The Art Of Murder!

You probably either played the game or watched the movie when you were growing up.  You know the game where you try to figure out who committed the murder, where it was committed and its location.  The wonderful game of CLUE!

The game was created by Anthony Pratt in England in 1943, at the height of World War II.  He created the rules while his wife created the original board.  In early December of 1944, he filed for a patent for his new game - Cluedo.  That same month, Anthony and his wife went to one of the game companies to share their game and the company was impressed. He received the patent in 1947 and promptly sold the rights to the game.

The game was not actually released till after the war due to shortages of materials needed to manufacture the game so it was 1949 before the game was actually released and it was an instant hit. Parker Brothers bought the U.S. rights to the game in the same year and renamed it Clue.  In 1985, the movie version was released.  Over the years, there have been various versions created and released.

Now for the Fun Facts.
1. The game was modeled on live action murder mysteries that were popular at the time.

2.  Clue is the only game to inspire a movie that was actually produced.

3. Britain and Australia both had Television Game shows based on Clue in the early 1990's.

4. The original suspects were Doctor Black (the original victim), Doctor Black, Mr. Brown, Mr. Gold, The Rev. Mr. Green, Miss Grey, Professor Plum, Miss Scarlet, Nurse White, Mrs. Silver and Colonel Yellow according to one source while according to another source the characters are Doctor Black, Colonel Yellow, Mr Gold, Reverend Green, Miss Grey, Miss Silver, Mr. Brown, and Professor Plum.

5.  The original board included a gun room that was considered too much so it was removed.

6.  The original weapons included a bomb and a hypodermic syringe in the list.

7.  Antiques were used during the filming of the movie.

8. Anthony Pratt received a flat fee for the game and a small percent of sales.  He did not amass a huge fortune but made enough to pursue his dream of playing the piano.
5.  The original weapons were