Cluedo
Last updated
Cluedo is a murder-mystery board game invented by Anthony E. Pratt during World War II air raids in Birmingham, England.[1] The game was originally named Murder and later renamed Cluedo, a play on "clue" and the Latin word "ludo" meaning "I play"[1][2] It has sold over 150 million boards worldwide and inspired a film, stage play, and television series.[3][4]
Making and release
Pratt and his wife Elva presented the game to Waddingtons executive Norman Watson, who purchased it and gave it the trademark name Cluedo.[5] The game was simultaneously licensed to Parker Brothers in the United States, where it was renamed Clue because the name "Ludo" was not widely known there.[6][2] The first sets of Cluedo were distributed in England in 1948 and in the US in 1949.[7] During World War II, while confined to his Birmingham home due to air raids, musician and factory worker Anthony E. Pratt thought back to murder mystery games his clients played at private musical gatherings and the detective stories popular then, especially those by Agatha Christie.[1]
According to Pratt's daughter Marcia Lewis, the idea to create a board game came from a neighbor, Geoffrey Bull, who had invented the game Buccaneer.[5][8] Early versions of the game bore the title "Murder at Tudor Close", and the in-game house is thought to have been inspired by the Tudor Close Hotel in Rottingdean, Brighton and Hove.[5][9]
What the cited sources add
A 1998 Independent article notes that Cluedo was not discussed much in the Pratt family in later years, as Pratt never became rich from the game.[3] The same article states that Pratt devoted himself to reading Bertrand Russell and Lytton Strachey, and was fond of detective stories.[3] The Guardian article also notes that a Cluedo-inspired film, Clue, appeared in 1985, and a British Cluedo game show ran from 1990 to 1993.[7] The same article reports that the new Cluedo board expands to a 20 by 20-inch gameplay canvas.[4]
A 2024 Polygon article notes that the 2023 edition includes miniatures of the characters instead of traditional generic pawns.[2]
References
- Wikipedia, "Cluedo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: L. A. Petrosjan, V. V. Mazalov (2002). "Game Theory and Applications, Volume 8". p. 26. Nova Publishers (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Mueller, "How classic board game Clue changed over its more than 75-year history", Polygon, 2024-12-30. facts only, no text reused. polygon.com
- Treneman, "Mr Pratt, in the old people's home, with an empty pocket", The Independent, 12 November 1998. facts only, no text reused. independent.co.uk
- "Hasbro relaunches Cluedo board game", Toyworld, 5 Jan 2023. facts only, no text reused. toyworldmag.co.uk
- Wikipedia, "Cluedo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brierley, "Cluedo inventor's daughter hands over archives to Birmingham museum", BBC News, 23 November 2025; Martin, "Famous Brand Names and Their Origins", Pen and Sword, 2017, p. 134; Mueller, "How classic board game Clue changed over its more than 75-year history", Polygon, 2024-12-30; Hendren, "Live in the historic Sussex mansion that inspired the classic board game Cluedo", Tatler, 16 July 2021 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Cluedo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: L. A. Petrosjan, V. V. Mazalov (2002). "Game Theory and Applications, Volume 8". p. 26. Nova Publishers; Watson, "The Waddingtons Story: From the early days to Monopoly, the Maxwell bids and into the next Millennium", Jeremy Mills Publishing, 2008, p. 81 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Jack Mustard, in the spa, with a baseball bat", The Guardian, 20 December 2008. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
- Brierley, "Cluedo inventor's daughter hands over archives to Birmingham museum", BBC News, 23 November 2025. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk
- Hendren, "Live in the historic Sussex mansion that inspired the classic board game Cluedo", Tatler, 16 July 2021. facts only, no text reused. tatler.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Cluedo (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Board Games
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Cluedo (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced