Solve the crime in the quickest time 3 to 4 players ages 8 and up
If you’ve been around Family Game Shelf for any time, you’ve probably noticed that we love deduction games. Clue has been a long standing favorite of ours for years. We have Clue Jr and love watching the Clue movie. So Clue in a card game? Bring on the Clue Suspect game!
Setting Up Clue Suspect
First, there are three type of card in Clue Suspect. First, there are the orange evidence cards. Next are the case file cards. Last are the cards that have the plus symbol on them; these are for advanced play.
To start, all of the cards marked with the plus symbol are pulled out. There are orange evidence cards and case file cards with this symbol. When you are ready to play the advanced game, the cards are put back in.
The orange evidence cards are separated into their categories—suspects, rooms and weapons. The piles are then shuffled and one from each pile is then placed under the guilty card facedown. This is the answer to the game.
Next, the case files are sorted into their symbol piles. Each symbol has the same cards and each player gets a pile of one symbol. For example, a player gets all the cards marked with the camera symbol.
The next step is to deal out the remaining evidence cards face down to all the players. Now the game can begin.
Playing Clue Suspect
To start, players look through the evidence cards that they were delft. Then, they pull out the matching case file cards and place them on the table face down.
When all players are ready, the first player asks the player to her left about two cards—these can be any two cards. You could ask about a suspect and a room or you could ask about two weapons. You can even ask about cards in your own hand.
The player on the left, then has to show her one card if he has one or more of the asked for items. She now looks at the card, passes it back and then takes the case file card in her own hand and places it face down on the table.
The player on her left then gets to ask the player on his left about two items.
Accusing and Winning Clue Suspect
When a player thinks she knows the answer, she can accuse on her turn. When accusing, a player lays the three cards face down on the table.
Now, other players can also accuse. They, too, place their cars on the table facedown.
If it is just one player accusing, then she peeks at the cards under the guilty card. If she is correct, she wins. On the other hand, if she has accused wrong, she is out of the game but stays to pass cards when asked.
When more than one player is accusing, the players get to look at the answer in order as to who accused first. The first player with the correct answer wins.
On the other hand, if no one has accused correctly, the criminal wins!
Two Player Clue Suspect
It is possible to play Clue Suspect with just two players. The plus cards are added in and play is the same except for when accusing. Both players need to accuse to end the game. The first player to accuse, with the correct answer, wins.
What We Like
First, we like that Clue Suspect takes much less time and space than the original game. We like that it is easy to play takes only a minute to learn. Also, the quality is good
What We Don’t Like
To be honest, we had high hopes for this game, but they fell short. Maybe it’s because we’re intense Clue players, or maybe our kids are just too old (the box does say 8 and up), but we found that everyone learned the answer at the same time. I think that if they were younger, that it would be more fun and more challenging.
We were also looking forward to the two player option. However, it played the same as three and more and we had the same problem that we both knew the answer at the same time.
Last, adding in the extra plus cards only lengthened the game, it didn’t make it different or more challenging.
Is Clue Suspect Worth Adding to you Family Game Shelf?
This answer is a two-part one. First, if your kids are younger, and/or your family hasn’t player a ton of Clue then I think it is worth adding this simple card game to your Family Game Shelf. On the other hand, if you’ve played a lot of Clue and your kids are older, I’d say to probably skip this card game and pull out the original board game.
Rating:
To get your Clue Suspect, you can shop here. Canadians can get theirs here. To get more Clue, check out Clue Jr and the Clue Movie review. You can also check out other deduction games such as Mastermind, Saboteur and We Detectives. Clue is a Hasbro game.
Pro: fast, easy to learn
Con: too easy for older players
Mom: critical thinking,
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