This story is part of Amazon Prime Day, CNET’s guide to everything you need to know and how to find the best deals.
The classic board game Clue has been a family standard since 1949 and has inspired many spinoffs, including versions based on Star Wars, Game of Thrones, The Simpsons and, one of my personal favorites, the Golden Girls.
Some of the Clue spinoffs are pure branding exercises, but others provide twists that liven up the standard gameplay. After all, the original version includes a lot of rolling dice and waiting your turn. My very favorite of all of the Clue variations — Clue: Wizarding World Harry Potter Edition — is on sale during Amazon Prime Day for just $25, a cool 35% off the regular price.
Clue: Wizarding World Harry Potter Edition (which everyone I know calls “Harry Potter Clue”) takes the usual action of the original Clue — using deductive reasoning to figure out the who, how and where of a crime — and adds role-playing elements like “House Points,” spells, helper cards and a constantly shifting board that keeps everyone interested in the game (even if they have no idea who the culprit is).
Read more: Best Board Game Deals for Amazon Prime Day October 2022.
Instead of rolling the standard two six-sided dice each turn, players in Harry Potter Clue — represented by Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Chamberlain, Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley — also roll an additional “Hogwarts” die, which contains all four houses, a Help mark and the Dark Mark. If a house like Gryffindor or Slytherin comes up, the active player rotates that corner of the board, which will close or open doors and shift passages, just like in the real Hogwarts.
Help cards like items, allies or spells can prevent damage from Dark Mark attacks.
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The Dark Mark inflicts damage to a select group of players, usually determined by location. Each player starts the game with a set number of “House Points” (which are basically hit points) that varies depending on how many are playing. If Dark Mark attacks take away all of your House Points, you’re out of the game.
Some Clue traditionalists might balk at a player diligently deducing the criminal, weapon and location and then getting knocked out of the game before they can make their accusation (in Dumbledore’s Office, of course), and I’ve gotta say, it’s not fun when it happens to you (or a five-year-old). However, I’ve found that the unexpected threat of the Dark Mark speeds the game along nicely and also creates some interesting gameplay around collecting Help cards, which can protect your House Points.
If you’re looking for a board game that could work for the whole family, and your kids enjoy Harry Potter, it’s worth giving Clue: Wizarding World Harry Potter Edition a try, especially at $25 during Prime Day.