Editing Cluedo (section)

==History==
Holed up in his home in [[Birmingham]], England, during [[Birmingham Blitz|air raids on the city]] during [[World War II]], [[Anthony E. Pratt]], an English musician and factory worker, recalled the [[murder mystery game]]s played by some of his clients at private music gigs as well as the detective fiction popular at the time, most notably [[Agatha Christie]]. In 1944, Pratt applied for a [[patent]] of his invention of a murder/mystery-themed game, originally named ''Murder.''{{hsp}}<ref name="Invention">L. A. Petrosjan, V. V. Mazalov (2002). "Game Theory and Applications, Volume 8". p. 26. Nova Publishers</ref> Shortly thereafter, Pratt and his wife, Elva Pratt (1913–1990), who had helped design the game, presented it to [[Waddingtons]]' executive Norman Watson, who immediately purchased it and provided its trademark name of ''Cluedo'' (a play on "clue" and "''[[Ludo (board game)|Ludo]]''", the [[Latin language|Latin]] word for "I play" and the name of a popular board game based on [[Pachisi]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Kathy |title=Famous Brand Names and Their Origins |date=2017 |publisher=Pen and Sword |page=134}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Mueller |first=Saira |date=2024-12-30 |title=How classic board game Clue changed over its more than 75-year history |url=https://www.polygon.com/board-games/501555/clue-board-game-history-hasbro |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] |language=en-US}}</ref> The design of the house in the game is reputed to be based on what was the Tudor Close Hotel in [[Rottingdean]], [[Brighton and Hove]], with early editions of the game being titled "Murder at Tudor Close".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hendren |first1=Joshua |title=Live in the historic Sussex mansion that inspired the classic board game Cluedo |url=https://www.tatler.com/gallery/tudor-close-cluedo-mansion-for-sale-east-sussex-celebrity-hotel |access-date=24 July 2023 |work=Tatler |date=16 July 2021}}</ref>

Although the patent was granted in 1947, postwar shortages postponed the game's official United Kingdom launch until 1949.<ref name="Invention"/> It was simultaneously licensed to [[Parker Brothers]] in the United States for publication, where it was renamed ''Clue'', as the name "[[Ludo]]" was not widely known there, [[Pachisi]]-style games having been published under other names and brands, so the play on words would not have been generally understood.<ref>{{cite book |first=Victor |last=Watson |year=2008 |title=The Waddingtons Story: From the early days to Monopoly, the Maxwell bids and into the next Millennium |location=Huddersfield |publisher=Jeremy Mills Publishing |isbn=978-1-906600-36-5 |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_kmjwW4ZTMC&pg=PA81 |access-date=21 June 2011}}</ref>

There were several differences between the original game concept and the one initially published in 1949. In particular, Pratt's original design calls for [[Cluedo characters#Original suspects|10 characters]], one of whom was to be designated the victim by random drawing prior to the start of the game. These 10 included the eliminated Mr. Brown, Mr. Gold, Miss Grey, and Mrs. Silver. The characters of [[Cluedo characters#Mrs. White|Nurse White]] and [[Cluedo characters#Colonel Mustard|Colonel Yellow]] were renamed Mrs. White and Colonel Mustard for the actual release. The game allowed for play of up to eight{{what|10-4=6 not 8|date=March 2024}} remaining characters, providing for nine suspects in total. Originally there were 11 rooms, including the eliminated [[Gunroom|gun room]] and cellar. In addition, there were nine weapons, including the unused [[bomb]], [[syringe]], [[shillelagh (club)|shillelagh]] (walking stick/[[cudgel]]), [[fireplace poker]], and the later used [[axe]] and [[poison]]. Some of these unused weapons and characters appeared later in spin-off versions of the game.<ref name="timelesstoys"/>

Some gameplay aspects were different as well. Notably, the remaining playing cards were distributed into the rooms to be retrieved, rather than dealt directly to the players. Players also had to land on another player in order to make suggestions about that player's character through the use of special tokens, and once exhausted, a player could no longer make suggestions. There were other minor differences, all of which were later updated by the game's initial release and remain essentially unchanged in the standard Classic Detective Game editions of the game.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Ann |last=Treneman |date=12 November 1998 |title=''Mr Pratt, in the old people's home, with an empty pocket'' |work=[[The Independent]] |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/mr-pratt-in-the-old-people-s-home-with-an-empty-pocket-1184258.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=''Murder!: The unknown story of the invention of Clue''|date=June 12, 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH1vmZdS3S8 |publisher=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite patent |country=GB |number=586817 |status=patent |title=Improvements in board games |gdate=1 April 1947 |inventor=Pratt, Anthony Ernest}}</ref><ref name="guardian.co.uk">{{cite news |date=20 December 2008 |title=Jack Mustard, in the spa, with a baseball bat |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/dec/20/cluedo-new-rebrand-family |access-date=21 June 2011}}</ref>

