Friends Board Games: licensed classic edition

Friends Clue Game: The One with the Secrets

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The Friends Clue game is The Op's take on classic deduction: figure out which secret is being kept, who reveals it, and where in New York it comes out. It suits 2 to 6 players, ages 8+, who know the show's storylines.

  • 2-6 players
  • 60+ minutes
  • Ages 8+
  • licensed classic edition
  • USAopoly (The Op Games)

Oh. My. God. Who spilled the secret? The six tokens are below.

Six coloured suspect pawns lined up along the wooden edge of a Cluedo set, in red, orange, green, blue, purple and white
Photo of the classic editionThe six suspect pawns from a classic Cluedo set (Cluedo is the British name of Clue). Clue: Friends is a separate USAopoly edition with its own board and cards.Photo: Pete from Liverpool, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Ratings and Geek Level

Difficulty1.5 out of 5
Time to explain1 out of 5about 5 min
Player experience2 out of 5
Geek Level4 / 10Owns the soundtrack
How we rate

Geek Level 4: You own the soundtrack. Recognizing the six secrets helps, but the deduction is classic Clue.

The Op doesn't publish the full rulebook online, so this page sticks to details confirmed by the product page, retailer listings, and classic Clue. The steps below are therefore lighter than on other pages here, and we flag missing details. For a game with fully published rules, see Friends Monopoly.

In a hurry? Race to Central Perk takes about 30 minutes.

Quick explainer: a round of Friends Clue

Until the box rules are published, here's what the listing and product page confirm about the game.

For classic rules, Monopoly and Clue stick to the standard format.

  1. Step 1:

    The goal is to figure out which secret is being kept, who reveals it, and where in New York it's revealed.

  2. Step 2:

    Each player takes one of six characters: Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Chandler, Joey, or Ross.

  3. Step 3:

    The box has 6 character movers and 6 character role cards.

  4. Step 4:

    Roll two six-sided dice and move around the board's nine New York locations.

  5. Step 5:

    Land on a ? space to draw an Intrigue card for a bonus to use during play.

  6. Step 6:

    21 Rumor cards drive the investigation, and 6 sculpted tokens represent the secrets.

  7. 7Step 7:

    The box includes an envelope, used in classic Clue to hold the hidden answer.

Classic Clue has six suspects, six weapons, and nine rooms. The Friends edition keeps those counts but changes the categories to secrets, people, and places. Below, confirmed details are separated from inferences. For fully published rules, Friends Monopoly is the better pick.

How to play Friends Clue: the full rules

Setup

  1. The exact setup steps are in the rulebook inside the box, but we couldn't find them in the available sources.

  2. In classic Clue, one card of each kind goes in a sealed envelope, and the rest are dealt out. The Friends box includes an envelope, so it likely uses the same idea.

  3. The box includes six movers and six character role cards, one for each character.

Turn by turn

  • Move to a location

    Roll two six-sided dice and move your mover toward a board location, such as Central Perk, Monica's apartment, or the hospital.

  • Draw Intrigue cards

    A retailer listing says you draw an Intrigue card when you land on a ? space. Each card gives you a bonus to use during the game.

  • Investigate with Rumors

    The box includes 21 Rumor cards. The rulebook explains how they help narrow down the answer, but we couldn’t read it.

End of the game and scoring

In classic Clue, the first player to make a correct accusation wins. A wrong accusation knocks you out of contention. The Friends edition describes the same goal in its own words: name the secret, the character who reveals it and the location. We couldn’t confirm this edition’s exact accusation procedure from the sources we found.

Key rules

  • Same counts as classic Clue

    Classic Clue has 6 suspects, 6 weapons and 9 rooms. This edition has 6 characters, 6 secret tokens and 9 locations, giving the deduction puzzle the same size.

  • Secrets take the place of weapons

    Each of the six sculpted tokens represents a character’s secret, from blue lipstick to a sandwich.

  • Friends locations

    The nine locations are Apartment 19, Apartment 20, Ross’s apartment, Phoebe’s apartment, Central Perk, the hallway, the hospital, Monica’s parents’ apartment and the balcony.

  • What we couldn’t confirm

    We couldn’t confirm the exact turn order, how Rumor cards work or the steps for making an accusation, since no published rulebook was available.

Tips for your first game

  • Get to know the six secrets before playing. Each token ties to a Friends storyline.
  • Check the rulebook in the box first. It has the turn order, which this page couldn’t confirm.
  • Use Intrigue cards as one-time bonuses, and save them for the right moment.

Gathering a big group? UNO Friends plays up to 10 players.

Friends Clue is one of the few Friends games based on the show's storylines instead of its trivia. Each secret token points to a plot point, and the locations are places fans know well. To compare it with quiz games, browse the Friends board games list.

The game and the sitcom

Scene It? has been discontinued, so check for secondhand copies.

The game

  • Design and release

    The Op, formerly USAopoly, publishes Clue: Friends. Its product page gives the subtitle as The One with the Secrets. The sources we found don’t list a release year.

  • Editions and reprints

    Clue is called Cluedo in the UK. We found no separate Friends Cluedo edition, just the Clue version.

The film or series it covers

The whole series supplies six storylines as secrets, while the sitcom’s New York settings serve as locations.

Players take the roles of the six main characters, and the board features nine places from the show. The Op calls it a hilarious take on the classic mystery, with one twist: the answer is a secret, not a crime.

Scenes and story beats in the game

  • 1

    Joey as a Japanese lipstick model (blue lipstick token)

  • 2

    Monica and Chandler moving to the suburbs (taxi token)

  • 3

    Phoebe mugging Ross (a copy of Science Boy)

  • 4

    Rachel still having feelings for Ross (flower bouquet)

  • 5

    Monica’s nickname for Chandler, Mister Big (phone)

  • 6

    Ross put on sabbatical at work (sandwich)

What's in the box

  • 1 game board
  • 6 character movers
  • 6 secret tokens
  • 6 character role cards
  • 21 Rumor cards
  • 25 Intrigue cards
  • 1 envelope
  • 2 six-sided dice
  • Rules

Editions and versions

  • CLUE: Friends

    The only licensed Friends Clue we found, published by The Op.

Friends Clue questions answered

Yes, CLUE: Friends is a friends clue game, also known as friends cluedo or the friends clue board game.

Yes. The Op, formerly USAopoly, publishes CLUE: Friends for 2 to 6 players, ages 8+, with a 60-minute play time.

Is there a friends cluedo game?

Cluedo is the UK name for Clue. The Friends edition we found is sold as Clue, so check retailers for a Cluedo-branded box.

What’s the mystery in the friends clue game?

Figure out which secret is being kept, who reveals it, and where it comes out in New York.

What are the secrets in CLUE: Friends?

The six tokens represent Joey as a lipstick model, Monica and Chandler moving to the suburbs, Phoebe mugging Ross, Rachel still having feelings for Ross, Monica's nickname for Chandler, and Ross's sabbatical.

What locations are on the friends clue board game board?

The board features Apartment 19, Apartment 20, Ross's apartment, Phoebe's apartment, Central Perk, the hallway, the hospital, Monica's parents' apartment, and the balcony.

Is this The Op's friends clue board game?

Yes. The friends clue board game is published by The Op, formerly USAopoly, and is listed for 2 to 6 players, ages 8+.

In a hurry? Race to Central Perk takes about 30 minutes.

For classic rules, Monopoly and Clue stick to the standard format.

Sources

  1. The Op: CLUE Friends theop.games