame Rose was Mr. Boddy's sister and only known relation. She's an amateur medium with occasional psychic powers and is wanted in 43 states for telling fortunes--and making a fortune--without a license. She is a very cheerful person and enjoys being around people. Her best friend was, at one point, Teddy, a stuffed bear.

* Richard McElvain as Sergeant Gray - Sgt. Gray is a local policeman, or at least he thinks he is. He suffers from amnesia and uncontrolled fits of temper and stole the uniform  he's wearing--and the owner's name--when he escaped from the insane asylum. Fortunately, he doesn't usually remember that he's a very dangerous homicidal maniac. He is the colorblind love child of Mrs. White and Mr. Boddy, but was stolen by the gypsies. On his ankle is a candlestick shaped birthmark.

* Mara Flash as Miss Melba Peach - Miss Peach is a crack shot, an expert knife thrower, and is proficient with blunt instruments. She shares a lot in common with M. Brunette, but calls herself a plain old con artist. She supplements her creative career by slinging hash at a local diner and at M. Brunette's restaurant, but yearns for that one big break that will set her up for life--of luxury, that is. She is actually French, but prefers to speak with a Southern accent.

* Bill Lucas as Didit - Didit was Mr. Boddy's butler, but kept a low profile around the house during the weekend when everyone came for the reading of the will. He's a bit of a trickster, and enjoys giving the others a little push--towards running around the house attacking each other. He acts as narrator for the first game.

## Critical reception and legacy

The German localisation was cited by *Modern Language Journal* a potential learning package for students. Mel Magazine asserts that *Clue VCR Mystery Game* "not only represented a new way to play a familiar game", but "also ushered in a new type of gaming altogether".

The 2013 documentary *Who Did It? The Clue VCR Game* was directed by Tim Labonte and Frank Durant.

## References

1. ↑ Clue VCR Mystery Game - TheArtofMurder.com.
2. ↑ Crean, John E. (1990). "Review of Cluedo German Video". *The Modern Language Journal* **74** (3): 407. Template:Citation/identifier. Template:Citation/identifier. Template:Citation/identifier. https://www.jstor.org/stable/327658.
3. ↑ Let's Rewind Back to the World of VCR Board Games (en-US) (2020-11-07).
4. ↑ Who Did It? The Clue VCR Game (en).