Cluedo
Mr Gold
Listening to the radio this afternoon while I was doing the dishes, I heard a gem of a programme – Witness History, ‘Creating Cluedo’ about … creating Cluedo.
Marcia Lewis shares the story of her parents, Elva and Anthony Pratt, inventing the original Cluedo board game. The radio programme is only eleven minutes long, so I recommend giving it a listen. Here are three of many revelations it shares:
Cluedo was originally called Murder, with two exclamation marks: Murder!!
Exclamation marks often get a bad rap in writing. A double mark, even more (double) the criticism. But I love them!!In its first iteration, the murder weapons included poison, a needle, and a bomb.
Colonel Mustard was originally called Colonel Yellow. And as if that wasn’t head-spinning enough, there used to be a Mr Gold.
It’s interesting (to me at least) to think of the evolution and editing decisions of making a game. My post about Monopoly is also available in the archives.
This post was written while half-watching the BAFTAs and finishing co-cooking a roast dinner – even more dishes for us to wash soon.