Clue: The Office game

How Clue: The Office Edition was developed

Because I am such a geek about all things Office, I had to ask a few questions about how Clue: The Office Edition was developed.

How did the idea for an Office Clue game come about?
In 2008, Hasbro “re-invented” the classic game of CLUE. It still is centers around the familiar “Who,” “What,” and “Where,” but some contemporary wrinkles and twists have been added. The usual suspects (Scarlet, Green, Mustard, Peacock, White and Plum) have been updated to exemplify particular personality archetypes. Upon exploring those, the characters from The Office mirrored those archetypes in a startling way. That was really the spark that set the project in motion.

How long did it take to design it?
Game development for a CLUE game is approximately 3 to 4 months.

Did you work closely with The Office staff and/or NBC?
NBC was instrumental in providing insight, fantastic assets and reference material to make this game possible.

How many people were on the development/design team?
There is a lead creative and a lead project manager responsible for the majority of the visual and internal content, with support coming from other members of the creative and product development departments as well as from hardcore fans of The Office.

Are the members of your team diehard Office fans?
Absolutely! We experienced what is probably a familiar pattern: Huge fans of the UK series, followed by nervous anticipation upon hearing about a U.S. series, followed by not being sure if this is going to work after the first episode, followed by watching the U.S. show find its legs and carving out its own identity to become one of the best and funniest shows of all time.

From the photos, it looks like the game has great attention to detail (weapons, photos, etc). Can you talk more about that?
The goal for CLUE: The Office Edition is to not only be a fun board game, but to celebrate the characters and humor from the show. We explore all of the components and look for subtle and sometimes less subtle ways to deliver. There is a lot to discover on the game board, Angela’s “babies playing saxophone,” a union jack on Michael’s desk and Pam’s painting of the building in reception are some of the obvious ones. Look closely on the carpet in Michael’s office for something less obvious. There are a lot more to find as well.

How did you decide on the different weapons? Were there any that ended up being axed?
We could have just used all the weapons that Dwight has had confiscated but where is the fun in that? The thinking behind the weapons was to have a mix of episode specific items (bicycle chain, grill, “Mr. A Knife”) and items that you would find on any given day at the Dunder Mifflin, Scranton office (Dundee Trophy, Michael’s World’s Best Boss Mug, a ream of paper).

As far as getting axed, most were from the above mentioned Dwight Schrute hidden arsenal, such as the blow gun in the toilet, sais and his samurai sword.

Why Toby?
As the game centers around Michael Scott forcing the employees to play a real life version of CLUE, there seemed to be no other choice of victim than HR rep., Toby Flenderson. One of our favorite Michael quotes on the subject of Toby, “I hate … so much about the things that you choose to be.”

Anything else you would like Office fans to know about the game?
We hope fans get a sense of the respect and adoration we at USAopoly have for The Office when playing this edition of CLUE.

Thanks again to USAOPOLY for all the information about the game!

I’ve never played Clue, but this looks like fun. Hey Tallyheads, if you get this game, please comment with your feedback!

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71 comments

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1. 
   71. Jody  Mon. Dec. 28, 2009 | 6:11pm

   I was so excited to get The Office Clue for Christmas!! Just played it tonight and loved it. I was the only Office fan playing so I got to tell them about the characters, places and weapons!! I won, of course!! :)

2. 
   70. Jessica  Mon. Dec. 28, 2009 | 7:04am

   I love this game but missing some pieces…where can I go to buy replacement pieces?

3. 
   69. Koos  Fri. Dec. 25, 2009 | 11:45pm

   I was soooooo excited to get The Office Clue for Christmas!! The gameboard and parts are so true to the show, and it’s fantastic. I especially like the “World’s Best Boss” mug as a weapon and the fact that there is a “This man is a pervert” poster just barely visible on the fridge in the breakroom. haha!

4. 
   68. weemanwise  Mon. Nov. 16, 2009 | 5:29pm

   I ordered it from Borders.com on Friday, I am now waiting for it to ship and then arrive. I can’t wait!

5. 
   67. Christmas Goose  Sun. Nov. 15, 2009 | 6:24pm

   Played it today. It was really fun, confusing at first, but that’s normal. Got it for 24.99. I wanted Clue anyway, so why not Office Clue.

   Good Game!

6. 
   66. Jeff  Fri. Nov. 13, 2009 | 9:56am

   JCPenny has the game for $29.99 on sale from $50. Also if you use a JCP charge card you can get an additional 10-30% off on the game. I got it in store Wednesday for about $25 with my mom’s charge card. not bad!

7. 
   65. Koos  Tue. Nov. 10, 2009 | 2:09pm

   Target has it! Link But with the coupon codes I think Borders is still the cheapest way to go

8. 
   64. Seth  Thu. Oct. 29, 2009 | 1:43pm

   To get 40% off at Borders use code: BRE1129H

   $24 is pretty cheap or add a dollar book for free shipping.

9. 
   63. mandyw2009  Fri. Oct. 23, 2009 | 8:55pm

   Thanks, phyllis*farm, for posting the link to that coupon! I saw it at Borders but the $40 price was a little much for me.

   Thank you, Tanster, for letting us have a forum to help out fellow Office fans! :)

10. 
    62. phyllis*farm  Sat. Sep. 26, 2009 | 7:07am

    Borders stores are now carrying them for $39.99 but with the various coupons you can get here it’s prolly the cheapest around.

11. 
    61. Linda  Fri. Sep. 11, 2009 | 1:10pm

    Just arrived from the NBC store! I played w/ my sisters and it’s so much fun. I won – yay! :)

    #61 – Jack : the box says for 3-6 players.

12. 
    60. Jack  Tue. Sep. 1, 2009 | 7:24am

    is the game for 2 players or more or 3 or more. I have only one person to play with. : (

13. 
    59. phyllis*farm  Mon. Aug. 31, 2009 | 8:25am

    $50 at JC Penney? Yikes.

    While I didn’t see it at Target they did have a Harry Potter version for $15 and the price label was a non-specific “Clue Special Edition” or something like that which leads me to believe they might eventually carry the Office version.

14. 
    58. pampong  Sun. Aug. 30, 2009 | 12:11pm

    I have also seen that the game is available at JC Penney, but it is more expensive. They are charging $50.

15. 
    57. oliver  Fri. Aug. 28, 2009 | 4:16pm

    Bought it! yay!

16. 
    56. tanster  Thu. Aug. 27, 2009 | 7:44pm

    If you’re not sure how to retweet, use RT like this:

    Link

17. 
    55. Ginger  Thu. Aug. 27, 2009 | 7:42pm

    I RT … But I don’t know if I did it right. I’m still fairly new to Twitter and don’t understand it fully yet.

18. 
    54. chappa  Thu. Aug. 27, 2009 | 7:33pm

    do you want

    @OfficeTally Enter to win THE OFFICE Clue Game! Follow @officetally and RT by 11pm PT Friday 8/28. Game info: http://bit.ly/11GP5f

    or

    Enter to win THE OFFICE Clue Game! Follow @officetally and RT by 11pm PT Friday 8/28. Game info: http://bit.ly/11GP5f

    i am horrible at tweeting

19. 
    53. Scott  Thu. Aug. 27, 2009 | 1:22pm

    I love The Office and I am a huge CLUE fan so when I saw this in April I sent it to my mom to buy me for my birthday, which she did. So I’m now just waiting like everyone else.

20. 
    52. Christine  Wed. Aug. 26, 2009 | 2:49pm

    You can pre-order at the NBC store, it ships out on August 27th. :)

    [from tanster: thanks! added nbc store to "where to buy" links]

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