Vonnegut invented Clue?

[snopes]

Comment: Maybe I read it in one of his books, but is Vonnegut in anyway
responsible for the game of Clue? Contributing creator or even the
original picture of the professor on the box?

[Eve MG]

I found this:

Kurt Vonnegut writes, in Fates Worse Than Death, that his friend, Kedikai Lipton ( half Japanese, half Irish) , is Miss Scarlett pictured on the box of the Parker Bros. game CLUE.

[moonfall]

I always thought Miss Scarlett (at least in the artwork from about 10 years ago) looked vaguely Asian.

[Richard W]

Nobody invented "Clue" - somebody invented Cluedo and then it was renamed "Clue" for the American market because apparently (according to your publishing industry then and now) Americans don't get puns or unfamiliar references.

Here's a history of the game that doesn't suggest he has anything to do with the overall development of the game. It's English, for flip's sake.

Not that he may not have later known a model for some of the US artwork, but it seems very unlikely he'd have been involved in the creation of the game itself.

[Towknie]

I always thought Vonnegut invented sunscreen!

[ganzfeld]

Originally Posted by Richard W

Nobody invented "Clue" - somebody invented Cluedo and then it was renamed "Clue" for the American market because apparently (according to your publishing industry then and now) Americans don't get puns or unfamiliar references.

Are you saying the British don't have a Clue?

[VeebleFetzer]

Originally Posted by Richard W

Nobody invented "Clue" - somebody invented Cluedo and then it was renamed "Clue" for the American market because apparently (according to your publishing industry then and now) Americans don't get puns or unfamiliar references.

Well, it's not much of a pun, is it? And it only works if you're already familiar with Ludo. The American version of that game is Parcheesi – ClueCheesi, anyone?

[We'veBeenHad]

Originally Posted by moonfall

I always thought Miss Scarlett (at least in the artwork from about 10 years ago) looked vaguely Asian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluedo_...2FMiss_Scarlet

I must have had the 1972 version, because it was definitely a photo of an Asian woman - or as has been noted at least partly Asian. It might be prejudice, but I like that version best - she was not a ditzy type of character, but a kind of smoky, sexy femme fatale who looked like she could kick ass. Lucy Liu would have been perfect for that one in the movie version (which I haven't seen) but I see they went with something else entirely. Too bad.