Game: Cluedo Super Sleuth

Thread: Repalcement Cards

Flamehearted — 2008-10-07T14:37:20+00:00

Hi all,

I just ordered a copy of this and irritatingly one card (Prof Plum) has a mark on the back of it.

Is there anyway to order spare cards for this game ?

Thanks

Martin

Thread: Re: Clue + more variables = less strategy

eldooderino — 2007-06-04T08:25:04+00:00

I recently bought this game after having seen it at a friends place. And I have to disagree with the comments on it being slower and less strategic than the original Cluedo. I think that, with the NPCs and items (plus the random board element) it makes for a much more tactical game and generally a lot quicker than normal too.

I gave it 8 out of 10 as I enjoy playing this all the time, whereas with original Cluedo I get very bored very quickly... perhaps it's just one of those games that just isn't very interesting after being around so long. But either way, I find it far more entertaining trapping someone behind the butler and the dog and running away with the clues than just traipsing from one room to the next making suggestions!

Image

matthewgeom — 2007-03-27T20:59:08+00:00

Box Art Cluedo Super Slueth

Thread: Re: Clue + more variables = less strategy

rorshaq — 2006-09-30T00:37:51+00:00

hi..nice to see a review of one of my family's favourite games and a good review it is to

we play this lots at a very competitive level and while the event cards are very random (and the npcs could be better used imho) we find its never decisive and adds immensely to the fun for us over the original cluedo (which we rarely play anymore)

i think the uneven clue distribution among players isn't a factor..in fact i actively try and get only 1 or 2 clues as this means people rarely ask me any questions and thus i get maximum information on other people's turns and its never done me much harm..i instead collect as many items as possible because....

in a lot of our games we find everyone has pretty much worked out whodunnit (not completely but enough for a guess) at about the same time and so when one person starts for the phone there is a hectic scramble where those cups of tea cards really come into their own

given this close competition new strategies have evolved especially regarding room movement as quite often its the room you have left to work out at the end therefore careful note is paid to other player's movements so as to deduce what rooms they think/dont think it is - so much so i spend a lot of time purposely moving to rooms JUST to bluff what i know

having said all that we mostly play 3/4 player games but the few 6player games weve played have been every bit as tense/fun

i keep meaning to try and rejig the event/item cards to better effect but that's on a (ever growing) long list of games to make/modify..maybe one day

i'd agree if you want more pure deductive strategy then go for vanilla cluedo but for a lot of fun and theme CSS rocks

oh and don't ever bother with the passport to murder cluedo - a tedious race game and little to do with 'proper' clue

Thread: Clue + more variables = less strategy

InfoCynic — 2006-09-29T20:02:48+00:00

I'll always have a special place on my game shelf for Clue. It's one of the earliest games I remember playing as a child that actually utilized strategy. I wore out the box to my Clue, Master Detective game, but still enjoy playing it, and find it a very fun, highly strategic, close matchup between me and my playgroup. So when Rob brought over Cluedo last night, having just won it on Ebay, and seeing there were 6 of us, I said sure, and we sat down to unpack it and learn how it was different.

Goal
In case you're not familiar with Clue, the basic premise is that a murder has occurred, and you play a double-role as an investigator... but also a Suspect! Your job is to find out who did it, where, and with what weapon, before any of the other players/suspects do. (It seems that, even if your character did the murder, you don't remember doing it, and want to prove to the police that you were hypnotized at the time, by doing all the research to prove your guilt. )

Setup
As in Clue, the suspect, weapon, and room cards are split into individual piles and shuffled, removing one at random from each pile to the case file. These are the facts: the guilty party, their weapon, and the murder site.

Different from regular Clue, the remaining 'Clue' cards are not dealt evenly to all players; instead, the piles are shuffled together and make one draw pile, where players will slowly acquire information over the course of the game. Also, there are "item" cards available to acquire, which provide one-shot bonuses, like "roll 2 dice when moving" (instead of 1) or "you may ask one person 2 suspicions (suggestions) instead of 1", etc. Finally, there are event cards, which are one of the biggest changes in the game.

Your turn: Movement
Movement, as in Clue, is controlled by a six-sided die, but the '1' and 2' have been removed from a standard d6 and replaced with a target, which means "Draw and resolve the top event card." More on those later. Movement is on a grid, much like in the original clue, where players may move orthogonally up to their movement roll. If they land next to an unclaimed 'Clue' or 'Item' marker, they claim the marker and draw the top card from the clue or item pile, saving the items for use later and keeping the clues in their hand as the information they know. (Yes, this means you cannot reliably make an accusation until all the clue cards have been picked up.)

