The game of Clue is the classic murder mystery game that rewards deductive logic. It is a classic game like Monopoly that can be found in almost every home. The simple rules make it family friendly and, compared to many classic games, it is surprisingly quick to play. While fun, the game suffers from having very little variation between games. The following variants can add new twists and turns to this fun little mystery game.
Fake Murder – This particular variant only works for five players or fewer. In this variant, after you draw three cards to determine how the murder happened, you draw three more cards, one of each type of card, and also put them off to the side. Make sure to clearly track which is the person, which is the weapon, and which is the room. When you make a suggestion and nobody shows you a card, you may choose to look at one of the three cards for the fake murder, but only if you aren’t holding any of the cards you suggested. This variant makes the murder a little harder to solve and adds more hidden information to the game.
Alternate Suggestion Method – Normally, in order to make a suggestion, you must enter the room you wish to suggest and the murder weapon and token of the character being suggested are moved to the room. In this variant, all weapons are randomly distributed among the rooms at the start of the game, no more than one per room. Then, when you enter a room, your suggestion must include at least one of the room, a weapon in the room, or a character token in the room. Your suggestion does not cause game pieces to move, unless the weapon you suggested is in the room with you. In that case, after your suggestion is complete, the player to your right moves the weapon to a room that doesn’t currently have a weapon in it. This variant makes it easier to suggest, but doesn’t allow you to move opponents around.
Trading – This particular variant shares information more quickly, but also makes it harder to track who holds particular information. In this variant, when you end your turn in a corridor, not a room, you may choose to trade a card with the player to your right. First you hand them one of your cards and then they hand you one of their cards, other than the card you just gave them.
Simplified Movement – In this variant, the dice are removed from the game completely. In order to move, you simply move to any adjacent room or use a secret passageway. This speeds up the game significantly and removes the variable benefit of good luck from die rolls.
One Accusation – This particular variant only works if all players agree to be good sports about it. If you announce that you want to make an accusation, you and all other players immediately write down your accusation. Then, the cards are revealed and all accusations are compared to the actual murder. Anyone who is correct wins. If all players are wrong the murderer gets away and everyone loses.
