Categories
Haven't Got A Clue

Clue – True Colors

Creator: Lisa Smedman
Exhibition: Haven’t Got a Clue Game Remix
Published: July 2021
Format: Tabletop Simulator workshop, Rules pdf
Content Advisories: Safe for all ages. Goal of the game is murder but game does not depict murder, except in the abstract.


Image description: A Clue board, modified to include 12 black-and-white rooms, a central room filled with a color wheel, and eight smaller color-wheel spaces.

Description of the Work

In this board game for 4-8 players, you play as a doppleganger, cunningly disguised as Miss Scarlet. One of the other “Miss Scarlets” in the mansion is the person you have come to kill. Each is vulnerable to certain weapons, and may only be killed if cornered in certain rooms. You must discover the others’ weaknesses, and then be the first to hunt down and kill your target.

Artist’s Statement

My starting point for this game was the Miss Scarlet card from the edition of Clue that I played as a kid. There’s just something creepy about her smile… I envisioned a board with nothing but Miss Scarlet pawns on it, each with a secret identity.

I also wanted to include a deduction mechanic since that was the hallmark of the original game. But instead of trying to guess the Who/What/Where of a murder, each player must figure out Who the other players are, What they are vulnerable to, and Where they can be killed.

Another of my inspirations was the fact that each character is named after (or has a name that allues to) a color. I knew I wanted to play around with this, to include color wheels on my board. The resulting board (rendered in grayscale) includes eight color-wheel teleportation spaces, and a central color-wheel “room” that allows players within it to make revelations.

I’m very happy with the result – although I have no idea whether the game is balanced! Time will tell…

Project Files

Image description: A card from the Clue game of the 1960s, showing a smiling Miss Scarlet in a red dress.

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