Game updates play around with successful formulas

Monopoly is not the only board game to be given a modern makeover.

Cluedo, the murder mystery game invented in 1943, has undergone a range of transformations since Dr Black was first found bludgeoned to death with a candlestick in the library.

One version saw the classic country house replaced by a rock star’s mansion, while another version was set in London with the victim changed from a doctor to a media mogul.

Later this year the public will get to vote on whether the next geographical version of Cluedo is set in Cardiff, Birmingham or Edinburgh.

KerPlunk, invented in 1967, was revamped with a Toy Story version in which the clear plastic tube was replaced by a plastic spaceship and the marbles by little green aliens.

Operation, in which players try to remove an adam’s apple and wishbone without setting off the buzzer, was updated in 2004 with a “brain freeze”, a cone representing the headache caused by wolfing ice-cream.STEPHEN MCGINTY