Clue: 50th Anniversary Edition

**Overview** • Rules • Gallery

## Source

Parameters

***Clue: 50th Anniversary Edition*** (also known as ***Cluedo: 50th Anniversary Edition***) is a special deluxe edition of the original board game published by Hasbro under Parker Brothers in 1998, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of *Clue/Cluedo*, which was first released in 1949.

It is a special variant of the 1996 edition of *Clue*.

## Story

The story of the 50th Anniversary Edition features is told in the perspective of an additional guest at the Mansion during the night of Mr. Boddy/Dr. Black's murder.

#### To be read in case of my disappearance... or my demise.

> To whom it may concern:
>
>
> If you are reading this it means what I suspected is true - that the one who did in Mr. Boddy has found me out. Which is why I had to put all of this down for you to find. Aunt Maude, if you're the one reading this, and I suspect it is, you were right. You always told me my natural inquisitiveness would get me into trouble. This time, it may well have done me in, like somebody did in Mr. Boddy. What I found when I was at his Mansion may be the very evidence the Police need to find out what happened to me and to solve the mystery, for I never did find out Who Killed Mr. Boddy? In Which Room? and With Which Weapon?
>
>
> Sincerely, Francis Waddington
>
>
> Francis Waddington
>
>
> Swan House, Fowlmere
>
>
>
> October 14, 1949
>
>

- Instruction manual

#### How I happened to be at the scene of the crime...

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I had been hinting at Boddy for months at the Club, and he finally gave in and invited me to spend a few days at his country place, Boddy Mansion. I was thrilled! But it did not turn out to be the weekend I'd always dreamed of...

I was the last guest to arrive, at around six Friday evening. By the time I had introduced myself to the others, unpacked and changed for dinner, and joined the other guests for cocktails in the Lounge, I'd already gotten a funny feeling about this weekend I had long dreamed of.

Something was definitely amiss. The other guests were all acting strange--furtive, and suspicious. While there was the usual idle chatter between this one and that one, they all seemed preoccupied. And, while Boddy was the grandest chap and had a reputation for holding positively smashing parties, our host avoided all the other guests and spent time only with me. He wasn't himself…the lovable man I played snooker with at the Club was nervous.

Just before eight, when dinner would be served, Boddy beckoned me into the Hall.

"A word in private, old chap." He picked a coil of Rope off the hat rack and nervously looped and re-looped it as he spoke.

I was relieved at the chance to speak to him alone. "Right. Now will you tell me what the blaze is going on here, Boddy? These friends of yours are about the rummest bunch I've ever met. What gives?"

He hesitated. I thought he would tell me what was going on. "Can't say, old man," he replied. "But I have my own suspicions, and you'd be a lifesaver if you'd keep your eyes and ears open and let me know what you can find out about my guests."

"But they're *your* friends, Boddy, I've never met them before. What makes you suspicious?"

"Well, haven't you ever wondered about their *names?* I mean, *really*...they sound like a child's paint box! And they're not my friends...but I do have my reasons for asking them down. Here, take a look at these."

He took a bulky envelope filled with newspaper clips from his inside jacket pocket and waited while I skimmed the headlines. If the people mentioned in the clips were Boddy's colorful guests, they certainly had high profiles in the tabloids: a shady deal, a suspicious discovery...a broken contract, a stolen heirloom...a squandered inheritance, a contested will.

I handed him the clippings. He put them back and patted his pocket. "I'll put these in a safe place after dinner. What do you say, old chap. Will you help me out?"

I agreed to keep a watch on the other guests at Boddy Mansion for the weekend, and to let Mr. Boddy know if I spotted anything of a suspicious nature. I told him I would collect clues and give him a written report of anything that looked "funny" before I left the Mansion on Monday morning.

"Thanks, old chap." Boddy sighed, momentarily relieved. "You are a lifesaver." He patted me on the shoulder, and we walked in to dinner together.

Saturday was pleasant enough...a bit of riding in the morning, a positively hideous luncheon at the hands of Mrs. White, a few games of bridge after dinner, an early evening. I had picked up a few items of interest around the Mansion-possible clues to the guests' mysterious behavior. And I couldn't forget those newspaper clippings...were they related to the clues I'd picked up?

Sunday a few of the guests played tennis before lunch. Another group visited the local ducal place and gardens in the afternoon. Cocktails, another disastrous meal, several rounds of billiards. All was quiet, until later that evening, which was to be our last at the Mansion...and Boddy's last, forever.

I'd felt a bit queasy-I held Mrs. White completely responsible-and retired early. I had fallen asleep over my book when I heard terrific commotion below. Raised voices...scuffling...followed by the sound of someone running.

I ran downstairs and one of the other guests greeted me with the disastrous news: Mr. Boddy had been killed!

"Who did it? Where? What was the Weapon?" No reply. The other guest had already disappeared down the hall.

"All right," I mumbled. "The least I can do for Boddy is figure it out myself."

But I never did. **Can you?**

## Contents

* Clue® game board: This shows 9 Rooms in Mr. Boddy's Mansion
* 6 Colored tokens, each representing one of the Suspects: Colonel Mustard-yellow; Miss Scarlet-red; Professor Plum-purple; Mr. Green-green; Mrs. White-white; and Mrs. Peacock-blue
* 7 Miniature Weapons: Rope, Lead Pipe,

## Characters

* **Miss Scarlet** - *What I found in the Study...* - By the end of the weekend I thought I had figured out why Miss Scarlet spent most of her time in the Study. With its huge windows overlooking the gardens, she could always be sure of catching her own reflection whenever she wanted to admire herself. She stood and stared for hours, folding and refolding the same dove gray piece of stationery she held in her hands. I could see a heraldic crest on the paper, but that's all I could make out, until late Sunday afternoon... She was seated at Boddy's tilt-front secretary, concentrating, writing, scratching out and re-writing by the light from the candle in the Candlestick. I caught only a glimpse of what she wrote before she looked up and saw my reflection. Hurriedly she covered both letters with the blotter, but not before I read the crested letter's nine-word message: *I saw you do it and I will tell*. Poor, distraught Scarlet ... what *had* she done?

