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This article was co-authored by Nicole and Lee Smith and by wikiHow staff writer, Dev Murphy, MA. Nicole and Lee Smith are Historical European Martial Arts experts based in Manila, Philippines. Nicole is a noted rapier and Women’s longsword champion and is widely considered to be one of the world’s top female HEMA practitioners. She is one of North America's only women teaching Historical Fencing and has taught at noted events around the world. She is also known for her skill with the dagger/knife, and late-period sword and buckler. Lee Smith is one of the world's best historical fencers and top European Martial Arts coaches. With an impressive competitive career spanning 17 years, Lee boasts 51 first-place tournament finishes in a variety of disciplines, from combat knife to longsword and everything in between. In addition, he is a proven coach with his students winning and placing in dozens of tournaments worldwide. Lee holds a health sciences associate degree (pre-med focus) and is an ISSA-certified personal trainer.
There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.
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Professor Plum in the dining room with the revolver! Just practicing…Clue (or Cluedo in the UK) is everyone's favorite murder mystery board game, but what are the six original weapons? Keep scrolling: we've compiled a list of the iconic murder weapons from the classic game, including how they might be used to do away with someone (if you catch our drift). We'll also rank each weapon from most to least effective, taking into account factors like ease of use and cleanup, with help from Clue fans on Reddit. And stick around for a list of some lesser-known Clue weapons that appeared in later versions of the game! Keep reading to solve the mystery!
The 6 Classic Clue Weapons
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The original Clue game included 6 different murder weapons: the rope, the dagger, the wrench, the lead pipe, the candlestick, and the revolver. Later versions of the game included additional or different weapons, such as poison, an axe, a horseshoe, and a blunderbuss.
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The Original Clue Murder Weapons
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The wrench While a wrench is a metal tool that's usually used for tightening or loosening fasteners like nuts and bolts, presumably, in a game of Clue, a murderer would use a wrench to hit their their victim. A solid whack can really do some damage!- Weapon Rank: #1. While we initially didn't think too much of this weapon, Redditor @BrewertonFats' argument for giving it the #1 slot convinced us that maybe we'd underestimated this everyday blunt object: "Having a wrench is not by nature suspicious. You can inflict incredible damage to a person without actually harming the wrench. It's easy to hide, as you can leave it in a junk drawer or tool box. Most of all, it's silent." And honestly…they make some great points.
- Blunt objects (including but not limited to wrenches) represent only 2–3% of murder weapons in the United States every year—probably because the lethality of the weapon depends on how hard you hit the victim with it.[1]
- Looking for some Clue replacement weapons? Those tiny pieces are easy to lose. Thankfully, you can purchase a new set from Hasbro's Amazon store.
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The revolver A revolver is a handgun that usually has 6 chambers. In some versions of Clue, this weapon is a pistol or even simply a gun.[2] We don't know how exactly the murderer in the board game would use a gun without immediately drawing attention from everyone else in the house, but they might have used a silencer—or maybe the walls of that mansion are just really, really, really thick.- Weapon Rank: #2. Yes, you can do a lot of damage with a firearm. The only problem? "Whoever else is in the house is going to know that a gun has just been fired," as Redditor @GenericSpider notes. Plus, it's messy.
- Guns are overwhelmingly the number-one murder weapon in the United States for a reason: they can do a ton of damage in seconds, without the attacker even having to get that close to the victim.[3]
- Revolvers specifically make great murder weapons, since they don't automatically eject spent brass, meaning their casings are more difficult to trace than casings from semi-automatics or other firearms.[4]
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The dagger A dagger is a short knife with a pointed blade. Presumably, the Clue murderer would use a dagger to stab their victim to death, or maybe slit their throat. If they were really crafty, they might try to slit the victim's wrists and make the whole thing look like a suicide.- Weapon Rank: #3. "Knives. They are the scariest weapon out there," self defense trainer Ross Cascio insists. "Easy to obtain. Easy to conceal. Easy to use."[5] This should make the dagger (or the knife, in some editions) the #1 murder tool on our list—if it weren't one of the Clue weapons that's likely to leave behind the most evidence (in the form of, y'know, a fountain of blood).
- Knives are the second most common murder weapon in the United States.[6] However, the efficacy of the knife really depends on the type of blade it has, and Clue has actually featured a variety of knives over the decade, including an African tribal blade, an oriental dagger, and a plain old dinner knife.[7]
- But, as historical weapons experts Nicole and Lee Smith point out, you don't need some intimidating sword to get the job done: "Funny enough…most knife crime is actually committed with everyday Walmart kitchen knives," they say. "So things like [an] expensive knife collection—you're not going to find that in the hand of a criminal."[8] Unless they're in an elaborate mansion.
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The candlestick A candlestick is a heavy metal object that holds...you guessed it, candles. In the game, the murderer presumably uses a candlestick to thwack the victim upside the head. Sounds simple…and it probably is (not that we would know). Like the wrench, the candlestick is considered a blunt object, and so isn't a tremendously common murder weapon in real life—but when used right, it can do a ton of damage.- Weapon Rank: #4. An effective weapon that doubles as elegant decor. "Those old victorian candlesticks are heavy af and might as well be a mis-shapen lead pipe," Redditor @xxmindtrickxx argues. "Also could be very easy to hide in a fancy house." They've got a point. And honestly, depending on how beefy that candlestick really is, this could be our #1.
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The lead pipe Lead is actually poisonous, so a lead pipe is kind of like two weapons in one. As with the wrench and the candlestick, we assume the murderer would simply give their victim a few hard whacks in the head with the pipe. Maybe not as immediately effective as the knife or gun, but, like the wrench, still effective and easy to use. Clue sure loves their blunt objects, don't they?- Weapon Rank: #5. It's harder to justify carrying a lead pipe around than a candlestick. (Seriously, where do the Clue characters even get a lead pipe?)
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The rope Rope is a fairly common object, and in Clue, the murderer likely uses it to strangle the victim—but, as Redditor @Fragraham points out, "If you can tie a noose, and forge the victim's handwriting, you have an easy way to frame the whole thing as a suicide."- Weapon Rank: #6. Strangling someone with a rope might make for an easy cleanup, but unless you're a skilled assassin, you're probably going to struggle a bit. It'll take a while, and the victim is likely to squirm and even attack you the whole time. Final opinion: the rope is the big fat loser of the bunch.
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References
- ↑ https://www.gravesthomas.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-blunt-force-head-trauma/
- ↑ https://cluepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Revolver
- ↑ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36148686/
- ↑ https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crime-courts/2016/11/19/how-can-investigators-trace-bullets-to-a-particular-gun/
- ↑ Ross Cascio. Self Defense Trainer. Expert Interview
- ↑ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36148686/
- ↑ https://cluepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Dagger
- ↑ Nicole and Lee Smith. Historical Weapons Experts. Expert Interview
- https://cluepedia.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Clue_weapons
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