How to Play Clue: Suggestions, Accusations, and Note-Taking

Clue is a deduction game disguised as a murder mystery. Mr. Boddy has been found dead in Tudor Mansion, and the winner is the first player to name the right suspect, the right weapon, and the right room. Hasbro's instruction book for the classic edition (product 00045, for 3 to 6 players, ages 8 and up) lays out the rules in a few pages. The two that matter most are the difference between a suggestion and an accusation, and how other players must respond.

1. The goal

The instruction book frames it as three questions: "Who done it? Where? And with what Weapon?" The answer is hidden in an envelope called the Case File.

2. What is in play

• 6 suspects: Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Mr. Green, Mrs. White, and Mrs. Peacock.
• 6 weapons: Rope, Lead Pipe, Knife, Wrench, Candlestick, and Pistol.
• 9 rooms on the board.
• One card for each suspect, weapon, and room: 21 cards in total.

That gives 6 times 6 times 9, or 324 possible solutions at the start. Every card you see crosses off a slice of them.

3. Setup

1. Each player takes the suspect pawn on the START space nearest them. Unused suspect pawns still go on their START spaces, because they can still be guilty.
2. Put the six weapons in six different rooms.
3. Sort the cards into suspects, weapons, and rooms. Shuffle each pile separately, and without looking, put the top card of each into the Case File envelope.
4. Shuffle the remaining 18 cards together and deal them all out. The rules say it does not matter if some players get more cards than others.
5. Each player takes a detective notebook sheet and checks off their own cards. Any card in your hand cannot be in the envelope.

Miss Scarlet always goes first, and play passes to the left.

How the 18 cards split by player count:

4. Moving

On your turn, roll the dice and move that many squares, or use a Secret Passage if you start your turn in a corner room. Secret Passages connect rooms in opposite corners.

• Move horizontally or vertically, never diagonally, and you can change direction.
• You cannot enter the same square twice in one turn or move onto a square occupied by another suspect.
• The doorway itself does not count as a square, and you stop as soon as you enter a room, even if your roll was higher.
• You cannot pass through a door blocked by another pawn.

5. Making a suggestion

As soon as you enter a room, you make a suggestion. Move one suspect pawn and one weapon into that room, then say, for example, "I suggest the crime was committed in the Lounge by Mr. Green with the Wrench."

Three rules to remember:

• You must be in the room you name.
• You may name cards from your own hand, to gather information or to mislead.
• You get only one suggestion per room entry. To suggest again, enter a different room or come back to this one on a later turn. You cannot skip turns to stay put.

If your pawn gets dragged into a room by someone else's suggestion, on your next turn you may make a suggestion in that room without rolling.

6. How other players respond

This is where the deduction happens. Starting with the player on your left:

1. That player checks for any of the three named cards.
2. If they have one, they must show it to you, and only you.
3. If they have more than one, they choose which single card to show.
4. If they have none, the next player to the left checks, and so on.

As soon as one card is shown, that card cannot be in the envelope, and your turn ends. If nobody can show a card, you may end your turn or make an accusation right away.

7. Making an accusation

When you think you know all three cards, you can accuse on your turn: "I accuse (suspect) of committing the crime in the (room) with the (weapon)." Unlike a suggestion, you can name any room. Then you secretly check the Case File.

• Right on all three: you win. Lay the cards out for everyone to see.
• Wrong on any one: return the cards secretly. You cannot move or win anymore, but you must keep showing cards when others make suggestions, and your pawn can still be moved into rooms.

The rulebook is firm: you may make only one accusation per game.

8. Using the numbers in your notebook

Your own hand already cuts the 324 possibilities. In a 3-player game you hold 6 cards. If they are 2 suspects, 2 weapons, and 2 rooms, then only 4 suspects, 4 weapons, and 7 rooms remain, which is 4 times 4 times 7, or 112 possible solutions before the first roll.

A useful habit: when a player shows you a card, write their initials next to it. When nobody can disprove your suggestion, every named card you do not hold must be in the envelope, because every other card is sitting in some player's hand.

9. Key takeaways

• Clue starts with 324 possible solutions: 6 suspects times 6 weapons times 9 rooms.
• Suggestions require being in the named room; accusations can name any room.
• Players respond in order to your left, and the first one holding a named card must show you exactly one.
• You get one accusation per game, and a wrong one ends your chance to win but not your duty to show cards.
• Checking off your own cards and recording who showed what is the fastest way to shrink the list.