Blogger's note: Cluedo® and Clue® are trademarks of Hasbro for its world famous board game.
"That's what we're trying to
find out! We're trying to find out who killed him, and where, and
with what!" -- Wadsworth, in "Clue" by Jonathan Lynn
This blog post is dedicated to
the following individuals:
Anthony E. Pratt, Inventor of
Cluedo.
Elva Pratt, Anthony's Wife and Fellow
Cluedo Designer.
Marcia Lewis, the Pratts' Daughter.
The Cast and Crew of the 1985 Film
Clue.
Special Thanks to:
The Marmalade Game Studio Team, Makers of the Cluedo App.
Peter Dobbin, Artist Behind the App.
The
People at Hasbro, for Making Toys and Games for Families to Play With.
1903 to 1939: Anthony E. Pratt's Early Life๐น
Anthony
Ernest Pratt was born on August 10, 1903 at 13 Brighton Road, Balsall Heath,
Birmingham. The younger of two sons, Pratt studied at St. Philip's School in
Edgbaston. His favourite subject was chemistry, but his poor eyesight forced him
to leave school at 15. Pratt wanted to be a chemist and was made a
chemical manufacturer's apprentice, although he lacked qualifications in the
field. With a growing interest in music, he became a musician instead.
Pratt was talented in music at an early age. As a
young man, he worked as a pianist, touring as part of an orchestra on
ocean-liners. He could've made a living as a musician, but he was the kind of man
who didn't stick with a long-term job. He instead preferred his hobbies,
especially reading. He owned a huge book collection and he liked psychology,
crime, and philosophy. He was also fond of mystery novels and short stories with his favourite
writers being Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Wallace, Raymond Chandler, and Agatha
Christie. He also enjoyed parties and a parlour game called Murder.
Before quitting his job as a pianist,
Pratt performed in musical concerts in country hotels where part of the
evening's entertainment would've been Murder, a very popular game at the
time. It involved actors and hotel guests playing the characters in a murder
mystery. The game was set in a big house with many rooms, with people gathered
for an event, but someone was found murdered and all present fell under
suspicion. The participants would then creep up on each other and victims
shrieked and fell over. To prevent more deaths, the remaining players must
solve the mystery.
1939-1943: A Time of Great Boredom๐ฅฑ
During World War II, Pratt worked in a munitions factory, but found the job boring. Because of the government-imposed
blackout period, people in the United Kingdom were temporarily banned from visiting their friends, dining at restaurants, having parties, and even playing Murder.
In a 1990
interview, Pratt said, "I was leaning on the fence of our King's Heath home and it
dawned on me that this wretched old war was killing the country's social life." On the other side of the fence was his friend, Geoffrey Bull, inventor of the
high-seas adventure board game, Buccaneer, which he sold to Waddingtons. At
the same time, mystery books such as Agatha Christie's And Then There Were
None and The Body in the Library became bestsellers.
Hence, inspired by Murder, Bull's
success, and his love for mysteries, Pratt formed the idea for his own
game.
1943-1945: Anthony E. Pratt, in the Dining Room, with his Wife and Absolutely Nothing To Do✍๐ป๐ ✏️
From 1943 to 1945, Anthony and his
wife, Elva (born on January 16, 1913), designed a mystery board game in their home at No.9 Stanley Road, Kings Heath. The game was originally named Murder!, after Pratt's favourite party game. Elva drew the original board on the family dining room table while Anthony came up with the characters and rules.
There were to be ten
characters: Dr. Black, Mr. Brown, Mr. Gold, Reverend Green, Miss Grey, Professor
Plum, Miss Scarlett, Nurse White, Mrs. Silver, and Colonel Yellow. The victim
and the murderer would change every game play. In addition to the suspects, nine
weapons were added: an axe, a cudgel, a bomb, a rope, a dagger, a revolver, a
hypodermic syringe, a bottle of poison, and a poker. The board depicted a mansion with a lounge, a
gun room, a dining room, a kitchen, a ballroom, a conservatory, a billiard
room, a library, a study, a hall, and a cellar.
1947: A Deal's A Deal๐ซฑ๐ผ๐ซฒ๐ป
When the war was over, the Pratts demonstrated the
game to their friends who loved it, and Elva convinced Anthony to pitch his idea to Waddingtons.
