Clue

## Overview

*You’ve been invited to a fancy dinner party, but by the time you arrive there’s already been a murder! With six possible murder weapons on hand, you must figure out what killed Mr. Boddy (the who and the where are less relevant tonight). But be careful, because everyone has a chance to play detective! The six dinner guests (alongside the mysterious butler and maid) must use their wits and abilities to gain the upper hand in this deduction while avoiding becoming murder victims themselves!*

**Clue** is one of the 11 factions featured in the Board Game Bonanza expansion.

Clue features a new action sub-type, Evidence, which is the crux of Clue's main gameplay loop. Evidence cards are distributed to all players and then everyone has a chance to guess the correct Evidence card underneath Mr. Boddy for a VP reward (or penalty if the guess is incorrect). Clue's cards are weighed towards giving a crafty Clue player an advantage in this while also allowing them to win bases.

*Other factions from the same set: 7 Wonders, Battleship, Cribbage, Dominion, Guess Who?, Risk, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Twilight Struggle, Wingspan*

### Details

#### General

* Name: Clue
* Author: AndIQuote
* Complexity: 5/5
* Version: 2
* Last updated: May 26, 2023

#### Mechanics

* Evidence
* Sub-Types

## Cards

    Download full-sized cards in .png format here!

#### Breakdown

Clue has 8 unique minions and 12 actions compared to the usual 10 and 10. However, 6 of their minions are power 4 and two are power 3, bringing their total minion base power to the usual 30 with an average of 3.75. Among their actions, there are:

* 1 play-on-minion action: Evidence: Rope
* 2 play-on-base actions: Secret Passage (2x)
* 9 standard actions (6 that affect one or more minions, **in bold**): A Clue! (2x), **Evidence: Candlestick**, **Evidence: Dagger**, **Evidence: Lead Pipe**, **Evidence: Revolver**, **Evidence: Wrench**, **Murder!**, Mysterious Invitation
* 1 action that directly increase a minion's power: Evidence: Candlestick

#### Minions

* **1x Colonel Mustard (4):** Talent: If Mr. Boddy is in play, choose another player. That player may reveal an Evidence card in their hand. If they do not, cancel the abilities of their minions here until the start of your next turn.
* **1x Miss Scarlet (4):** Ongoing: After each time you correctly guess the card placed under Mr. Boddy, gain an additional 1 VP.
* **1x Mr. Green (4):** Ongoing: After each time an Evidence card is played, discarded, or revealed, you may give this minion +1 power until the end of the turn.
* **1x Mrs. Peacock (4):** Talent: If Mr. Boddy is in play, choose another player. That player may reveal an Evidence card in their hand. If they do not, draw two cards.
* **1x Mrs. White (4):** Talent: If Mr. Boddy is in play, choose another player. That player may discard an Evidence card. If they do not, shuffle a card from your discard pile into your deck and draw a card.
* **1x Professor Plum (4):** Ongoing: You may guess the name of the card placed under Mr. Boddy at the end of your turn instead of the start of your turn.
* **1x The Butler (3):** If Mr. Boddy is in play, each player places one Evidence card from their hand into the hand of the player to their left or reveals their hand to show they have no Evidence cards.
* **1x The Maid (3):** Play Mr. Boddy here and you may place this minion on top of your deck OR look at and return or reveal and draw the bottom card of your deck.

#### Actions

* **2x A Clue!:** Choose another player. That player must either discard an Evidence card from their hand or reveal their hand to show they have no Evidence cards.
* **1x Evidence: Candlestick:** Destroy a minion of power 4 or less to give another minion there power equal to the destroyed minion until the end of the turn.
* **1x Evidence: Dagger:** Return a minion of power 4 or less to its owner's hand and draw two cards.
* **1x Evidence: Lead Pipe:** Place a minion of printed power 4 or less on the bottom of its owner's deck.
* **1x Evidence: Revolver:** Destroy a minion of power 4 or less OR Destroy up to three actions on minions and/or bases.
* **1x Evidence: Rope:** Play on a minion of printed power 4 or less. Ongoing: This minion's abilities are canceled, and its power isn't added to it's controller's total power here. Destroy this minion at the start of your turn.
* **1x Evidence: Wrench:** Shuffle a minion of power 4 or less into its owner's deck.
* **1x Murder!:** If Mr. Boddy is not in play, all players must reveal any Evidence cards they have and shuffle them and this card into your deck. If Mr. Boddy is in play, move all of your minions to its base.
* **1x Mysterious Invitation:** Play Mr. Boddy OR Search your deck for a minion of power 4 and draw it.
* **2x Secret Passage:** Play on a base. Ongoing: Once on each player's turn, they may reveal an Evidence card from their hand to move one of their minions to or from here. Your minions here are not affected by other players' actions.

