Is Cluedo... Actually Good?

Yes, yes, also known as 'Clue' in the US.
For more Actually Good videos, click here: • Actually Good? | No Ro...
#BoardGames #Tabletop #Clue
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[@FatherTime89]

The player elimination part of Cluedo doesn't bother me at all. 99% of them time when someone makes an accusation they either know what it is or they've narrowed it down to 2 or 3 possibilities and are convinced another player is going to figure it out on their next turn so they're willing to risk. If you're making an accusation after you've only eliminated 2 suspects, a couple rooms and 3 weapons then that means you're playing it really badly.

[@yoshimajestic1666]

Out of all the old school mainstream board games Cluedo has to be my favourite. It's one flaw is solved by just allowing players to move to whichever room they like, no dice involved.

[@xxPenjoxx]

This is how we play

[@Alvarito205]

So no need for tabletop, no dice, no figures. Just buy the Cluedo card game

[@NaThingSerious]

Why is that a flaw, I always liked that as it added some other form of strategy, you have to plan where you are going to ask the necessary questions, sometimes your plans are disrupted by a bad throw and you need to adapt, sometimes you had to be clever about how you move, using the secret passageways and finding the shortest route and it could be fun when you and someone else have both got the answer and are in a race to the centre, it also meant you had to try and disguise how close you were to the answer; if someone knew you knew it, they could get to the centre and guess before you, so you have to try and secretly get closer to the centre so no one else guesses before you.

[@Kumagoro42]

You don't have to eliminate movement entirely, just eliminate dice and assign fixed movement points to each character.

[@martayharmay]

Saw a good rule change to get around roll n move, which was implemented on the old CD-ROM game. Every player has 9 action points per turn. Moving one space = 1 point. Accuse, suggest or use secret passage way = 3 points. If you use any 3 point action, then you can't use any more 1 point actions. So you could still do passage way and then suggest, if you like :)

[@RedVandalf]

Can we get a is Risk actually good please?

[@NoRollsBarred]

LUKE: It is on the list for this year :)

[@kurtpaulsen6579]

Is Axis and Allies really good would be cool too...

[@phatmachismo6709]

@@NoRollsBarred If the answer isn't yes, I'm going to start a riot.

[@ThisHandleIsVeryCleverYepSure]

I have risk. Now I’m hyped

[@teratoma.]

@@phatmachismo6709 u mean if thr answer isnt no lmao risk is dogshit

[@MrPaulcappo]

I still have Clue: The Great Museum Caper from when I was a kid. It’s a pretty fun little hidden movement game where someone is a thief stealing paintings and the others are trying to catch him before he escapes

[@MagiusDel]

My most epic moment in my long history of playing Clue was introducing the Master Detective version of the game (same basic rules, but with significantly more weapons, rooms, and suspects), and guessed two of the three items on my first turn (using my usual strategy of keeping one item that I know is in my hand), then getting the third on my second. But that's not the reason I love the game. It's a good game on its surface - you have to suss out what happened, and slowly figuring out more and more information can be very fun and engaging. However, it really starts shining when you take it to the next level, and start gathering information based on what the other players are passing around. It's enormously rewarding when you surprise the other players with a correct guess before they've even narrowed down a single item and they have no idea how you pulled it off. The roll and move is not ideal, but there is a surprising amount of meat there if you know how to dig into it, and the amount of information you can get from the other players without them realizing it means that you're engaged through the entire game, even if you're not able to get from room to room effectively.

[@NaThingSerious]

After a few times playing with my sister (who isn’t very good at strategy games) I could read her like a book, she would always just guess things she didn’t have and so it was very easy to get information from her.

[@advictoriam3106]

Great launch of the channels new name! Always look forward to these in-depth history videos of board games. "Is...actually good?" and Adams history videos (the WWII Monopoly and the Ungame videos) are always absolute winners. Thanks for the work you all do and hope it keeps going. Now please bring back CBW one shots, I miss it far too much and need to know if Rick and Dangerzone are safe wherever or whenever they are

[@foxokon94]

I remember playing a really old version of Cluedo at my parents cabin when I was a kid, so old it only had 1 die and was called Scotland Yard. Was by far the most involved boardgame we had at the time, though it stays on the shelf these days.