In 1947, the Pratts and their friends
visited the firm of Waddingtons in Leeds. They presented and
played the game with some employees while the firm's managing director, Norman Watson,
looked on. Fortunately for the Pratts, the company was encouraging, liked what they witnessed, and agreed to produce the game.
Prior to producing the game, however, Waddingtons simplified it. The mansion
was named Tudor Hall. The number of characters was reduced to seven, Dr. Black
was made the murder victim in all game plays, and the Colonel was renamed
Mustard due to yellow being the symbolic colour of cowardice. The bomb was replaced with a candlestick and the syringe with a lead
piping and a spanner. The axe, the cudgel, the bottle of poison, and the poker were
dropped, reducing the number of murder weapons to six. The finalised board
closely followed Elva's design, albeit with the gun room removed.
Across the Atlantic Ocean, Parker Brothers, the American game manufacturer that produced Monopoly, was excited about Pratt's invention. To produce the mystery game for Americans, Parker Brothers gave Waddingtons the rights to Monopoly in exchange for the ones to Pratt's.
Due to a post-war shortage of materials, the game wasn't made until 1949.
1949: Cluedo was Made♟️๐๐ฟ๐️๐ฉ๐ป๐ณ๐ข๐ฆ๐จ๐ฝ๐ซ
In 1949, Waddingtons released Pratt's game under the title Cluedo. Cluedo is a combination of the word clue and ludo (pronounced "lew-doh"), a Latin phrase meaning "I play." Waddingtons and Pratt settled on naming the game Cluedo because naming it Murder! would've been too scandalous. In the same year, Parker Brothers released the American version which is simply titled Clue.
In
both the British and American versions of the game, the premise is that the master of the house has been murdered and his body is found in
the cellar. There are six colour-named murder suspects, nine rooms as possible scenes
of the crime, and six possible murder weapons.
In every round, two to six players take
turns suggesting who killed the victim, where, and with what.
The game ends when one player correctly deduces all three details. With six suspects, nine rooms, six weapons, and 324 possible solutions, players get to be super sleuths.
The game ends when one player correctly deduces all three details. With six suspects, nine rooms, six weapons, and 324 possible solutions, players get to be super sleuths.
It
should be noted that there had been name changes between the British and American
versions due to localisation.
When Cluedo was released, it became a hit among gamers and mystery-lovers alike. It became a household name as families and friends have fun figuring out whodunnit. When the game was released internationally, it was expanded to include more colourful suspects, crime scenes, and murder weapons. In more than forty countries, Cluedo's rated the most famous board game, second to Monopoly.
Marcia Lewis, Anthony and Elva Pratt's only child, was born in 1953.
Even though he created a game that made millions, Pratt never became as rich and famous as the inventors of Monopoly and Scrabble. "In 1952 and 1953, Waddington's wrote that sales were not going too well," Marcia said in a 1998 interview. "In May 1953, my father signed over all royalties, in respect of overseas sales, for pounds 5,000." Pratt agreed, thinking it was the responsible thing to do with a baby, but it was a costly mistake. If he had even the smallest share out of the overseas sales, he would've been a millionaire. However, he never did, and for a while, the money kept coming in.
1960s: A Decade of Grumbles๐ธ
After World War II, Pratt became a civil servant and he and his family moved down to Bournemouth, buying a large house with holiday flats. Pratt sometimes received a large cheque, whereas at other times it would be only hundreds. "And my wife would lament that we weren't Americans who'd have made a fortune." he said. Pratt also conceived two other games which Waddingtons rejected: one focused on treasure hunting and the other on gold mining.
For a while, with the holiday flats and the Cluedo money, Pratt didn't work, and spent time reading his favourite books and playing his prized piano. Around Bournemouth, he pointed out the scenes of notorious murders. Eventually, the royalties stopped, prompting Pratt to work as a solicitor's clerk.
Recalling the 1960s in a 1990 interview, Pratt sounded cheerful about it all. "A letter came with a cheque and the news that there'd be no more because the patents had lapsed. That was that. We did not mind, you know. It had been one of life's bonuses. A great deal of fun went into it. So why grumble?" That was what Waddingtons also believed, but at home there were grumbles and Marcia said that the game manufacturer was a bitter subject, mainly for her mother. "Basically, they thought they'd been diddled," she said. The Pratts weren't obsessed though. Cluedo wasn't the focus of the couple's lives which their daughter described as "very average" and contented.
