Harry Potter Week: Solve the Mystery of Harry Potter Clue

I’ve been looking forward to Clue: World Of Harry Potter since Toy Fair. Usually I hate when a brand takes over a classic, but I’m willing to make an exception for dear Harry Potter. Plus, here’s a case where the brand is an excellent fit and actually brings something to the game you grew up with.

This isn’t just a simple case of trading in Colonel Mustard for Lucius Malfoy and the Billiard Room for the Forbidden Forest. In the beginning you choose one of the Hogwarts students to go missing from the set of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Ginny, and Neville. Then each player becomes one of the remaining students. As with regular clue, you go from location to location and make guesses about who did it, with what, and where, and your opponents show you cards to help you narrow down whodunnit.

Where the extra Harry Potter magic comes in is with the board. For starters, you can use points to travel by Floo Network from location to location, but the Floo Network isn’t always available. At the start of each turn, you roll two dice. One of the dies tells you which of the four wheels under the board to spin. This opens and closes doors and Floo Networks to the various locations, and if you’re quite unlucky, it can make the Dark Mark appear.

While I think the business of the Dark Mark complicated the game (you mostly lose Floo Points unless you’ve secured a helper card that works against the Dark Mark card), the ever-changing board makes it worthwhile.

Depending on what kind of Harry Potter fan you are, you might miss the heroes. Once you choose what player you want to be, that student is just represented by a color. See? Here’s Hermione:

There’s no Dumbledore and no Hogwarts teachers (not even Snape). So, only you’re left thinking about the villains, and what charmed object or curse they used in their crime.

If you like Clue and you’re a fan of Harry Potter, though, you’re bound to like this version.

I received a review copy of this game.