[@LFPS0311]

Ayyyyyeeee that Holt reference on POINT, bald Adam.

[@NoRollsBarred]

LUKE: Thanks!

[@johnnyb.jabroni983]

Cluedo huh? Tim Curry in a butler costume begs to differ, my good man

[@NoRollsBarred]

LUKE: It's still Cluedo to me, dammit.

[@AresSG]

@@NoRollsBarred The box in my closet begs to differ.

[@matthewschmidt3912]

@@AresSG the box in mine begs to differ.

[@PrizeJ]

@@matthewschmidt3912 Well the box in MINE, begs to differ.

[@IslandPride316]

I love the actually good series... wish there was a bit more “science” begin it though lol

[@aztecwrrior1997]

I get the reference wow

[@jonmel]

This is why I love Luke videos , always get great movie references

[@jordanphilip5160]

"Who has done this?" Killed me.

[@chuges]

Been waiting for this one!

[@dripsoup6639]

I had the Simpsons' Clue as a kid. I also had the Simpsons' Chess for that matter. Hmm, this series might just be games that I had Simpsons versions of as a kid.

[@MrSamBerrett1]

You can always just play without the 'teleport the suspect into the room ' rule though?

[@doctorwhofans3688]

Another great one Luke

[@thefive8th741]

I have the Discover the Secrets board from 2008 and despite the branding of it being a bit hokey, it's actually quite a fun time. In this version, they added intrigue cards, which can be played to benefit yourself or cripple another player's chances of winning. You can add 6 to your dice roll, shut down someone's accusation, send someone back to their starting space, just to name a few. Having said that, one of the dice has a question mark on it instead of the number 1. If you roll the question mark, you have to draw an intrigue card and you can't move unless you draw something like "take another turn". The characters also have certain abilities written on their character cards, which can speed up the game or again, hurt the opponents. For example, you can use an ability to throw out two accusations, you can see a card that someone had just shown someone else, among others. Scattered among the intrigue cards are also 8 clock cards, so you're also in a race against time. The first seven are drawn during the game and set aside. If the final card is drawn, then the player that draws the final clock card has been "killed off" by the murderer. The last clock card goes back into the intrigue deck and it's drawn by everyone, it's essentially last man standing wins. Technically though, no one wins as well because no one solved the murder.

[@benjaminrosa1418]

Adam needed to be using Professor Plum in that Cluedo game. You know why.

[@jacobboaden2213]

Impressive reference 👍

[@nick-playercharacter8583]

Professor Plumpy.

[@jamesporter2542]

When you say you have to go to the centre of the board to make your accusation, that's not really the case. After checking the rules about accusing, I've found 2 rules: 1. You have to be in the room you think the murder took place 2. You can make an accusation at the end of your turn (no matter where you are) My main house rule is that you can make your accusation in any location (unless I'm playing a version like DVD, SFX, Discover the Secrets) But you have to be in a location, you can't make an accusation in the corridor

[@damhnaitcockburn2970]

Several years ago a friend and I took a pack of playing cards and did alter them with the names, items and rooms. We added the extra characters and items so that there was 10 of each. We still played with the board, but it added more challenge. I can totally see how it could work better as just a card game.

[@christiananimepunk4793]

They actually made a card game version of Cluedo.

[@xxPenjoxx]

Secret Austrian Painter is my favourite thing I've heard today

[@brianbommarito3376]

The full name of the murder victim (in both UK and US) should be John Boden “Boddy” Black. Having a doctorate is optional. I think we really missed out over here in the States by calling him “Mr. Boddy” instead of “Dr. Boddy.” For some strange reason, it tickles my funny bone more if the doctor who would typically examine the victim is also the corpse.

[@shrapnelsponge]

I played a Downton Abbey Cluedo version at Xmas and it had additional rules in. I would recommend looking at that one and seeing what you think!

[@SPACKlick]

Version of cluedo I enjoy playing is you have the people and tokens on the board and you can move one and only one piece to any room on the board and then make an accusation using a person and weapon in the room they are in on the board. So there's still some tactical movement but no randomness.

