Fancy the idea of traipsing around downtown Fort Lauderdale solving a murder case colder than the Florida Panthers arena?
Now wannabe sleuths can with “Clue: A Walking Mystery,” an immersive big-city version of the iconic whodunit, which will leap from its board-game trappings onto Las Olas Boulevard from March 20 to April 6.
During the family friendly scavenger hunt, players will strut downtown cosplaying as Miss Scarlett and Professor Plum, clue-hunting at nine Fort Lauderdale destinations to solve a timeworn mystery: Who killed Mr. Boddy, with what murder weapon, and where within the walls of his Tudor mansion?
Justin Barbin for Right Angle Entertainment / Courtesy
Costumed butlers explain the rules to players during a recent “Clue: A Walking Mystery” stop in Chicago. (Justin Barbin for Right Angle Entertainment/Courtesy)
“The clues are pretty tough,” says organizer Kevin Hammonds, whose company Right Angle Entertainment produces the hunt in collaboration with toy outfit Hasbro. “You’re going from location to location and you have to solve the clues hidden in each place, and they’re not easy.”
Sheesh. How about you never tell us the odds, Kevin?
Even so Clue, an 82-year-old game predicated on murder, remains an enduring family friendly draw after all these decades, Hammonds says.
“There’s definitely a nostalgic pull to this. Adults are like, ‘Oh, I played this as a kid, so let’s bring our kids to this.’ And it’s also bringing younger generations to the performing arts theater who might not otherwise visit,” he says.
Naturally, the rules are slightly updated from the original 1943 board game. For one, there’s neither a board game nor dice nor murder weapons to hold (plastic or otherwise). Instead participants — the game’s detectives — are handed an “auction catalog” describing various pieces of antique furniture from Mr. Boddy’s mansion, from a grandfather clock to a Prohibition-era liquor cabinet.
The game kicks off at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ Peck Courtyard and fans out to downtown locales including The Riverside Hotel, Stranahan House, Hoffman’s Chocolates and two restaurants, The House on the River and Emily’s Garden. At each stop, gumshoes must identify the antique, decipher the clue hidden within and methodically whittle down each suspect, setting and blunt object.
Justin Barbin for Right Angle Entertainment / Courtesy
Players search for clues hidden within antique furniture during a recent “Clue: A Walking Mystery” stop in Chicago. (Justin Barbin for Right Angle Entertainment/Courtesy)
How much walking is involved? Try 1.5 miles, Hammonds says. So maybe leave Mrs. Peacock’s heels at home.
And for those who prefer “Clue: A Walking Mystery” without much of the walking, the Fort Lauderdale Water Taxi and LauderGO! Community Shuttle will transport players from the Broward Center to Las Olas and back for free as part of their admission.
Fort Lauderdale, for some odd reason, has become a twilight zone for board games lately. A “Monopoly: Fort Lauderdale Edition” officially released in January, after Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis and bow-tied mascot Mr. Monopoly made publicity stops around the city to promote it. (What’s next, the Fort Lauderdale government edition of Guess Who?).
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “Clue: A Walking Mystery”
WHEN: Teams can participate at 20-minute intervals from 5-7 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays, from March 20-April 6
WHERE: Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
COST: Starts at $39 a person
INFORMATION: 954-462-0222; BrowardCenter.org