The gameboard is variable, consisting of 12 square tiles with 4 exits each, except the starting room which has only 3. Upon moving to an exit of your current room where there is no adjacent room, you turn over the top room tile and place it such that one of its exits (always in the center of all 4 sides, so you have 4 choices) aligns with the one you're leaving. You also place 'Clue' and 'Item' markers on designated squares in the room, typically 2-4 of these in some combination occur in each room. Each is a one-shot, first-come-first-served chance to get something to help your quest. Nine of the room tiles are the possible murder locations (familiar to clue veterans, things like Ballroom and Lounge); the other 3 are just filler locations where you might pick up more clues / items.

Making suspicions
According to the rules, you may make a suggestion (suspicion) 'when entering/arriving at a room at the start of your turn.' This is a little vague, so we played that you had to move to a different room than the one you began your turn in to make a suspicion. I don't think doing it the other way would have been very good; it's similar to having to roll sufficiently high to make it to the next room in regular Clue. Unlike in regular Clue, you 'target' a specific player and ask them any Person/Weapon combination you like, paired with the room you are in. If they have at least one of the cards you name, they must show you one of their choice, ala regular Clue. The rule are completely absent for what to do in rooms that cannot be the murder location, so by house rule we adopted the "Cloak Room" rule from Master Detective: suspicions allow, but Person/Weapon only. One player wanted to allow "Any Room." We vetoed him quickly.

Event Cards
Back too those event cards: Half (approx.) of the Event cards involve 3 NPCs: The Butler, the Inspector, and the Dog. Typically these say "If [specific NPC] is not in play, place it on any blank tile in your room" or "If ... is in play, move it to any blank tile in any room." Most then allow you to continue to move, up to 6 spaces, but some end your turn immediately. These NPCs are an interesting twist: they are impassible obstacles, much the like the furniture in some of the rooms (e.g., the Pool table in the billiard room). You cannot hop over them like you would another player; you must go around (if you are trapped, you can move over one after you lose a turn). We used them offensively to trap the player we thought was the leader. I personally also used an event card that let me move everyone into the room with one of them to trap EVERYONE (but myself), since two NPCs were already there forming a roadblock. Very powerful and random. A few of these cards say "your turn ends immediately," which can really hurt, especially at the beginning of the game, as you are literally racing to get to the valuable clues and items first.

Winning the game
Once you've figured out, through whatever means, usually a combination of clever suspicions, lucky guesses, and your own Clue cards, who, what, and where, you must race all the way back to the entrace and stand next to the telephone in order to make an accusation. An interesting twist here from regular Clue is that you write down your accusation and only reveal it if you're right, so as to not give away extra information to the other players with a wrong guess.

Thoughts:
The game has a lot of randomness, between the die roll, the random room setup (some rooms are better than others), the event cards, and the item cards. In fact, it's too much randomness. It's very hard to feel like you're in control, largely because you're quite often not. You needed to roll a 3 to reach that clue? Too bad, you rolled an event that ends your turn. You were on your way to the Hall so you could rule it out? Too bad, tea is being served in the Kitchen and you must attend.

A bad event card draw at the start can really hurt. In our 6-player game, Lisa lost her first turn due to an event card. She never got any Clue cards. Kyle did only slightly better with 1, and Nancy got 2. That means that 3 players got 5/6th of all the cards, which is just insane. And it's not like the others weren't trying; they just couldn't get there first.

Final scores:
Theme: 4/5. This version, if you read the full text of event and item cards, really does a nice job with capturing the theme that we're in a mansion and investigating a murder.
Mechanics/Gameplay: 2/5. The mechanics are a neat idea, if not entirely well-executed. Tamer event cards maybe? Give everyone one clue to start to help balance that? I don't know.
Strategy -- need to use to win: 3/5. A lucky guess still goes a very long way. But part of the lucky guess is knowing what to guess.
Strategy -- ability to use to win: 2/5. As mentioned above, there's too much randomness interfering.
Replayability: 4/5. If you like this game, you'd find it a completely different game every time. Almost nothing is the same between any two games. However, a game length of just under 2 hours is a little high for a Clue-type game in my book.
Overall: 2.5/10. If you want a more strategic Clue, check out Clue Master Detective. If you're looking for a light-hearted murder mystery game, regular Clue is probably as good, easier to get, and plays faster. If theme really matters to you, this is a good bet, or maybe Mystery of the Abbey; although both suffer from a lot of randomness.

Thread: Re: removing markers?

Philip Thomas — 2006-02-26T11:36:50+00:00

1) Yes, otherwise you could take a clue/item each turn by moving one away and one back...

2) There are 2 dice, you normally roll 1 but certain items make you roll 2. The red spot replaces 1 and 2.

Thread: removing markers?

fmoros — 2006-02-26T10:32:07+00:00

1- when you pick a clue card or item card, do you remove that plastic cross /magnifying glass markers from the board?

2- I dont have the right dice for the game. Are there 2 dice with 2 red spots instead "one and two"? or is it only one dice like that?

thanks
and
Happy games!!