[@smithyboi9041]

There is a Cluedo card game that is pretty similar to what Adam and Laurie suggested. Also, I have the exact same crappy knockoff version of Cluedo as Luke has and when I first opened it I thought it was a joke from my cousin who got me it for Christmas as i didn't have a proper version of the game anymore, so it seems that knockoff is incredibly common. Lastly, this was a great video, love the Actually Good series on this channel and PFK.

[@RealPokemonJoe]

can some one tell me how Dr. Orchid got her Doctorate if she got expelled from boarding school

[@afp75]

I play this a lot on steam. the version on the pc compared to the phone is that the deduction sheet is visible the whole time.

[@michaelangus5602]

Tbh I do like the modern version that you mentioned before the most recent, just as much fun as the original but it is fantastic playing with an original version

[@DavidGreen_au]

Maybe the roll for movement could be discarded for room to room movement, ie. for movement, just nominate which adjacent (or linked) room you want to move to instead, for example, from the lounge, movement could be to the Hall, the Dinning Room, or the Conservatory. This would eliminate the instance of being stuck outside a room. But there would still be a movement factor for drama. For instance, again, moving from the Dinning to the Ball Room would require a stop-over in the Kitchen.

[@Alucard-A-La-Carte]

Kinda feels like Cluedo could be fixed just by giving everyone a set of move tokens to spend every turn. Treat it like always rolling a 7 on two dice, and it might go a little slower, but it'll probably feel a lot less random, especially in races to rooms.

[@simonlopezosorio315]

will be good one is actually good with risk, the beginning of majorities and war games, great video, very complete, in information, analysis and quality in general, thanks.

[@Veggieman87]

...I'm only now noticing that Luke's "off to the side" shots are in a completely different setup from the face-on shots. Now that's commitment.

[@cruzdoesstuff]

Wish I knew you guys needed a copy. I am in the US but wouldve sent one of my 3 copies, maybe even my version from 1965. Edit: Also, may I suggest Tabletop Simulator for trying out games in lockdown

[@hazrover]

Wow, Blampied's hair grew back pretty fast!

[@ryanscherer9089]

You got king of Tokyo too wow!!!! 0:55

[@richmccann2052]

I agree with the idea that Clue/do is a card game and would be better if that were the case with a few rules to smooth that out.

[@Shavinderyt]

Didn't know you had to pick and stay with a character. We always played where you could move any character or weapon freely with your dice movements, and could make accusations with whatever character and weapon were in a room. and the final accusation could be made wherever. I think this way removed that race to the center hall and instead focused on players making more choice accusations.

[@thenewnormaljerryslaughter7879]

Hell yes to the Powerline tee!!!

[@dan7845]

Another game that takes the deduction thing a bit further is Incognito. However, I have not been able to find that anywhere for ages.

[@killyndorio7718]

We had the Museum Caper and I remember liking it better

[@loqkLoqkson]

it seems to me that, a house rule of "you can move up to 6 places" would remove the luck, and make it more skill based. you could plan your route more, and if the final accusation came down to a race to the room, it would be the previous moves by all players that determined the winner, not luck. Of course, the luck part might help younger players win more often against more experienced players, levelling the playing field that way.

[@yashianaria5286]

This is my favorite game, so there is alot of words to try to explain my expirence was different than what I am hearing in this video. Whenever my family and I play Clue/ Cluedo, we use a dice as a marker so we could teleport the player back after the guesses. (Based on how teleporting back wasn't a thing I wonder if I could have prolonged a game on purpose if I knew) I don't know if the sercret passages aren't in your verison, but they help alot with getting across the board for me. (Might be miss remembering but 1 to 2 great rolls to change rooms and maybe there are more doors on the verison my family has. So much so we decide if we can go through closed doors each game) How I get more than my fair share of information with my brother, we would both use the whole clue guessing sheet marking what players might have given each other. (granted I mostly played 3 player games, though I have tried and failed playing single player multiple times) And I almost always chose Miss Scarlet and accuse her almost every chance I got. Sometimes it is just good to prove you are or are not the murder in game. I love this game so much that we used lego and paper print outs to add more weapons, characters, and one singluar room. Thank you for whoever reads this.

[@DJchilcott]

We had a version of the gameshow here in Australia as well. Also early 90s, so must not have been long after the UK original.

[@dougfancy101290]

This is my favorite board game!

[@warever37]

You should've tried it on Steam; it's amazing there, and the notepad is always visible.

[@BroudbrunMusicMerge]

I read Clue books all the time when I was young

[@WebMonkey741]

There is a Clue... ahem... 'Cluedo' version where each player gets 9 movement points every turn. Each square costs you 1 point, and a guess/accusation costs you 3. It's a great way to alleviate the dreaded "damn it! not another F#CKING 1!!!!".

[@ajh22895]

There is a funny part of getting it wrong when you are the killer (or not knowing)

[@TheLomdr]

There is a card game that's like clue(do) but with none of the annoyances called 13 clues. Everyone is racing to solve their own murder mystery but there are some clues that cross over. How it's done is that it is a head band game with shields, which makes it easier to hide your own notepad, but of course no head bands required. It scales so that every player starts with 13 clues marked off on their sheet. I wish to play it but it hasn't come up yet thanks to large game nights before the pandemic

[@Brodysseus]

Secret Austrian Painter! Love it.

[@maxryder9321]

When my family would play (Simpson version) we quickly abolished the dice rolling, in favour of being allowed to move to any adjacent room (including passageways). And I think eventually we just played you can go anywhere

[@aztecwrrior1997]

I like this series

[@domdombear]

I have played a clue card game which takes out all the movement. Really made the game move faster.

[@justinehercthehuman]

The player elimination being a bugger should also be mentioned when talking about Deception: Murder in Hong Kong which people such as me very much like.

[@TomGoymour]

Totally agree about it making a better card game than board game although, because it is set in a place ... we kind of have to have the place! I'm making a solo card game version where your board is a computer graphic and is just a way you record what has happened.

[@slothdance2020]

They did make a clue card game that is pretty fun.

[@FunkyMrChicken]

I used to always wonder, If I'm Professor Plum, and I'm just "plumb"-ing around, looking for clues, and then it turns out the murderer is Professor Plum, do I have to "confess" to the murder to win?

[@Alvarito205]

The character you choose is just cosmetic. Obviously yea

[@chaosof99]

I already posted about this on one of Adam's collection starter videos, but I think this is the more appropriate venue for it. I would like to ask for an episode on the board game Terraforming Mars, because I just don't get its popularity. I thought I would like it since I am usually a sucker for its theme of hard sci-fi, but I played two games of it and came away unimpressed. Actually the first game was a complete disaster with the three of us being repeatedly confused by the attrocious graphic design (icon overload despite having to print the rules text on the cards anyhow), and some confusing mechanics. It also left a bad taste in the mouth due to high-impact cards that mess with other players that seem very arbitrary. The second game I played a couple months later was better, partially because we played with the actual companies instead of the blanks that the game recommends for beginners, thus giving you a direction from the start. However, even there the game was kind of stale, particularly due to the game-end mechanic requiring active actions, so players who are behind have no interest in actually ending the game. It seems to me that the game would work better with a turn-limit. In addition to this, the game seems overpriced, running 60 to 70€ where I live, for a rather cheaply produced board, set of cards, player sheets and tiles. The only noticeable thing are the metal cubes that is used for currency, but IMHO that is putting the emphasis in the wrong spots when considering the game also uses plastic cubes as territory markers for players. The game doesn't even come with an inlay for the box to keep the components in place, and that just screams poor production quality. I just really don't get why so many people love this game, or why it has been very near the top of the BoardGameGeek charts for so long.

[@callum1327]

Guessing I’m not the only one who got that Raymond Holt

[@NoRollsBarred]

LUKE: Well spotted :)

[@AmariieMaerthos]

I see Luke has the Kickstarter bonus box for the Resident Evil 2 board game. I wonder if he backed RE3 as well. I did and got the RE2 stuff as an add-on

[@fineillbookitmyself1954]

Cluedo was killed by Awkward Guests, in the rules department, with a companion app.

[@ishoottheyscore8970]

It had an accomplice, Small Detectives which is a much more palatable deduction game for younger players - between the two of them, you have Cluedo completely replaced for all age groups (Small Detectives is a pretty good filler game for adults because of how you use the movement cards)

[@TheSpargament]

Let's goo. Was in a theater adaptation of the movie many years ago lol.

