I love the Simpson’s board games.  One of my favorites is the Simpson’s Clue game. I happen to own The Simpson’s Clue, 2^nd Edition, which according to Amazon is selling for $105.99, I bought it for $30 when it first came out (I have seen it cheaper than what Amazon is selling it for though, so do look around before you buy it).

What is so cool about The Simpson’s Clue is that you are trying to find out who killed Mr. Burns, when on the television show, we all know it was Maggie, but in the game, it could be anyone (I think they purposely took Maggie out from the game so it would not interfere with the show’s plot).  There are six characters, just like in the normal Clue: Homer as Mr. Green, Krusty the Clown as Col. Mustard, Bart as Prof. Plum, Marge as Mrs. Peacock, Lisa as Miss Scarlet and Waylon Smithers as Mrs. White.  There are also six different weapons, just like in the original Clue game, but with a Simpson’s twist: a poisoned donut, extend-o-glove, necklace, slingshot, plutonium rod, and a saxophone.  Last, but not least there are nine locations, just like in the original Clue game, but again, Simpson’s style: Barney’s Bowl-A-Rama, Krustylu Studios, Nuclear Power Plant, The Simpson’s House, The Frying Dutchman (Sushi restaurant), Kwik-E-Mart, Burns Manor, Springfield Retirement Castle, and The Android’s Dungeon (Comic book store).   The illustrations on the game board are brilliant.

How the game is played:

Players: 3-6

Ages: 8+

Object of the game:  Chief Wiggum finds wealthy industrialist Charles Montgomery Burns dead, and it looks like foul play.  Wiggum rounds up six likely suspects: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Krusty and Waylon Smithers.  The fingered suspects, dressed up as their favorite Clue character, try to figure out who bumped of Mr. Burns.  To win, you must determine the answers to these three questions: Who did it?  Where?  And with what Weapon?

To start the game off, one card from each category is chosen randomly and put into the “secret envelope”.  Next, the cards are shuffled and passed out to all the remaining players (it is okay if not everyone gets an even amount of cards).  Make sure to set out all the weapons in any of the rooms as well as all the player pieces, even if not all are being used.

Each player starts on their respective square, and Lisa Simpson, aka Miss Scarlet always goes first, after her it is clockwise. You roll the dice to see where you can move to, and it is your choice as to which rooms you would like to enter, although if you have one of the rooms as one of your cards you do not need to enter it.

If you enter a room and want to make a suggestion of who might have killed Mr. Burns, you can bring in any suspect and any weapon into that room that you choose.  In order for players to prove you wrong with your suggestion, it starts out with the player to your left.  If they have one or more cards (although they only need to show you one), then they choose which card, if more than one to show you to prove that your suggestion is wrong.  If the player to your left does not have any of the cards that you suggested, the next player clockwise checks to see if they have any cards, if they do, they secretly show you, if not, it continues on.  If no players have the cards for your suggestion, you may either end your turn or make your accusation now by saying “I accuse (suspect) of committing the crime in the (location) with the (weapon).”  You then take a look at the cards in the secret envelope (so no one else can see).  If your accusation is correct, you win.  If not, you lose and can no longer move your character within the game, but you can prove your opponents wrong on their suggestions of the murder.

Note – to make a suggestion, your character has to be in the room of that suggestion, but if you are making an accusation, it does not have to be in that room.  For example, if you are in The Simpson House and know that the only weapon left is the Slingshot and the only person left is Homer Simpson, but you are not sure if The Simpson house or the Kwik-E-Mart is the killing location, once you are in the Simpson house, you can suggest it happened there.  Once someone proves you wrong, and you for sure know that it is in the Kwik-E-Mart, you can now make an accusation, even though you are not in the Kwik-E-Mart.

This is a really fun version of Clue, especially if you are a Simpson’s fan.  I highly recommend it!