How many times have you taken down Clue from the high shelf of your board games armoire, wiped the dust off of the cover, and thought to yourself, "I would play this, but it just feels so old?" Hundreds? Well, it's easy to see why. Clue hasn't been updated for the 21st century, which is the century we're currently living in. Just look at the weapons: A wrench, a candlestick, and a lead pipe? Those are the ways your grandpa's board game characters would bludgeon each other. Where is the game that speaks to the way board game characters bludgeon each other today? Thankfully, it has arrived.
"We wanted something that the mom or dad who's bringing home for the family [could say], 'This is what I remember, and this is what I want to play with my kids,' " [game designer] Daviau says. "At the same time, we wanted something the kids would feel like it belonged to them. And this is something that's very appealing to them. So we tried to blend those two worlds. It plays like Clue, it feels like Clue, but it just feels like Clue that would have been created in the 21st century."
For example: in the 21st century, mansions have guesthouses and home theaters to serve as murder locations, and potential murderers have bios (as well as first names). But the biggest change in the board game seems to be in the selection of weapons.
Instead of six (rope, candlestick, lead pipe, revolver, wrench, and knife), there are now nine, and each one is a reflection of the way we live now, in the 21st century:
The candlestick and the rope are still there because we love vintage. Using either of those weapons is almost an homage to board game character killers of the past. The knife is now a chef's knife, reflecting the societal shift to high-quality cookware, and the revolver is now a pistol, mostly because sawed-off shotguns are too cumbersome. The baseball bat and the ax reflect our fast-paced, hurried lifestyle: who has time to kill someone with a lead pipe nowadays? The dumbell illustrates that the quest for fitness can often turn deadly (very dark, Hasbro), while the trophy simply hammers home the point that everyone in the aughts has been the recipient of a meaningless award. I'm not sure what weapon that gray cylinder is supposed to be, but considering that this is the 21st century Clue, I'm going with a can of Red Bull spiked with Drano. Personally, I would have rounded the 21st century weapon count up to ten with the addition of an Internet Predator, or Crate Full Of Trans Fats, but these weapons are a good start.
"Cassandra Scarlet in the Home Theater with the Emmy," has a nice, modern ring to it.