[@NoRollsBarred]

LUKE: Oh wow! That's so cool!

[@TheSpargament]

@@NoRollsBarred Was amazing, but for getting miscast as Colonel Mustard and not Mr. Boddy, but I still really enjoyed it. Was very well adapted. Better than the musical lmao. We did also have three endings which was nice, especially because they weren't ALL *insert McMahon reveal as higher power gif* Professor Plum.

[@stayfaded69]

I had the simpson one. I like the cosplay the characters did. Lost homer and two cards and couldn't play again

[@stevencowan37]

I'm glad it was explained where "Cluedo" came from and why it didn't translate to the US that way. That always bugged me a little, but not enough to actually research.

[@intergalactic92]

I always like the fact that they feel the need to change names for different audiences, as if we need to know the etymology to be interested.…. What difference does it make? I didn’t know that it was a mixture of Clue and Ludo. It never put me off. Would people really look at the name and go "oh I don’t know why they stuck 'do' on the end of Clue so I’m not going to buy it."

[@andrewwolfgang7461]

We had a shit ton of those books

[@kingrex1931]

The only bad element id the dice rolling mechanic. You should just be able to go to whatever room you want to.

[@Kindlesmith70]

I like the sega genesis version. The clues your are provided are a little more fun. For example, information such as, "The candlestick was not in the kitchen", and "nobody was in the lounge", could not be given in the board game version. This would provide combinations, but not if the stated character, room or item were in someones hand.

[@Jynxedkitten]

There is a clue (couldn't find a copy with the actual name cluedo) the card game where it is literally just the cards. BUT and it's a big but, the publishers screwed up. They reduced the number of cards, originally 21 clues, down to 12, and the rule states 'on your turn ask for 2 clues' instead of all three. So it's pretty easy to tell what cards are being shown if you have one of them already. They also did away with the notebook instead giving you a hand of all the cards and you just put them aside as you eliminate them. We were pretty dissapointed. So we just took the cards out of cluedo, grabbed the notebook sheets and played without the board. Much better. I genuinely don't think I'll use the cards or the rules from the card game.

[@electrodyne1899]

Hey how's the Ghostbusters game?

[@bubblemaximus6500]

Perhaps check out Awkward Guests. Cluedo for the modern age, without the need for a board.

[@seandunne9048]

Always wondered where 'Clue' came from. 😀

[@AdamPearsonVideos]

Please don’t shit on Cluedo!!!

[@brianbommarito3376]

I don’t know, I kind’ve like the name “Clue-cheesi.”

[@chippedfrost6776]

There IS a card game, maybe NBR gives it a shot?

[@MrThrowUps]

Luke steals the show once again! good one!

[@Cassapphic]

I grew up with the 2008 version and it was one of my favourite board games, but this newer version looks better as it doesn’t have the stupid mechanic where you can only make a final guess by returning back to the center, and the 2008 version had a gigantic board.

[@calemr]

Like many movies, in Cluedo, the black guy dies first.

[@loke6664]

Yeah, it is better then monopoly. The game have some weird logic, like why you don't know everything if you are the murderer (and still win if you catch yourself) and that certain weapons would make it rather clear in which room the murder took place unless someone spent a whole lot of time cleaning up the blood. I do think they could shrink the number you need to switch between the different rooms though. Elimination isn't a huge problem since unless you are stupid and make a huge gamble, even if you are wrong the game is almost over anyways. If you want to go in and make it a full board game you should instead have to go and collect the clues all over the board, when you just start with them it is as Adam said and just a card game masking as a board game.

[@aztecwrrior1997]

So clue is a boardgame version of Among Us im guessing

[@willymon4764]

Hey Luke, IT'S NERF OR NOTHING!

[@GreatGamerPony]

If you're good at mashing up boardgames, one of the best ones is mixing Cluedo and Partners. Taking out the dice and replacing them with the Partners-cards really makes for a more strategic and hectic game.

[@Brodysseus]

Ooh! There's an idea. Do a version of Clue like Monopoly Deal. Same basic concept but a card game.