1974: Lord Lucan, in the Car, with Cluedo Cards?๐
On November 8, 1974, John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan mysteriously vanished after being suspected of attacking his estranged wife, Veronica Duncan, and murdering their children's nanny, Sandra Rivett.
The subject of numerous conspiracy theories, Lord Lucan was never again seen nor heard from since the night he disappeared.
It has been claimed that police investigating the British peer's whereabouts found his car, abandoned and containing three Cluedo cards offering one solution to the game: Colonel Mustard, in the hall, with the lead pipe. What's eerie is that the weapon card alludes to the fact that a lead pipe was actually used to kill Miss Rivett.
In June 1975, an inquest jury named Lord Lucan as Miss Rivett's killer.
On February 3, 2016, John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan was declared deceased.
1980: Retirement๐ด๐ป๐ต๐ป
In 1980, Anthony and Elva retired in Bromsgrove after moving eight times.
1985: It's Not Just a Game... Anymore๐️
In 1985, Paramount Pictures released an American comedy film adaptation directed by Jonathan Lynn and produced by Debra Hill.
On one stormy night in 1950s United States, six strangers have been invited to a dinner party at Hill House, the abode of one Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving). Upon arrival, the sextet are given the aliases Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren), Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull), Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn), Mr. Green (Michael McKean), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), and Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd).
Tending to their employer's guests are Wadsworth the butler (Tim Curry) and Yvette the maid (Colleen Camp).
The soiree descends into chaos when it's revealed that Mr. Boddy has been blackmailing his guests and butler for being "un-American." When their blackmailer turns up dead, it's up to the suspects to solve the mystery before the cops arrive.
The soiree descends into chaos when it's revealed that Mr. Boddy has been blackmailing his guests and butler for being "un-American." When their blackmailer turns up dead, it's up to the suspects to solve the mystery before the cops arrive.
Despite receiving mixed reviews and bombing at the box office, Clue became a cult classic. Fans find it entertaining due to its mixture of witty dialogue and slapstick, and three separate endings. Each ending shows a different character being responsible for killing Mr. Boddy. When the film first premiered, one theatre showed Ending A, another Ending B, and a third Ending C. All three endings are shown when Clue was later released on home video and aired on television.
Wadsworth: "What do you mean... "murder"? |
1990: Goodbye, Elva๐ฉ๐ป๐จ
Elva Rosalie Pratt died on March 9, 1990 at the age of 77.
Then in July, Granada Television began airing a live action game show adaptation of Cluedo. In every episode, participants compete to identify who among the six usual suspects is the murderer of the week.
1991: Hasbro Made its Move๐ฒ
Back in 1923, three Polish-Jewish brothers - Herman, Hillel, and Henry Hassenfeld - founded the American toy company Hasbro.
In the following decades, Hasbro went on to become a multinational conglomerate holding company, creating and owning popular franchises that include G.I. Joe, Jem and The Holograms, My Little Pony, Play-Doh, Potato Head, and Transformers.
In 1991, Hasbro bought Parker Brothers and the rights to its games, including Monopoly and Cluedo.
1993: TV Finale๐บ
The Cluedo TV game show ended in 1993 after running for four series.
1994: Goodbye, Anthony๐ชฆ
Anthony Ernest Pratt died on April 9, 1994, aged 90, from complications related to Alzheimer's.
Anthony and Elva Pratt are both buried at Bromsgrove Cemetery.
Inventor of Cluedo. Sadly Missed. |
Then in December, Hasbro bought Waddingtons.
1999: Cluedo Turned 50๐ช
In 1999, Hasbro celebrated the 50th anniversary of Cluedo by making a special limited edition of the game, with artwork by Drew Struzan. Although the same rules apply, this version contains the bottle of poison from Pratt's prototype as a seventh weapon and all the playing tokens are made of pewter.
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." -- Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier |
2009: Cluedo Turned 60๐
Well into the 21st century, generations of fans have continued playing Cluedo. To keep up with the times, Hasbro has been making variants based on the original version and popular franchises.
In 2009, Pratt was honoured as part of Cluedo's 60th anniversary celebrations. Marcia said, "It's amazing that the game my father invented is celebrating its 60th year. In that time, it has brought pleasure to millions of people - of all generations - across the globe, which is a legacy I'm immensely proud of."
