How to Play Clue

Clue (called Cluedo outside North America) is a murder mystery board game for 3 to 6 players. The owner of a country mansion has been killed, and the answer to who did it, where, and with what weapon is hidden in an envelope. You move around the mansion, make suggestions and work out which three cards the other players can’t be holding. The first player to make a correct accusation wins. This page covers the full rules, every character, weapon and room, and has a free printable Clue detective notes sheet.

Clue Rules at a Glance

Clue Characters

Each player takes the suspect token on the start space nearest them. Unused suspects stay on the board, because they can still be the murderer.

The victim is Dr. Black in the UK and Mr. Boddy in North America. The 2023 edition merged the two into Boden “Boddy” Black Jr.

Clue Weapons

Clue Rooms and Secret Passages

The nine rooms run around the edge of the board: the Kitchen, Ballroom, Conservatory, Dining Room, Billiard Room, Library, Lounge, Hall and Study. The centre of the board is not a room you can enter; it holds the envelope. The four corner rooms have secret passages to the opposite corner: Kitchen ↔ Study and Conservatory ↔ Lounge.

How to Set Up Clue

1. Put each suspect token on its start space, and one weapon in each of six different rooms.
2. Sort the cards into suspects, weapons and rooms, and shuffle each pile face down.
3. Without looking, put the top card of each pile into the Case File envelope in the centre of the board.
4. Shuffle the other 18 cards together and deal them out. It doesn’t matter if some players get one more card than others.
5. Look at your cards: none of them can be in the envelope. Tick them off on your detective notes.

How to Play Clue

1. Move. Roll and move that many squares, up, down or sideways but not diagonally, and never onto the same square twice in a turn or onto another suspect. If you start your turn in a corner room, you can take the secret passage instead of rolling. The 1986 Clue rules use one die; current editions come with two.
2. Enter a room. You go in through a door (the doorway itself doesn’t count as a square) and stop as soon as you are inside, even with moves left. You can’t pass through a door blocked by another suspect.
3. Make a suggestion. Bring a suspect and a weapon into your room and say, for example, “I suggest it was Mrs. Peacock, in the Library, with the Rope.” The room must be the one you are in. You can name your own suspect or cards you hold.
4. Others disprove it. The player on your left checks their cards. If they have any of the three, they secretly show you one. If not, the next player tries, and so on round the table. Once one card is shown, your turn ends. If nobody can show a card, you can end your turn or make an accusation.
5. Accuse when you are sure. On your turn, name any suspect, weapon and room (not just the room you are in) and secretly check the envelope.

Making an Accusation

You only get one accusation per game. If all three cards match, show them to everyone: you win. If even one is wrong, put the cards back without showing them. You can no longer move or win, but you stay in the game to show cards when others make suggestions, and your token can still be moved into rooms. If your token is blocking a door, move it into the room.

Clue Rules Questions

Free Printable Clue Detective Notes

Out of notepad sheets? Download the free Clue detective notes (PDF). It fits one US Letter page (choose “fit to page” for A4) and lists every suspect, weapon and room with a column for each player, so you can record who showed you what.

Clue Strategy

• Record who showed what. Mark the player against each card. It lets you work out cards you were never shown.
• Use other players’ suggestions. If Miss Scarlett disproves a suggestion of Mrs. Peacock, Ballroom and Candlestick, and you hold Mrs. Peacock and the Ballroom, Miss Scarlett must have the Candlestick.
• Name your own cards on purpose. Suggest two cards you hold plus one you don’t. If nobody can show you anything, that third card must be in the envelope.
• Use the secret passages. They get you to a new room, and a new suggestion, without rolling. Mrs. Peacock starts close to the Conservatory, and Miss Scarlett near the Lounge.
• Move other players around. Naming another player’s suspect pulls their token into your room, which can stop them reaching the room they wanted.
• Don’t accuse early. A wrong accusation knocks you out of the running, so check all three cards are certain first.

Clue by the Numbers

Where Clue Comes From

Cluedo was devised in 1943 by Anthony E. Pratt, a musician from Birmingham, England, during the wartime blackouts, with help from his wife Elva. Waddingtons published it in the UK in 1949, and Parker Brothers released it in North America as Clue the same year. The name is a play on Ludo, a game better known in Britain than in America. Hasbro now owns both versions. Major updates came in 2016, when Dr. Orchid replaced Mrs. White, and in 2023, with new artwork and character backstories.

More Games to Try

For more family board games, try Sorry!, Trouble, Parcheesi or Game of the Generals, another game of hidden information.

Another family board game: Sequence rules.

Clue: frequently asked questions