A History of CLUE
History of Clue
Summer of 2017, Mystery Café is inviting you to #getaCLUE with two different live action ways to experience the classic board game: a scavenger hunt through downtown Boston, and a brought-to-life mansion mystery in Dedham.
But how much do you know about the history of CLUE?
Patented by a British musician named Anthony Pratt in 1944 and released 1949, this game originally went by the title CLUEDO. (It still carries this name today in UKversions) The game was intended to be a replica of a parlor game enjoyed by Pratt and his friends, which he called “Murder”. Similar to MAFIA, Pratt’s “Murder” involved one of his friends being given the role of killer, and the rest working to discover their identity. The rights to the game were sold to Parker Brothers in 1949, who release a version in America under the name CLUE.
The standard form of the game remained mostly unchanged in the following 40 years. While minor stylistic changes took place in both the British and American games, it always featured the same characters, the same rooms, and the same murder weapons. There was even a CLUE movie release in 1985, boasting a cast including Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, and Madeline Kahn. While the film was not a huge critical success, it was popular enough to become something of a cult classic.
Hasbro acquired the license for the CLUE brand in 1991 and 1994 in the US and UK respectively. From that point onwards, the CLUE brand was expanded dramatically. Many themed versions of the game were released (ranging from Game of Thrones to the Simpsons), as well as adaptions such as CLUE Junior and Clue Secrets and Spies.
1997 saw the launch of CLUE The Musical, a production by Peter DePietro and Tom Chiodo. It’s through CLUE The Musical that Mystery Café came by the CLUE brand, and we’ve been offering it as a private event for many years. The show was reimagined by company director Shannon Lane DuPont in 2013 and has been a very popular show since. Last year CLUE took our stage for the Mansion Christmas shows, and it did so well that we decided to make a season of it.
So far, the Summer of CLUE has not disappointed. Breaking our box office records, the Murder at the Mansion CLUE Live sold out all 5 summer shows in 24 hours. Clearly, this classic whodunit still resonates with audiences, almost 70 years after it’s initial release.
Tickets are still available for the CLUE Live Scavenger Hunt which will be running every Saturday at 6 pm in downtown Boston.
