Thrift Treasure: Clue Suspect Card Game

Everyone reading this is familiar with the game of Clue. Originally published in the late 40’s, this popular game has spawned countless versions over the years. In 1985 a Clue movie was released and another one is reportedly in the works starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman. Game spinoffs were also made. This copy of Clue Suspect is a good example we recently picked up.

Clue Suspect is a scaled-down card version of the original game of Clue. Inside the box is a deck of sixty cards, a “Confidential” envelope, fifteen extra cards for an advanced version of the game and four “Reminder” cards as player aids. Sort the sixty cards into four identical sets of twelve Case File cards (icon in the lower right) and twelve orange-bordered suspect cards. Each player receives one of the white-bordered sets. Three cards are randomly selected from the orange sets (one each location, weapon, and suspect) and placed in the envelope without anyone seeing. These are the cards you’ll be trying to guess.

The rest of the orange-bordered cards are dealt out evenly amongst the players, with any extra being turned face-up for all to see. These represent innocent cards and you can remove the matching ones from your hand and place them into your own personal innocent pile. On your turn you will ask about two cards of any type. Beginning with the player on your left, each person will answer about the same cards whether they have any information to share (orange cards). If they match one or both, they will show you only one privately. If there are no matches, they will state so.

Once you receive one piece of information about the items you inquired about, your turn ends. Play passes to the next person in clockwise order, who does the same thing. You are trying to weed out information about who is innocent so you can eventually make an accusation about which cards are in the envelope.

At the start of your turn, instead of asking about cards, you may declare you are going to make an accusation. Take the three white cards out of your hand and lay them face-down in front of you which you believe match the cards in the envelope. All other players are given the opportunity to make an accusation at the same time, which will be resolved in player order.

Only players who make an accusation will look at the cards in the envelope. If the active player is correct, they win the round of Clue Suspect. If not, they are out of the game but still must answer questions about their cards honestly. Any other players who accused may also compare their cards to the envelope – but if they are wrong, they are out too! Of course, if they have correctly identified the three cards, they are the winner.

Expect a full round of Clue Suspect to take less than thirty minutes, and as little as ten or fifteen if you get some lucky guesses. You can still find this one new for around $13 shipped on Amazon!

Would you prefer this shorter version of Clue or the original board game?