Board Game Clue Kills Off Mrs. White, Introduces Dr. Orchid

Photo provided by Hasboro

In the newest version of the whodunit mystery board game Clue, the winning accusation will never be Mrs. White in the billiard room with the revolver.

Game makers at Hasbro have announced that Mrs. White will be permanently eliminated from the suspect list. Instead, they’ve introduced a new character named Dr. Orchid to replace her. She (yes, she) is a biologist with a PhD in plant toxicology.

Dr. Orchid was woven into Clue’s narrative as the adopted daughter of the owner of Tudor Mansion, the doomed house where many a murder have been committed. She was raised by housekeeper Mrs. White and then sent to boarding school in Switzerland. She remained there “until her expulsion following a near-fatal daffodil poisoning incident,” explained Hasbro, which is headquartered about 50 miles outside of Boston in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Dr. Orchid is the first female character in the game to work outside of the home. She will join a murderous club that includes Mrs. Peacock, a socialite whose multiple husbands have all mysteriously died, and the coquettish Miss Scarlet, a red-clad bombshell. The other original characters, Professor Plum, Mr. Green, and Colonel Mustard will remain in the game.

“It was a difficult decision to say goodbye to Mrs. White–but after 70 years of suspicious activity, we decided that one of the characters had to go,” said Jonathan Berkowitz, senior vice president of global marketing for Hasbro Gaming, in a statement.

It’s the first time since Clue launched in 1949 that any of the original six characters have been killed off (rather than being the ones doing the killing).

The Clue games featuring Dr. Orchid will hit stores this August.