Clue: Discover the Secrets

* Front box cover
* Reverse box cover

**Overview** • Rules • Gallery

## Source

***Clue: Discover the Secrets*** is a 2008 board game designed by Hasbro that was an attempt to modernize the original *Clue* board game. Though the game's main title is still simply "Cluedo" or "Clue", many retailers list the game with a "Reinvention" suffix, to distinguish it from the original game. The game was created to update what Hasbro considered to be an old-fashioned game, and became available in October 2008. However, the traditional version of the game remained on sale as well.

As of present, Hasbro no longer sells the game via its website, but they do continue to sell a version of it as part of their *Grab & Go* travel series.

## Description

The mystery you love to solve again and again is even more intense! CLUE game is back with a modern twist: a soiree at a millionaire mogul's mansion turned deadly, and you must find out who is responsible for murdering the host. There's no Revolver or Billiard Room this time & but could it have been Scarlet with the Barbell in the Spa? Open up the tabloid-style instructions to get the scoop on the updated rooms, weapons, and guests. A deck of Intrigue Cards adds suspense to your game with cards that can help you solve the crime faster & or result in a second victim! Narrow down which rumors are true and which are just hearsay--and get caught up in the scandal of the century! CLUE game is back with a modern twist! Features updated rooms, weapons, guests, and a deck of intrigue cards that adds suspense to the classic murder-mystery game.

## Contents

* Gameboard
* 6 Guest Movers
* 6 Personality Cards
* Deck of Rumor Cards
* Deck of Intrigue Cards
* Clue Pad
* Scandal Envelope
* 2 Dice
* 9 Weapons
* Instructions

## Characters

* Kasandra Scarlet: She is at the center of every social event and is the hottest star on the movie scene. She has the attention of all the celebrity magazines. Her biggest fear is that the press will uncover the shady things she did to claw her way to the top.

* Jack Mustard: Once the most sought after celebrity football player, age as finally caught up to him; now a sports announcer relying on this failing good looks and popularity. His stories are larger than life but how much longer will his fame last? He will not resign himself to becoming an unknown.

* Diane White: Living in the shadow of her childhood acting fame she is constantly reminding others of her past success, White has found it difficult to move on. She tries hard not to take others' lack of appreciation personally and she'll be the first to tell you "My day will come, one way or the other."

* Jacob Green: Need help with connections, getting noticed, getting ahead... Green is the man on the scene with all the ins; although nobody is really sure how gets it all done. But keep in mind, nothing comes for free and you can be sure that someday you'll get a call from him cashing in on all those favors.

* Eleanor Peacock: Coming from a wealthy family of politicians, she's known to raise money for any cause as long as she is in the spotlight. She appears calm, cool and collected at all times - ordering her assistants to do her dirty work. She is very concerned with proper behavior... Forgetting to put your napkin on your lap at one her of dinner parties could be a "deadly" mistake.

* Victor Plum: A self-made video-game design billionaire, that moved out of the dingy basement and into a life of luxury. Now part of the "In Crowd," he questions his new friends' intentions. But hey, let's face it, attention is good no matter where it's coming from... and he's going to make the most of it while it lasts.

## Weapons

There are nine possible weapons that could've been used in the murder:

* Knife
* Candlestick
* Pistol
* Poison
* Trophy
* Rope
* Bat
* Ax
* Dumbbell

## Rooms

There are nine possible rooms that the murder could've taken place in:

* Hall
* Guest House (formerly Lounge)
* Dining Room
* Kitchen
* Patio (formerly Dining Room)
* Spa (formerly Conservatory)
* Theatre (formerly Billiard Room)
* Living Room (formerly Library)
* Observatory (formerly Study)

## Changes and additions

Several modifications and updates have been made to the original game's equipment and rules.

### Characters

The victim of the game is an unnamed media mogul, who has suddenly gone "missing" during a soiree at his Hollywood mansion.

