Weapons Descriptions

[Murder by Death]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the first Cluedo edition to include descriptions of the suspects and rooms was the Franklin Mint in 1996.

Not sure which came first, since the 1996 UK Cluedo edition also included descriptions. However, I think the UK edition was the first to include descriptions of the weapons.

So, were the 1996 & 2000 UK editions the only ones to include descriptions of the weapons?

I think descriptions of the suspects have been standard in all editions since the 50th Anniversary edition. Yet I don't think any other editions have included room and weapons descriptions since the UK 2000 edition, except Super Cluedo in 2006 (which weren't so much descriptions as scene setting).

I really enjoyed reading the descriptions of the rooms and weapons on the UK Cluedo editions, as I did the room descriptions of the FM edition – in fact it's almost hard to believe they skipped the opportunity there to provide detailed descriptions about the weapons ... perhaps they were worn out after the elaborate room descriptions.

If so, it's too bad they dropped these elements from the game.

So, who exactly do we have to thank for the current descriptions we enjoy today? The Franklin Mint, Waddingtons, or (gulp) Hasbro which owned Cluedo lock, stock & barrel at that point?

[cyanideIlovecyanide]

Clue Master Detective included suspect descriptions as early as 1988. The accompanying booklet had lengthy biographies of each of the 10 characters.

The rooms and weapons did not get the same treatment. However, each playing card did have short blurb related to each room or weapon. (The suspect cards did as well.)

[Murder by Death]

Clue Master Detective included suspect descriptions as early as 1988.

Ah, thanks for that. I thought I checked the MD instructions I have, but I guess not. They are clearly there.

However, each playing card did have short blurb related to each room or weapon.

I mentioned that this was present in the 2006 Super Cluedo edition, but the same applies to the original, I don't really consider these to be descriptions, more scene setting.

That said, It would appear Parker Brothers innovated the idea of detailed descriptions of the suspects for Clue in 1988, as well as the idea of captioning all of the playing elements in some way.

The Franklin Mint then was the first to add detailed descriptions to the rooms and the first to add character descriptions to Cluedo in 1996.

And Waddintons was the first to add descriptions of the weapons to Cluedo also in 1996, but I don't believe they have ever been added to an edition of Clue.

Strangely enough, while the US MD had the character descriptions, the 1991 french edition did not, nor does it appear the 2001-2006 editions did either.

And isn't it interesting that these kinds of descriptions remained in the realm of "deluxe" games for 8 years, only becoming a de facto part of the standard edition of Cluedo as Waddingtons changed their game for the first time in 47 years? Think they were overcompensating? Interestingly it took another 6 years to became part of the standard US Clue editions, by which time they dropped the room and weapons descriptions altogether.


Out of curiosity, as Super Challenge Cluedo was the first expansion game in 1986, did the instructions make any mention of the expansion characters to explain them? I'm guessing Michael would have detailed that on the Super Challenge page if they had, but it sure seems odd to introduce 3 new characters without any background for it at all – then again, we probably wouldn't all still wonder where Capt. Brown came from.