Cluedo characters

Dr. Black (UK)/Mr. Boddy (US) is the owner of Tudor Close (later Tudor Manor and Tudor Hall), who takes the stock character of a generic victim. In Cluedo, he is the unseen host who is murdered, which inspires the premise to discover who murdered him, with what implement, and where the crime scene took place in his mansion. Dr. Black was listed in the original patent filing as one of the 10 characters created for the game, in which one character was randomly drawn from the suspect cards to serve as the new victim prior to the start of each game. Therefore, the victim was never intended to be the same character each game, nor were the player assignments. However, prior to the publication of the first edition, Dr. Black was relegated to the role of permanent victim in the UK, and Mr. Boddy in North America.

The name Mr. Boddy is a pun on the fact that the character has become a 'dead body.'

Classic Detective Game: In all original versions of Cluedo and Clue, Dr. Black/Mr. Boddy is stated to have been the victim of foul play. His body is found at the bottom of the cellar stairs by Miss Scarlett. Aside from being murdered, his role in the standard games ends here. Dr. Black makes his first appearance in a board game on the box cover of the 1996 Cluedo edition, as a photograph in a newspaper. He appears as an older, sombre man with unkempt hair.

Master Detective: Though again unseen, Boddy's character is slightly more fleshed out through the descriptions on the playing cards. From most of the info gathered, Mr. Boddy collects memoirs of famous spies as well as art, had an ex-secretary by the name of Madame Rose and supposedly has painted an exotic beauty several times in his Studio.

2002 US: Wealthy anthropologist, Mr. John Boddy, died just short of his 30th birthday. He had often been nicknamed Dr. Black in reference to his more well-known uncle, Sir Hugh Black.

Cluedo/Clue Mysteries: Dr. Black makes only his second appearance in this game, his first as Mr. Boddy. He is drawn as a young, cheerful man wearing a trench-coat and glancing at his pocket-watch. For the first time, he is a player as well as a victim of a crime, though no one is murdered in this game.

Discover the Secrets: Mr. Boddy/Dr. Black is completely replaced with an unnamed and unseen millionaire mogul.

Clue the Card Game Mystery at Sea: In this spinoff of the board games on a yacht, Mr. Boddy appears for the second time only, in an unfinished portrait as a distinguished older gentleman, wearing a Van dyke beard and a monocle. He is not, however, relegated to the role of the obligatory corpse, but may instead, with the luck of the draw, play as a suspect.

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Wikipedia