Thread: More than Clue

Philip Thomas — 2005-09-04T09:08:23+00:00

Cluedo Supersleuth is a variant of Cluedo. For those who don't know, in Cluedo you try to find the solution to the murder of Dr. Black. You need to know whodunnit, what weapon they used and which room they killed him in. All three are represented by cards. One of each is put in the 'murder envelope', without anybody seeing what they are. That is the solution. Then the remaining cards are dealt out. During the game, you can make a suggestion. "It was Colonel Mustard in the Kitchen with the Revolver". The other players then show you any cards they have which disprove that theory. If none of them show you cards, you look in the Murder Envelope to confirm it, and if you are right you win the game. If you are wrong you can't play any more, except to show cards to other players when suggestions are made.

That is Cluedo. Now, Cluedo Supersleuth is rather similar, indeed identical down to the word 'solution' in the above paragraph. However, the remaining cards are not dealt out, but placed face down in a pile. These clues are obtained by the players as they wander round the house. The house layout is not known initially, but each time a player opens a door he takes a new room tile and places it next to the door, in whatever orientation he likes. (The party last night was so good that the guests have forgotten where the rooms are). To begin with, there is an Entrance Hall in play, but nothing else. Apart from the entrance hall, each room has one or two clues and one or two items in it. You pick these up by moving next to them. The items are a seperate card deck and allow you to do a wide range of things. For example, a Strong Cup of Coffee allows you to roll two dice when moving. Several items allow you to obtain clues, either by missing a turn, or by standing next to one of the neutral characters.

The neutral characters are an interesting addition. There are 3, Hogarth the Butler, Inspector Grey, and the Black Dog. They are not suspects for the Murder. They start the game off the board, but can be brought onto it by events. (The movement die has a red circle instead of the numbers 1 and 2, and when this is thrown an event card is turned up). They prevent movement through the square they are in. So you can stop someone from entering a room, or even box them in completely (very rare in practise).

Entering a room is important, because when you enter a room, if you stop on the first square, you can make a suggestion. Unlike normal Cluedo, this suggestion is only made to one player, not to all. He or she shows you any cards which disprove this. The room named in your suggestion must be the room you are in. You can bluff by suggesting a combination you know doesn't work (because you have the card, or someone showed it to you earlier). Certain event cards and items increase the number of suggestions you can make- Hogarth Announces it is Time for Tea allows the active player to make the same suggestion to every player, while the Hypnotists' Crystal Pendant allows you to make suggestions to people adjacent to you.

When you know the solution, you must go back to the telephone (in the Entrance Hall) and phone the police, telling everyone what you are claiming is the solution. Then you look in the Murder Envelope as normal.

The game is fun to play and divides into two phases, the first of which is a fairly light race game as you explore the house and pick up clues and items. The second stage, which more closely resembles traditional Cluedo is one of working out the solution through careful use of suggestions (Note that suggestions in the first phase are rather unhelpful, because not all the clue cards are in people's hands). There is then a race for the telephone at the end, assuming two or more people come to the solution at once. Having more clues than the others at the end of stage 1 is no guarantee of victory. Note-taking is obviously essential in stage 2, as indeed in Cluedo, and notepaper is provided, with all options marked. Clever notetakers can deduce things from the suggestions of others. Take care not to use notation that you won't be able to understand later.

There can be a roleplaying element in the game. My father always plays Colonel Mustard, a crusty old man who served in the British Army in India. I always play Professor Plum, an absent-minded professor. Besides referring to each other as "Mustard, Old Salt." and "Plum, Old Fruit.", we make all suggestions in character as well. This can annoy the other players, so be careful.

The components are very nice, thick, well painted tiles for the rooms, pewter pieces carved just as one imagined the characters would look, and durable cards.

The game takes at least an hour in my experience. Depends a bit on whether anyone tries to phone without being 100% sure. If they get it right the game will end rather sooner than usual.

This is a good gateway game of sorts, introducing people to tile placing and having a hand of cards to use. It has a lot of chaos in it though- the events happening 1 turn in 3 is a case in point. I rate it a 6, but then I am into heavier games.

Image

rogerjscott — 2005-07-21T15:39:07+00:00

Main Characters (L-R) Miss Scarlet, Rev Green, Colonel Mustard, Professor Plum, Mrs White and Mrs Peacock

Image

rogerjscott — 2005-07-21T15:39:07+00:00

Non Player Characters (L-R) Hogarth, The Black Dog, Inspector Grey

Image

rogerjscott — 2005-07-11T12:26:00+00:00

Image

rogerjscott — 2005-07-11T12:26:00+00:00

Image

kirklim — 2005-06-12T11:51:54+00:00

hall

Image

kirklim — 2005-06-12T11:51:54+00:00

event

Image

kirklim — 2005-06-12T11:51:54+00:00

drawing

Image

kirklim — 2005-06-12T11:51:54+00:00

dining

Image

kirklim — 2005-06-12T11:51:53+00:00

consevatory