The six suspects from the original crime have been updated to include first names and (at the time) more modern-day lifestyles. Each character has a special ability or "power" that can be used once during a game.

### Weapons

Instead of six, there are now a total of nine possible weapons that could've been used in the crime. Some of the original weapons have either been renamed or removed.

### Rooms

The nine standard rooms on the board have been changed as indicated by an asterisk (with the original room name in parentheses). In addition to these changes, the center room, *Swimming Pool* (the "cellar" in the original game), is now a playable, accessible room in the game, to be entered by the player before making the final accusation. The starting spaces for Scarlet and Mustard have also moved clockwise by 3 positions. Secret passages still connect the rooms of opposite corners of the gameboard.

### Rules

While the game generally follows the classic rules, there are several new additions to the game. A new deck of cards has been added to the game: the Intrigue cards. This deck consists of two types of cards: Keepers and Clocks. Keepers give the drawer special abilities, such as the ability to look at another player's cards; however, these cards do not override the original rules. Of the eight Clocks, the first seven that are drawn do nothing. The player who draws the eighth Clock is "killed" by the murderer, and is out of the game. Intrigue cards are linked to new "?" spaces on the board, which require one to be drawn when landed upon.

The player must move to the indoor swimming pool in the center of the board to make an accusation. This adds some challenge versus the ability to make accusations from anywhere in the original game.

## Reception

Kate Summerscale considered the "Englishness and datedness" of the original game to be an intrinsic part of its appeal, and felt that the contemporary details would become soon dated. She noted that elements of *Cluedo* had become cultural reference points, and found the original game to have "a nostalgic aura, blurrily reminiscent of creepy old houses and buried family secrets".

Journalist Cole Moreton compared the release of *Discover the Secrets* to the New Coke debacle in 1985 and suggested it was only a matter of time before Hasbro would make the correction. In the meantime, he suggested that one should "borrow granny's. Far better to die in England than Blingland".

Robert Colvile of *The Telegraph* questioned Hasbro's stated rationale in "that the game should reflect 21st-century society — but do its makers really imagine that the faux-Edwardiana of the original, in which the vicar and the doctor and the local spinster gathered at the manor, was an accurate reflection of late-1940s society?" He suggests that the appeal of Cluedo games was "not that they reflect the real world, but that they take you away from it".

## Grab & Go

Though Hasbro no longer sells "Discover the Secrets", a variation of the game still exists in their *Grab & Go* travel series. It plays identically to standard classic rules but visually continues to use the new Discover the Secrets room layout, and 3 of the new weapons (poison, dumbbell, and pistol) as part of the standard 6, as well as retaining other design artwork. However, the Intrigue cards are no longer a part of the game.

## References

1. ↑ Hasbro Store
2. ↑ Celebrating the 60th anniversary of Cluedo The Times, 10/15/2009, by Damian Whitworth (retrieved 11/26/2009)
3. ↑ Jack Mustard, in the spa, with a baseball bat by Kate Summerscale, The Guardian, Saturday, 20 December 2008, retrieved 02/23/13
4. ↑ Who killed Cluedo's Col Mustard? by Cole Moreton, The Independent, Sunday, 17 August 2008, retrieved 10/20/09
5. ↑ The makers of Cluedo have gone and killed Professor Plum Telegraph.co.uk By Robert Colvile
Published: 12:01AM BST 15 Aug 2008 (retrieved 11/1/09)

## External links

* Hasbro's official *Clue* page Hasbro store (30 Novemeber 2009). Archived from [www.hasbro.com/clue/ the original] on **Error: Invalid time.**. Retrieved on October 26, 2023.

* Clue: Discover the Secrets on BoardGameGeek

## Also See

* *Clue (2009 mobile game)*, the 2009 iOS/mobile game based on *Discover the Secrets*
* *Clue: Accusations and Alibis*, a "hidden object" adaptation of the game.
* *Clue: Secrets in Paris*
* *Clue: Secrets & Spies*

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