Everything Old is New Again

We always try to buy new board games for the kids for Christmas, sometimes for birthdays and sometimes just because one we like the look of is on sale. R's Christmas game this year was Cluedo, Discover the Secrets. I had fond memories of Cluedo and was really looking forward to playing it with my family. We've played Cluedo many times (at least three times a week) since Christmas, you're got to love a game that truly is different every time you play it.

This Christmas though; Cluedo was really different. Professor Plum is not a Professor anymore! Nor is Mrs White a Chef.  :o Where does it end I hear you calling, well, it doesn't it seems all the Cluedo characters have taken on different careers and even, shockingly, different pasts! Tell me, how is that even possible?



The characters I remembered were:
Miss Scarlett: A young and very attractive femme fatale with dark hair
Rev. Green: A plump middle aged man, I seem to recall he is balding and wears traditional vicars garb of black "cloak" and white collar.
Colonel Mustard: A colonial military man, wearing a tweed suit and monocle. He has white hair with fuzzy mutton chops and a moustache.
Mrs White: A cheerful plump middle aged cook with white hair.
Professor Plum: a middle aged man, the typical "absent minded professor" with a pipe, glasses and a bow tie.
and
Mrs Peacock: an attractive, elegant, dignified older lady, she has grey hair and holds an eyeglass of some kind.

In our new Discover the Secrets version the characters are:

Kassandra Scarlett; an attractive, manipulative and charming young lady who is photographically portrayed on the character card as a Eurasian character. She is at the center of every social event and is the hottest star on the movie scene, She has all the attention of all the celebrity madasines. Her biggest fear is that the press will uncover the shady things she did to claw her way to the top.

Jacob Green; an attractive young man who is both sneaky and professional, he is a sharp dresser, pictured as an African American.  Need help with connections, getting noticed, getting ahead... Green is the man on the scene with all the ins; although nobody is really sure how he gets it all done. But keep in mind, nothing comes for free and you can be sure that someday you'll get a call from him cashing in on all those favour.(sic. Yes, there's an error on the instruction booklet.)

Jack Mustard: a strong athletic man and a great story teller, he is aged in his early 40s and is Caucasian judging on his photo. Once the most sought after celebrity football player, age has finally caught up to him; now a sports announcer relying on his good looks and popularity. His stories are larger than life but how much longer will his fame last? He will not resign himself o becoming an unknown.

Diane White: is a frustrated and jealous Caucasian lady, in her late 30s to early 40s, she is attractive but bares a worried expression. Living in the shadow of her childhood acting fame she is constantly reminding others of her past success, White has found it difficult to move on. She tries hard not to take the others' lack of appreciation personally and she'll be the first to tell you, "My day will come, one way or the other."

Victor Plum: is a smart and clever young man, probably late 20s to early 30s wearing glasses and a tie. A self-made video-game deisgn billionaire that moved out of the dingy basement and into a life of luxury. Now part of the "In Crowd," he questions his new friends' intentions. But hey, let's face it, attention is good no matter where it's coming from... and hes going to make the most of it while it lasts.

and

Eleanor Peacock: an older (yet not elderly, think Meryl Streep) lady who is powerful and cold-hearted. Coming from a wealthy family of politicians, she's known to raise money for any cause as long as she is in the spotlight. She appears calm, cool and collected at all times - ordering her assistants to do her dirty work. She is very concerned with proper behaviour... Forgetting to put your napkin on your lap at one of her dinner parties could be a "deadly" mistake.

These are a very Americanised set of characters for the apparently Australian version of the game. Each character has a "power" such as Once per game you may move twice. Roll the dice, move, then roll again. These are completely random though and not in any way related to the personalities of the characters. I feel a great deal of effort has been taken to create these character bios and they sadly have little relevance to the game. A little more creativity and the game could've been ramped up substantially (by using the characters' personalities in governing the way they interact with each other when making accusations for example) whilst retaining the feeling of the original game.

None of which will stop us from playing and loving Cluedo.