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Invention: Clue in 1944
Clue board game photo courtesy Hasbro
Function: noun / Trademark
Definition: The classic whodunit board game! Poor Mr. Buddy's been murdered in his own stately home! Who could have done it? And how? And where? With six suspects, six possible murder weapons and nine rooms in the mansion, there are hundreds of possibilities, and plenty of clues to investigate!
Patent: GB586817 UK issued 1947
Inventor: Anthony Ernest Pratt
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Criteria: First to invent. First to patent. Modern prototype.
Birth: 1904
Death: 1994 near Birmingham England
Nationality: British
Milestones:
1944 Anthony E. Pratt invents Cluedo and files for patent.
1947 Patent awarded to Mr. Pratt. Sell rights to Waddington's Games.
1949 Waddington's Games markets Cluedo game.
1949 Parker Brothers buys U.S. rights to game and renames it Clue.
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Story:
Mr. Anthony E. Pratt, invented the classic "who dunnit" game, CLUE®. Mr. Pratt, who described himself as "an introvert full of ruminations, speculations and imaginative notions", came up with the idea for the murder game in 1944. To their neighbors, Anthony E. Pratt and his wife appeared to be an unassuming couple similar to hundreds of other elderly people who had chosen to retire to the south coast near Bournemouth, England. What few realized was that Mr. and Mrs. Pratt were specialists in savage murder and dark deeds.

After many years of perfecting the mechanics of the game and filing a provisional specification (12/1/1944) at the Patent Office, Mr. and Mrs. Pratt visited Waddington's Games in Leeds, England to discuss the possibilities for its manufacture. They were accompanied to the meeting by their friends, Mr. and Mrs. Bull, who had already invented a successful game called Buccaneer.

Waddington's personnel played the first game with the Pratt's and the Bull's in the office of the Managing Director, Norman Watson. Mr. Watson immediately recognized CLUE® as a winner. Due to post-war shortages of various materials, there were some delays before the game was finally launched in 1949.

Parker Brothers obtained the U.S. rights to the CLUE® game from Waddington's in 1949 and has successfully marketed the game ever since. The CLUE® game has become one of America's favorite classic board games.

CLUE® is today sold in over 40 countries from Brazil to Sweden, New Zealand to Abu Dhabi. In England, the game is called "CLUEDO", in Brazil, "Detective". The same successful formula works when translated into any language.