(Also called "Cluedo" in
British Commonwealth countries.)
Board/card game marketed by Parker Brothers (now Hasbro) since 1949, it recreates the atmosphere of the country house murder mysteries made famous by Agatha Christie and other writers. The implied plot line is simple: a group of various socialites and servants are assembled at Mr. Boddy's spacious country seat, which comprises eight rooms. To make a definitive collar on whodunit, the various characters must identify who it was, with which weapon, and exactly where it happened (as determined by three cards drawn at the beginning of the game, and secreted away on a dark staircase in the middle of the board).
Game play is less interesting, alas, than the dollhouse-like game board, cards and pieces -- the rope, in many early sets, is an actual piece of thick string, the lead pipe is a small, malleable piece of lead, and the characters on the cards have an agreeably noirish look. Alas, this isn't carried over in most modern sets....