* **Colonel Mustard** - *What I found in the Lounge...* - My first evening at the Mansion, I caught Colonel Mustard snoozing under the *Evening Standard* in the Lounge. I coughed discreetly and he harrumphed himself awake, with a verbal string of Old Chaps and Forty Winks. I remarked that I'd missed him at the station that evening. "What-what?" He was surprised. "Boddy had told me the two of us would be coming down on the same train, so we could share a taxi to the Mansion," I explained. "But I didn't see you in any compartment, I’d waited for everyone to alight from First Class. Where were you?" Harrumph, harrumph, he mumbled... "Quite a crowd. Never saw you, old chap." With a sheepish look, he left the Lounge. But before he was out of sight, I saw him surreptitiously shift something from his jacket pocket into the waistband of his trousers. It was early in the weekend, so I wasn't particularly surprised that a retired military man and renowned target shooter would be carrying a Revolver. As I took Mustard's seat on the divan and picked up the newspaper, I noticed a tiny slip of white between the cushions. A bus ticket...with the same day's date. Surely a man of Mustard's rank hadn't had to resort to traveling by bus...or had he?

* **Mrs. White**: *What I found in the Kitchen...* - I couldn't get over the disastrous luncheon and decided a cup of tea wouldn't kill me. Mrs. White looked like she'd been doing a bit of Kitchen plumbing repair. She put down the Lead Pipe and fetched the teapot. "And how did you enjoy the Stewed Eels?" she asked, fishing for a compliment. I blanched at the memory. To avoid answering, I changed the subject, and asked what she would serve if she could concoct her Dream Dinner. "Ah, I've dreamed of that for years. I've even prepared the Bill of Fare." She scrabbled around in the drawer of the kitchen table, and produced it. Dream Dinner! I felt ill just hearing her recite these. While she had her back turned pouring the tea, I spotted something else in the table drawer: Mrs. White's bankbook. Quickly I flipped to the last page: How could a Cook cook up a balance that high? Boddy had told me she was in charge of the household accounts. Maybe she was skimming more than the gravy!

* **Mr. Green**: (**Reverend Green** in European releases): *What I found in the Billiard Room...* - Green and I had agreed to a game of Billiards after Friday’s dinner. I must have arrived earlier than he expected because when I walked in he quickly hid something behind his back. Knowing I'd seen it, he held out the Wrench and tried to cover up: "Uhhhh...had to tighten the leg bolts before we played." Well, that was hard to swallow. The table weighed close to half a ton and tightening those massive legs would take more than a plumber's Wrench. We racked the balls and started our first game. I was playing badly, and Green got a greedy look in his eye. "Let's make this interesting, shall we?" he challenged, pulling a wad of cash from his pocket. "Nothing like a little green on the green to heighten the excitement," "Oh, no!" I replied. "Your stakes would be too rich for my blood." He kept after me, but I stood my ground. The way he pushed, I got the distinct impression he was interested in more than the heightened challenge. This man needs the money, I said to myself.

* **Mrs. Peacock**: ***What I found in the Conservatory...*** - At dusk on Saturday, Mrs. Peacock was in the Conservatory furiously cutting every leaf off one of Boddy's African violets with a Knife. Before I could speak, she rushed out the door to the lawn and hailed Colonel Mustard, who was strolling the grounds with one of Boddy's Borzoi hounds at his heel. The plant tag stuck in the pot read "Saintpaulia 'Sailor's Girl."' Odd name for a plant, I thought, but what had that little violet ever done to make her so angry? I also couldn't help but notice that Mrs. Peacock had left her handbag on the wicker couch. And I couldn't help but notice the clasp was open, and it would only take a tick to see what was inside. (Boddy *had* told me to look around, after all.) Inside was a fiver-not much money to have on you for a whole weekend in the country--and a pawn ticket, dated the day before. It was for a strand of pearls--and it was for a bundle. What did Mrs. Peacock need that kind of money for? And where was the money now?

* **Professor Plum**: *What I found in the Library...* - Professor Plum was in the Library all day Saturday, taking down one book after another from the shelves, riffling through the pages, then putting each back. From the doorway, I asked what he was looking for. He whirled around, stuffing what looked like a small vial imprinted with a Skull and Crossbones into his pocket. A Poison Bottle! He gave me a positively filthy look. I mumbled something like, "Nothing like a good book." He mumbled something like "Need a new recipe for slug bait" and turned back to his search. I left him to it. After lunch Plum went upstairs for a nap, and I returned to the library. I started with the shelf below the one he had been working on. Skimming over the titles, something caught my eyes. Sticking up between the pages of Hortus Third, a plant encyclopedia, was a receipt from an herbalist in the village of Lower Slaughter. It was for several grams of Belladonna… I know that means "beautiful woman" in Italian… but something make me look it up in the Hortus. It means beautiful lady, all right. But it's deadly poison. Belladonna also means Death.

#### Weapons

One of the following seven items are believed to be used in the crime:

* Candlestick
* Knife
* Revolver
* Rope
* Lead Pipe
* Wrench
* Poison

#### Rooms

One of the following nine rooms in Boddy Mansion/Tudor Hall is the scene of the crime:

* Hall
* Lounge
* Study
* Dining Room
* Kitchen
* Ballroom
* Conservatory
* Billiard Room
* Library
* Study