| Swiss Travel Cluedo Game - Copyright 1963 / 1972 |
| Monsieur Cluedo/Herr Kludo, owner of the boarding house, Bellevue, has been murdered in this bi-lingual travel edition game from Switzerland. The game is played on a small, foldable board without the use of hall spaces to move around the mansion - which finally includes a bedroom and bathroom! The artwork of the game is sufficiently bizarre with a psychotic group of suspects which deviate from the norm. | |
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The entire game looks like a miniture version of the original, measuring only about 4.5 by 7 inches. The artwork, however, stands larger than life with a group of bizarre suspects that deviate from the norm. Though their names and colors have changed, the basic personalities have remained:
Evelyne Rose, the red token, is obviously Miss Scarlet with her diva-like posing. Here she is a blonde, again with a cigarette holder, but she wears a blue dress on the box. She does, however, have red fingernails. Her suspect card is the first ever to bear a first name! Colonel Mustard is represented by another military figure, Capitano/Capitaine Azzurro. As the name suggests, he is the blue token. The anchor on his hat proves that he is the captain of a ship, but whether he actually works for the navy or Herr Kludo/Monsieur Cluedo is unknown. Fraulein Weiss, in her apron and red dress, is the Mrs. White-esqe servant figure. A wooden spoon sticks out of her dress suggesting her cooking duties. She is also holding a hurricane lamp, suggesting the power has gone out - the perfect scenario for murder. The fact that she retains her German heritage in both languages gives her mystique, but with her wide grin, and unfortunate shadowing, the Frauline Weiss card is perhaps the most disturbing of any edition! Dr. Dunkel is a black token in this game, but probably represents the Mr. Green character - which has been a doctor in other editions. He does, however, wear a bow tie which is reminiscent of Professor Plum as well. He looks rather normal, though on the box, his eyes are closed! Perhaps he is acknowledging whatever the beautiful Evelyne Rose is saying. The yellow token is the elderly Madame Curry who must be Mrs. Peacock with her expensive looking dress, jewelery, and, of course, teacup which she holds in other editions as well. Her name is too similar to the famous Madame Currie, which makes her feel less interesting. Professor/Professeur Verde, the green token, is obviously Professor Plum with his studious looking hair, glasses and pipe. His clothes in this edition, especially the brown polka dot tie, visually date the game the most. The weapon cards continue the realistic visual nature of the game with photographs of the weapons that try to remain true to the shape of the playing pieces. These cards, however, are not labeled! Some interesting aspects to note are: the interesting ornate pattern of the dagger, the grease smudges of the wrench, and the pistol's engravings which reveal that it was made in Italy with the serial number M23250. Interestingly, the full-sized edition of this game was typically produced in French, German and Italian. Italian was dropped in this edition, but the gun's serial number is very reminiscent of that fact. The room cards show the entire floorplan of the house which was the norm for the European editions. With the Hall changed to a Library in this edition, however, the orientation of the map is skewed horizontally instead of vertically. The game finally includes a bathroom and a bedroom, too! The Conservator, though it has moved locations, is once again a Music Room. The Ballroom and Hall have been removed. Though the doors don't matter in this edition, they have changed locations in many rooms. Also, interestingly, the Bathroom is larger than the Kitchen! The shape of the original Ballroom and Kitchn have been enlarged on one side to take up more space on the board. The suspect playing tokens are round pices of wood with the suspect image on top. For some reason, there is a new image on the yellow and green tokens. The new Verde photograph looks horrified. Curry looks less so. The weapon tokens are gold colored except for the rope which is real rope and the lead pipe which, fittingly, is a silverish metal color. Why the purple token has been changed to black is anybody's guess. Overall, while this ediition's artwork is quite realistic and does a good job of evoking the atmosphere of a horrific murder, it lacks the elegant nature of the drawn editions. |
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