The Fayetteville Observer, N.C., Rodger Mullen column: Mess with game? Hasbro needs to get a clue

Sep 02, 2008 (The Fayetteville Observer - McClatchy-Tribune News Service via COMTEX) -- HAS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Sep. 2--What's new with Clue?

Well, for one thing, Col. Mustard is now Jack Mustard, and he's traded in his safari hat for a football helmet.

Also, a theater and spa have been added to the warren of rooms that may or may not have been the site of a murder.

And as for the weapon that may have been used in that murder: Hello, ax. Goodbye, lead pipe.

After nearly 60 years, Hasbro has updated the game that has kept countless players puzzling over whether it was Professor Plum in the kitchen with a rope, or perhaps Miss Scarlett in the conservatory with a revolver.

In the new version of the game, which debuts this fall, some of the characters have been given new identities and backstories. For instance, Col. Mustard has morphed into former football star Jack Mustard, and Professor Plum is now billionaire video game designer Victor Plum.

Rooms have been added, as well as a guest house. And the list of possible weapons has increased by three, with a dumbbell, trophy and poison added to the mix. The lead pipe, revolver and wrench are no longer part of the game.

Oddest of all, the characters have been given "special powers" that can help players discover clues more quickly.

"I think that they're trying to create an entirely different game and use the Clue brand to sell it," said Logan Abbitt, a longtime Clue fan who works in Fayetteville. He has discussed some of the game's changes on Internet message boards.

He thinks some of the alterations, especially these so-called "special powers," are misguided.

"It's not that I object to change, but some of the changes they're proposing seem to completely miss the point," he says.

For people like me, who grew up with Clue, it's like they remade Candyland without Gum Drop Mountain.

We spent hours rolling dice and puzzling over who killed poor Mr. Boddy, and where, and with what implement of death.

We memorized the personalities of the various suspects -- Dashing Col. Mustard, scatterbrained Professor Plum, colorful Mrs. Peacock. And we treasured the tiny murder weapons that came with the game: So small, yet so deadly.

Local Clue fans expressed concern that the game they love has been changed in an attempt to make it relevant to the computer generation. There's a reason Clue is a classic, they said.

Robin Deffendall, manager of the Bordeaux branch of the Cumberland County Public Library, remembers playing Clue with her brother and sister when she was growing up. They still play when they get together, she said.

"I always liked the logic aspect of it. That was always a big interest of mine," Deffendall said. "I just like to be able to solve a puzzle that way."

Along with the original Clue, Deffendall played a 3-D version of the game called "Clue -- The Great Museum Caper" that came out several years ago. It was fun, but the original remains the best, she said.

Deffendall said she worries that the new Clue will be missing some of the aspects she loves most about the game.

"I don't mind there being different weapons and different rooms, and the character bios are OK, but it sort of changes the picture I have in my head of the characters," she said. "I'd be a little bit worried that changing the rules would make it not as much fun."

Abbitt also isn't keen on changing the setting of the game, making it less Agatha Christie and more "MTV Cribs."

"For me, part of it is the mood and atmosphere," he said. "I like escaping into the old English manor mystery. I think that's a big part of it."

I haven't played Clue in years, so I can't say I have much of an opinion on the changes. I'm curious to see if the game will still be as much fun as I remember it from my youth.

A word of warning to Hasbro, though: Don't you go getting any ideas about Candyland.

Staff writer Rodger Mullen can be reached at mullenr@fayobserver.com or 486-3561.

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