#### Titan

* **Mr. Boddy:** Special: Instead of your regular minion play, you may play this titan on a base where you have no minions. Ongoing: This titan cannot clash. When this titan enters play, all players with Evidence cards in decks/hands/discard piles must reveal and shuffle them together. Starting with the player to your left, place an Evidence card in each player's hand randomly without looking at it until two remain. Randomly place one on the bottom of your deck and the other under this card without looking at them. At the start of each player's turn, they may guess the Evidence under this card. • If they are correct, they gain 1 VP. • If they are incorrect, they lose 1 VP. After, discard all Evidence and this card leaves play.

#### Bases

* **(19) Boddy Manor (3 1 1):** Minions here are not affected by other players' actions. If you have a minion here and Mr. Boddy is in play, you may guess the card placed underneath it at the end of your turn instead of the start.
* **(21) The Hall (4 2 1):** At the start of your turn if you have a minion here, you may discard a card and choose another player to reveal a random card from their hand.

## Clarifications

* **Mr. Boddy:** If this titan leaves play by any means other than its own Ongoing ability (e.g., Into the Time Slip, scoring or destroying a base), Evidence cards are not discarded and remain with the players they were given to until otherwise specified.
* **Murder!:** Although not explicitly specified, players must reveal Evidence cards whether they have them in their hand, deck, or discard pile.

## Strategy

### General

As with any game of *Clue*, this faction's gameplan cannot truly begin until Mr. Boddy enters play, murdered. Clue relies heavily on careful information management and disclosure to win, and often accomplishes this by providing all players different choices with their cards. Because players have to guess the murder weapon at the start of their turn, they must carefully observe what other players choose to reveal on their own turns. As a result, despite each of the Evidence cards being quite powerful, players may be reluctant to play them for fear of giving away valuable information to other players. The Clue player should be cautious as well, because while they have several actions and minion abilities that can force or otherwise motivate other players to reveal Evidence, *everyone* gets this new information. For this reason, Professor Plum is among Clue's most valuable cards and Boddy Manor becomes a desirable base since they allow guessing at the end of the turn, after any new info has been revealed but before other players can take advantage of it.

Astute observers will notice that all of the Clue minions are vulnerable to any of the Evidence cards, and each of the minions of 4 power have abilities potent enough to likely motivate other players to reveal their Evidence cards in order to get rid of them. Professor Plum and Miss Scarlet are undoubtedly the most dangerous minions for opponents to leave in play long-term, so protecting them with the two copies of Secret Passage or partner cards is essential. When running low on minions, Mrs. White can shuffle cards from the discard pile back into the deck unless another player is willing to not only reveal but discard an Evidence card to stop her.

Mr. Green's ability allows him to potentially gain as much as +6 power at once simply by playing Mr. Boddy or Murder!, and he is Clue's best option for a big power drop. If Mr. Boddy is in play, Murder! can also be used to consolidate power on Mr. Boddy's base and break it very suddenly. Be aware, however, that if Mr. Boddy leaves play after a base scores, players get to keep their Evidence cards with impunity.

Finally, Mr. Boddy allows Clue to play with 6 fewer cards to sift through in their deck, which means that despite their lack of extra plays and limited card draw options they have a higher likelihood of drawing into what they need.

### Partner Suggestions

Clue appreciates partners that can give them easier access to opponent hand information as well as factions that can protect and bolster their minions. Despite the fact that so many of their cards rely on Mr. Boddy to fully function, Clue has above-average minion power and with the right partner can potentially brute-force their way into a victory if needed.

#### Published

* **Shapeshifters**
* **Samurai**
* **Anansi Tales**
* **Hydra**
* **Knights of the Round Table**
* **Lion King**

#### Custom

* **Twilight Struggle:** Pairing Clue with Twilight Struggle actually provides players with incentive to intentionally guess the murder weapon incorrectly to manipulate their VP and trigger different Twilight Struggle abilities. Twilight Struggle also provides several cards that force players to reveal their hands, giving Clue more information it needs should they want to correctly guess the Evidence under Mr. Boddy. Finally, the Evidence cards make for powerful dueling options when used in conjunction with Proxy War.