in which i live up to this website’s title.

Before reading, I suggest you catch up on the Rules of Clue(do) (if you even care at all).

This past Monday, I spent the better part of my day at my dad’s house. I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of the board game CLUE (a Christmas gift from said “dad”), and we finally decided to break it out. I used to play the game loads as a kid, but I hadn’t played it in … maybe nearly fifteen years? With all of my talk about what an “amateur sleuth” I am, and all of my Nancy Drew-obsessiveness, I was nervous to play. What if I was bad at it? What if I couldn’t guess correctly? What if I’d been a fraud all along?

Well, I shouldn’t have been so nervous because I effing ran that game! Dad, littlest sister, and I played the game four times in a row (we decided we’d finish out a Detective’s Pad sheet), and I won every single time.

Now, I’ve heard that there is a way to play the game which causes you to win each time. I’ve no clue how that is even possible, but suffice it to say, I don’t do whatever that is. I’d rather win, fair and square. And, it’s fun to play and win, but it’s also nice to play with admirable opponents. So, I’ve decided to let loose on some of my tricks of the sleuthing trade:

Keep track of everyone’s guesses. If you’re playing with amateurs, they’ll likely make guesses that don’t include any cards they already have. So, if a new player guesses Mrs. Peacock with the Candlestick in the Hall – they, most probably, have none of those cards. New players don’t know how to trick. Unfortunately, my littlest sister fell into this category on Monday. She was closest to the Dining Room, and was on her way there; she took one look at her cards and changed her mind. Clue!!!!

Throw the other players off. Every so often, guess a character or weapon you have, just to see which ones the other players have or don’t have, and to let them think you don’t have said character or weapon (or room, for that matter).

Keep track of everyone’s cards. If someone makes a Suggestion that includes two of your cards, and someone disproves it by showing one of their cards – duh, this means that the third part to that guess isn’t in the envelope containing the Murderer, Weapon, and Room! For example, say someone makes the same guess as above – Mrs. Peacock with the Candlestick in the Hall – and you have Mrs. Peacock and the Candlestick, but someone shows the guesser one of their cards. That means they’ve got the Hall, so you can cross that off of your Detective’s Pad!

Ok, I thought I had more tricks, but that’s pretty much it. There’s not much else you can do without just flat out cheating. Which is both wrong and lame. Wouldn’t you want to be a full-blown Trixie Belden or Hardy Boy, the real way, instead of just pretend?

Mystery is serious business for me.