2013: The Year of a Former Unsung Hero๐
In March 2013, 100 Clues, the 100th Psych episode, aired. Parodying the 1985 film, 100 Clues guest-stars three Clue cast members (Christopher Lloyd, Lesley Ann Warren, and Martin Mull), features three different endings on DVD, and is dedicated to Madeline Kahn.
In the United Kingdom, a plaque was erected at No.9 Stanley Road, Kings Heath to honour Pratt for inventing Cluedo.
The project was spearheaded by Jonathan Foster, a devoted Cluedo fan who wrote a book titled The Story of Cluedo: How Anthony Pratt Invented the Game of Murder Mystery, and spent £400.00 to have the plaque made. "He didn't get the recognition he deserved," Foster explained regarding Pratt. "It is usually the case - people know about the invention, not the person behind the invention." Not only Foster had to gain permissions from authorities and property owners, he also had to prove that the address was where the game was invented. "Cluedo is so British and the British love a murder mystery," he said. "It is so Agatha Christie-esque."
The plaque was eventually unveiled in autumn. Marcia recalled, "I did enjoy Cluedo as a child - and my father always made sure I won!" She added, "It's a game that has stood the test of time. The subject is timeless. People will always be into murder and detectives, and then you've also got all the nostalgia of the 1940s."
2017: Cluedo Went Mobile๐ฑ
In early 2017, Marmalade Game Studio partnered with Hasbro to launch the video game adaptation of Cluedo. Featuring artwork by Peter Dobbin, the Cluedo video game is available on iOS and Android.
In September that same year, Marmalade Game Studio updated the Cluedo video game with the Ultimate Detective's Package. Users who purchase the bundle will receive present and future boards (1949 classic, haunted house, Hollywood, etc.), suspects (variants of the usual six, plus foreign characters), and weapons.
2018: It's Not Just a Movie... Anymore๐ญ
In 2018, Broadway Licensing acquired the rights to produce Clue on Stage, a comedy play based on the 1985 film.
That same year, Marmalade Game Studio launched the Steam and Nintendo Switch editions of the Cluedo video game and updated it with an online multiplayer option.
2023: 100 Years of Hasbro๐
Even though the first worldwide round of Cluedo ended on March 29, 2023, Hasbro assures fans that there will be more mysteries for them to solve.
2023: 100 Years of Hasbro๐
As part of its 100th anniversary celebrations, Hasbro relaunched Cluedo, combining the British and American versions and remaking the seven main characters to be as diverse as the real life people playing the timeless game.
To celebrate the relaunch, Hasbro even created two verified Instagram accounts for Cluedo - one for British fans and one for American fans.
On February 28, 2023, Hasbro invited fans to play the first global game of Cluedo.
A dinner party is held at Tudor Mansion to celebrate plans for an upcoming lodging called the Boden Black Hotel. Gathered in the dining room are the seven hotel co-owners: Miss Scarlett, Colonel Mustard, Chef White, Mayor Green, Solicitor Peacock, Professor Plum and their host, Boddy Black. But in an act of betrayal, Boddy Black cuts his guests out of the deal... and gets killed.
When the investigators arrive at Tudor Mansion, they uncover evidence of foul play and blackmail on all six murder suspects.
To solve the mystery, Cluedo fans from all over the world followed the game's Instagram accounts.
Then on August 23, 2023, Marmalade Game Studio launched a new video game adaption of Cluedo. Based on the current edition of the board game, Cluedo is available on Android, iOS, and Steam.
Whichever versions of Cluedo people love, there's nothing more fun than solving a mystery, at home, with family and friends.
References:
I said, shake, rattle, and roll
I said, shake, rattle, and roll
I said, shake, rattle, and roll
I said, shake, rattle, and roll
Well, you never done nothin'
To save your doggone soul
-C. Calhoun, "Shake, Rattle, and Roll"
I said, shake, rattle, and roll
I said, shake, rattle, and roll
I said, shake, rattle, and roll
Well, you never done nothin'
To save your doggone soul
-C. Calhoun, "Shake, Rattle, and Roll"
References:
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- Cluedo 2023 [Video game]. Marmalade Game Studio.
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- Lynn, J. et al. (2018). Clue. Broadway Licensing.
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