CLUE SUSPECTS (2006)

CLICK ON THE THUMBNAILS TO OPEN THE LARGER PICTURE

I'd seen this game a few times, but in German and called CLUEDO Ratselfalle. I nearly bought it but knew I wouldn't have understood the instructions so waited and eventually found an American version on Ebay. Lucky I waited as it all depends on reading instructions & clues.

A first for CLUEDO is that this a game for one player only.

There is no game board but a stand up Mansion with six rooms. The rooms are on a 6 pictured card that fits into the mansion and has rooms depicted on either side which gives 12 in total. There are also 2 slots in each room into which you fit the playing pieces.

There are eleven character pieces and one dead body playing piece. There are the normal six CLUEDO characters plus Lady Lavender, Prince Azure, Mrs. Meadow Brook, Rusty & The Butler.

There are 60 mysteries to solve and these come on cards which reveal on one side clues as to the whereabouts of the suspects in the mansion at the time of the murder and on the reverse side, the solution. The first 30 cases are on blue cards and use the first side of the rooms card. These rooms are the Dining Room, Ballroom, Lounge, Kitchen, Conservatory & Library.

The card always tells you where to place the dead body as in the above example and the suspect placed in that room will be the murderer. The card also tells you which suspects were in the mansion at the time. When you have followed all the clues and placed all the suspects in the mansion you can then turn the card over to check your solution. The example below is not the answer to the above card just in case anyway reading this has this game and does not wish to know the solution.

The puzzles do get increasingly more difficult as play continues. Cases 31 - 60 are on red cards and use the other side of the rooms card. These rooms are The Billiard Room, Study, Dressing Room, Wine Cellar, Hall & Rose Garden. Play is exactly the same but the clues are harder.

So that's basically it. A great solo game of CLUEDO and for someone like me who enjoys logic problems this is the best of both worlds. There are only two small niggles (as usual). There are only 60 puzzles and when they are done you long for new ones. However, at least if you do leave it a while and go over them again in a different order it's highly unlikely that you would remember the solutions. The only other small niggle is that on one of the first 20 puzzles I found that I had placed the murderer successfully but i had two characters left over (Mustard & Green) and I knew they were both on the same floor (The Kitchen & The Library) but could not work out which one went where. I kept re-reading the clues to see if I had missed anything but to no avail. Eventually I turned over the card to see the solution. I had placed the murderer correctly but the solution stated that the Kitchen contained Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green OR Colonel Mustard and the Library contained The Butler, Mr. Green OR Colonel Mustard so be warned, future players of this game, you will always be able to place the murderer but on a few occasions you will have to place some of the innocent parties in an either/or room situation.

But a great little game nonetheless. Below is the back of the game box.

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