The methodology used in the early versions of ''Cluedo'' is remarkably similar to a traditional, if little known, American [[card game]]: ''[[the king of hearts has five sons]]''.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20190130113455/http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/DeductionGames.shtml "The Secret of Winning at Cluedo" in ''Deduction Games'']}} at www.thegamesjournal.com. Retrieved 11 February 2019.</ref> However, Pratt himself said his inspiration was a murder mystery parlour game he used to play with friends in which youngsters "would congregate in each other's homes for parties at weekends. We'd play a stupid game called [[Wink_murder#Murder|Murder]], where guests crept up on each other in corridors and the victim would shriek and fall on the floor".<ref>[http://mentalfloss.com/article/62111/how-one-british-soldier-turned-parlor-game-clue ''How One British Soldier Turned a Parlor Game into Clue'' by Mary Pilon at mentalfloss.com. Retrieved 12 Feb 2019]</ref> The [[Closed circle of suspects#Country house mystery|country house mystery]] was a popular subgenre of "cosy" English detective fiction in the 1920s and 1930s; stories were set in a residence of the [[Landed gentry|gentry]] isolated by circumstances such as a snowstorm with the suspects gathered for a weekend house party.<ref name=countryMystery>{{cite web |url=https://crimereads.com/the-enduring-appeal-of-the-country-house-murder. |title=The Enduring Appeal of the Country House Murder |work=Crime Reads |date=13 April 2022 |first=M.E. |last=Hilliard}}</ref>

===Marketing===
''Cluedo'' was originally marketed as "The Great New Detective Game" upon its launch in 1949 in North America. A deal was quickly struck to license "The Great New [[Sherlock Holmes]] Game" from the [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]] estate. Advertising at the time suggested players would take on the guise of "Sherlock Holmes following the path of the criminal", but no depictions of Holmes appear in the advertising or on the box.<ref>{{cite web|last=Mozart |first=Mike |url=http://classictoymuseum.blogspot.com/2010/01/clue-board-game-as-listed-in-1960-toy.html |title=Classic Toy Museum |work=Classictoymuseum.blogspot.com |date=26 January 2010 |access-date=8 April 2014}}</ref> From 1950 until the 1960s, the game was marketed as "The Great Detective Game", at which time it became the "Parker Brothers Detective Game". 
[[File:Cluedo 1956 Small Red Box Edition.jpg|thumbnail|Cluedo 1956 UK Edition depicting a Sherlock Holmes type character.]] 
With the launch of the US 1972 edition, a television commercial showed Holmes and Watson engaged in a particularly competitive game. Adjusting with the times, in 1979 US television commercials a detective, resembling a bumbling [[Inspector Clouseau]] from the popular ''[[The Pink Panther (film series)|Pink Panther]]'' film franchise, looks for clues.<ref>{{cite video|title = Parker Brothers – Clue (Commercial, 1979)|url =https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj6izHRLHOI|publisher = YouTube|access-date = 12 August 2012}}</ref> In 1986, the marketing slogan added "Classic Detective Game" which persists through the last 2002/2003 edition.

In the UK, ''Cluedo'' was marketed as "The Great Detective Game" from the mid-1950s until 2000, when it was rebranded as the "Classic Detective Game".<ref name="timelesstoys"/><ref name="winningmoves"/> However, in the mid-1950s Waddingtons also adopted a Sherlock Holmes-type detective to adorn their box covers for a brief time, though unlike in the US editions, there was no acknowledgement that the character was actually the famous detective. In the 1980s, as in the US, Sherlock Holmes also appeared in TV advertising of the time, along with other classic detectives such as [[Sam Spade]].<ref>{{cite video|title = Waddington's Cluedo|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYhKoOfxoco|publisher = YouTube|access-date = 12 August 2012}}</ref>