Clue

We now play "Clue!" regularly. It's a great family game. Now that our children are beyond "Candyland" and "Chutes and Ladders" we are happy to move on to games like this one.

Just in case you've been off planet for the past 30 years or so, here's how the game works:

Up to 6 players roll a dice and move their marker around a board that represents a mansion as they seek out which person in the game was the murderer, what the murder weapon was, and which room the murder was committed in. If you are clever enough maybe you'll be the first one to figure out "who done it!"

A great family game (as long as you don't think about the murder aspect too much), and the game's never the same twice...and if it is you'll never know until it's all over.

"Clue!" is a timeless classic that is destined to be around for a long, long time!

Good luck, and pass the rope, er...popcorn

Alan Holyoak

The purpose of "Clue" is to find out who murdered Mr. Boddy. Was it Mrs. Peacock in the Conservatory with the Wrench? Or was it Mr. Green in the Lounge with the Candlestick? Perhaps it was Ms. Scarlett in the Library with the Rope? With so many people, places and objects to choose from, figuring who did the dirty deed, where he or she did it, and what he or she did it with can be mind-boggling.

I was playing with seasoned veterans the first time I played it, so of course I got murdered (no pun intended again) the first couple of times I played it. But I'll explain how to avoid this below.

Fun: This game is a lot of fun once you catch on. It can quickly become addictive, which I think is what happened to me. After every game I was like, "Let's play again!" when everyone else had had enough. When I win for the first time, then enough will be enough. But until then . . .

Educational Value: Definitely a game that will make you think, not to mention strategize. Here's a tip on how NOT to get hammered the first couple of times you play. Don't focus in on just one thing at once. The mistake I made was trying to focus in on just who did it, for example, while everyone else was taking equal stabs at who did it, where, and with what. By the time you figure out who did it, someone else has already figured out everything else. Then it's like, "Well, hey now, wait a minute. I haven't even begun to start working out where the murder took place and what the murder was done with." That is my advice. That's experience talking, folks.

Durability: This game is pretty durable. It's your standard board game with cards and a single dice. Just as long as the dog or something doesn't decide to use it for a chew toy, I think you'll be all right.

In short, give "Clue" a try. It's definitely a challenge, one that I haven't figured out yet, and it has enough twists and turns to keep you hooked for hours. The game changes every time you play, so it's not like you're ever going to get bored with it.

Don't continue to be "clue-less" like I was (okay, now THAT was a pun)!

Clue is an indelible, if very minor, pop culture icon that most people who were kids any time in the last 20 years or so will identify with- between the game and the movie, if you say Colonel Mustard did it in the library with the candlestick to someone and they don't catch the reference, you should immediately try to compensate for their deprived childhood by ordering them their own copy of this game.