[@ishoottheyscore8970]

This game has players trading cards instead of moving, and it also has a bit more description about the murder (such as motive) boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/188866/awkward-guests

[@intergalactic92]

My feeling on this is soured by the fact that I could never win. I was always the youngest so I was always the slowest to make any deduction…… also my sister used to cheat…..

[@QT5656]

13:30 yes but you can also drag players that are close to winning into the wrong room so they are also at the mercy of further dice rolls. Mwahahahaha!

[@kurtpaulsen6579]

I recently found a complete used copy of Clue Master Detective at a thrift store near me... For 2 dollars.... Insta buy, honestly.

[@CSPRING101]

Would Clue be better as a card game?

[@oliverparker9940]

Cluedo the card game does sound good

[@MrBrknsyt]

I hope the Pandemic ends soon so that you can play legacy games and show us.

[@thebestame3582]

Cluedo was one of the easiest games to get my casual family into. Which is why I love it so much... well they're slowly learning it... for some reason my aunt thinks I'm always cheating so thats a thing

[@sheeno126]

I’d be interested for you guys to do one of these on another game like monopoly that is just abhorrent

[@ishoottheyscore8970]

They've done Monopoly kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIGXf62hocqoma8 Trivial Pursuit or Ludo I think would be the classic games that inspire the most rage/hatred!

[@danddjacko]

Awkward Guests has taken over from Cludo for me

[@TBLIVIN]

Yeah the app version really lacks the charm. Smaller area, no shortcuts. I strongly disagree that the movement is bad though. There isn't enough meat on the deduction bone if you aren't moving around imo.

[@CollaredCougar]

Cluedo as a card game? Was done decades ago - Sid Sackson created Sleuth which is Cluedo as a card game, And I believe it is better than Cluedo.

[@NinjazFTW1312]

I havent watched the vid yet, but upon seeing the thumbnail, why did they make Professor Plum hotter

[@bengibson3298]

Cluedo? It Appears I Haven't Learned Everything About The British In American School 😱😱😱

[@aaroncollins6411]

I'm still waiting for an Atmosfear review.

[@Trevin_Taylor]

That would be a Nightmare.

[@SG5002.]

The version of cluedo with the board sounds really weird to me. Me an my family have always played a version where the number of dice you get corresponda to how many rooms you can move It sounds really tiring to do otherwise

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

That's more or less the card version, but with dice. You completely skip the bits about having to be in specific rooms to ask about them and the whole game is much more focused on the parts that people generally like.

[@oathkeeper65]

Hey. Clue the musical is great.

[@ishoottheyscore8970]

Is it actually good? It has some very good ideas, but was caught out by the idea that dice was the right way to control movement, and that has tanked the game badly (at least if you're aware of alternatives - I find a lot of people don't get why roll and move is an issue until they play something without it...). For me, you can replace it with Awkward Guests (an app or the rulebook details all the cards you need so it has many separate cases) where players trade cards instead of moving, and if you do use the app, then you can allow players to make wrong guests. The cards also have a much stronger narrative sense, and a scalable difficulty so you might need to identify an accomplice. If that sounds too tricky for younger players, there is also the really fun filler game (almost pocket sized) called Small Detectives - players move around a tiny octagonal city with 6 houses, a police station and a pub. In each house there is a weapon or suspect that gets exonerated, and at the pub you can ask a player if they have seen a certain weapon or suspect, and you have to get to the police station to make the allegation. You use cards to move around, and can only look in a house if no other player shares the space with you. The cards you play then get passed to the next player so you have some idea of how other players can move (letting older players try to be a bit tricky). Those games in combination kill Cluedo for me, for all age ranges, and that's before you get on to something like Coup as a pure deduction/bluffing game, or Chronicles of Crime as an extremely narrative approach to a murder mystery (though I'd say the cases are a bit expensive for what amounts to an app expansion for an hour's worth of gameplay) When is the Deduction Game Collection Starter video coming?...

[@ishoottheyscore8970]

PS - there is a Clue: World Of Harry Potter that introduces more ways to move around between locations and seems to have fewer steps to move anyway - if you do get together for a physical play, and you can get a copy of that version, that might make for a good follow up video