HELENA — Have you ever wished a board game from your childhood could come to life? Well, at the Original Governor’s Mansion that does come true through the game of Clue, solving a mystery while also learning about the mansion’s history.
Laura Marsh of the Montana Historical Society, the event's host says, “They are getting to learn history without even knowing they are and at the end they come out being like oh wow I picked up some information I never knew about before all while I was having fun, so for me it really is the best of both worlds."
Currently, the Montana Historical Society is hosting live-action Clue games to private parties to enjoy team bonding all while learning about a historic landmark.
The Original Governor’s Mansion helps bring the board game to life because of its many rooms.
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“We tried to incorporate as many elements of the board game as we could in terms of gameplay, so you are moving from room to room in the mansion as you would be moving from space to space in the board game and we have a set of murder weapons you get to investigate and we have all the classic suspects to investigate," Marsh says. "That’s where we mesh it with the history of the mansion, so all of the murder weapons are actually artifacts from the mansion."
Tour groups are divided into teams of six with each team representing the classic clue characters like Professor Plum and Mrs. Peacock.
Murder weapon artifacts range from candelabras to napkin holders.
The search to find the suspect, murder weapon, and room the murder occurred in allow players to really engage with the historic site.
“Museums are fantastic and I love to go and look, but it is so much more meaningful if you give people a way to interact with it and I think in the Original Governor’s Mansion with so many rooms and so many artifacts to look at, playing a game of clue is such a great way to get you to really look," Jodi Delaney, a former player of the game and now volunteer says.
The Montana Historical Society will open the game to the public on February 13 for a single night. The event is free of charge but donations to the mansion are encouraged.
