1943–1947: A game for the blackout
Anthony E. Pratt was a musician from Birmingham who worked in a factory during the war. Around 1943, with evenings spent indoors during air raids, he devised a murder-mystery game inspired by the country-house detective stories of the time.
He called it Murder. He applied for a patent in 1944, and it was granted on 1 April 1947.
1949: Cluedo and Clue
The UK games company Waddingtons published the game in 1949 under a new name, Cluedo: "clue" plus "Ludo", a board game every British family knew.
The same year Parker Brothers published it in North America. Ludo was little known there, so the game became simply Clue. The two names have lived side by side ever since, along with a few regional differences in characters and weapons.
1950s–1960s: The patent years
In 1953 Pratt sold the international rights, keeping his UK royalties until the patent ran out. The patent expired in 1967. The game, meanwhile, settled into the shape most people know: six suspects, six weapons, nine rooms and a sealed envelope.
1970s–1980s: New art, a film and a bigger box
A 1972 US edition redesigned the weapons, and US boxes began showing the suspects together in a room of the mansion.
In 1985 the game became a feature film, Clue, which has a following of its own. In 1988 Clue: Master Detective expanded the board with more rooms, suspects and weapons for larger groups.
1990s: Hasbro and the first video games
In the early 1990s Hasbro bought both Parker Brothers and Waddingtons, bringing the two branches of the game under one owner. The first Clue video games appeared in 1992 and 1998, and a musical followed in 1997. Fiftieth-anniversary editions came out in 1998 in the US and 1999 in the UK and Europe.
2000s: One edition, then a big change
In 2002 and 2003 Hasbro released a unified edition across markets, with regional naming differences.
In 2008 came the most controversial version: Clue: Discover the Secrets, with a new board, new characters and weapons, new rules and Intrigue cards. Many long-time fans disliked it.
2010s: Back to the classic
In 2012 Hasbro returned to Pratt's formula with Cluedo: The Classic Mystery Game. In 2016 one of the original suspects was replaced by a new character.
In 2017 a stage version of the film opened; it began a US national tour in 2024. In 2018 Marmalade Game Studio released a digital edition of the classic game on Steam, also playable on phones, tablets and the Nintendo Switch.
2020s: New art, new names, an archive
In January 2023 Hasbro released a new edition with new miniatures, updated art and renamed characters. In November 2025, Pratt's daughter donated his archives to institutions in Birmingham, the city where the game began.
Why it lasted
Across more than 75 years of new art and new names, the core has stayed the same: three hidden cards, private answers and one accusation. That core is simple enough for a family evening and deep enough that people still argue over strategy. It is also why games keep borrowing it, NoHonor included.
New to the game itself? Start with Introduction to Cluedo.
Sources
- Cluedo, Wikipedia, for dates and editions
- Clue/Cluedo: The Classic Mystery Game on Steam, for the digital edition's release date
