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Sunday 17 August 2008

the death of Colonel Mustard

Okay, so Hasbro are giving Cluedo a facelift. Check out the details here. Argh! I think of my parents' tatty Cluedo set and remember how I've never quite coped with the idea of buying anything that looked 'newer' than that traditional box...and now they are ceasing it all together! (My parents' set still has my siblings' childish scrawls over those orange and white bits of paper that you do all your mystery solving on - and I'm the youngest by 10 years...)

Now I wish I'd overcome my hyper-traditionalism and invested in one. I might have to panic buy, except I never get round to doing that sort of thing. No more Colonel Mustard? Child stars and ex football players? First names?!! Jacob Green?! Apparently players can now get 'killed off' in the game. Sounds a bit like a fictional celebrity big brother, if somewhat more final. So it's not just the names, but the rules, and yes the board...there'll be no more billiard room.


The thing is that they are, apparently, ceasing production of the original. It would be all right if it was simply an alternative, like the Monopoly variants you get these days. Like different flavours of something. Salt & vinegar, cheese & onion...but let's not eliminate ready salted, hmm?

Today: 4-5/10, medium high

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read the article, and then I checked to see if they were changing the American version (Clue), too. Yes, indeed!

I played Clue a few times as a kid, but I was never really into solving mysteries like that - I could never quite reason out who the murderer was. So it became too much of an exercise in frustration for me, and I stopped playing it. I assume Hasbro is making the change because of falling sales; if so, they ought to just update it as a video game and not change the original because, really, I don't think people are playing board games as much as they used to (although I suppose I could be wrong!).

Anonymous said...

For some reason the link wouldn't work for me so I don't know which one you're referring to, but I recently played a DVD version with some friends. Instead of murders, items get stolen, and you have to guess who did it, where, when AND which item was taken. It's a lot of fun, but quite removed from the original! These DVD board games seem to be quite the thing at the moment. I went to a pirate party at the weekend and we played the Pirates of the Carribean game, which was better than I thought it would be. Board games by themselves definitely seem to be becoming a thing of the past, with things like these and Monopoly going to DVD, but When all's said and done though I still don't think you can beat a good console and a spot of Mario Kart;)

Lucy Mills said...

Sorry the link won't work for you Matt...I don't know why that is! The article in question simply talked about the basic board game itself, without any reference to DVD board games, which do seem to have become quite popular. The version you played sounds fun.

Board games themselves do seem to be not so in fashion these days... the more interactive ones seem to still be reasonably popular (like Articulate! and Taboo etc). Personally I like a good game of Balderdash...but really the board is not the basis of the game (in fact I have played without the board).

My initial indignation is dying down (!) but I do think it's a shame you won't be able to buy the original of Cluedo anywhere (unless second hand, of course).

Anonymous said...

hmmm thinking... if they're going to make it more pop culture then maybe the characters should be like, oh, OJ... i don't know...

did you ever see the movie with Tim Curry and Madeline Kahn, etc? very silly spoof. I enjoyed some of the great one liners especially Madeline as Mrs. White

Lucy Mills said...

Yes I have seen that movie - very silly indeed! Great over-playing by the actors. I've watched it a few times :)

"The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people."- Richard Foster