Em@il Games: Clue

Em@il Games: Clue

Also known as: Em@il Games: Cluedo (EU)
Developer: VR-1, Inc.^[1]
Publisher: Hasbro Interactive^[1]
Platform: Windows
Released in US: January 17, 2000^[1]
Released in EU: 2000

This game has hidden bonus content.

Em@il Games: Clue is a play-by-email adaptation of the Hasbro board game Clue. The servers were shut down in 2001, making the game mostly dead these days.

Developer Portraits

The game contains a hidden Easter egg that will swap the character portraits (shown on Suspect Cards) with altered versions, where the developers' faces are shown superimposed on the originals.

To access this, enter the text "FORBIDDEN DONUT RULZ!" on the Write Message screen. Possibly one needs to also stand in the correct spot, and/or use email addresses associated with the developers: "sTAn@VR1.COM", "STAN@VR1.COM", "ERIN@VR1.COM", or "PETERS@VR1.COM".

Forbidden Donut was the name of the VR-1 company band who played at a Halloween party in 1999. It included the Clue developer, artist, and project manager.^[2]

The modified portraits are in the Sounds folder, named MCPA_202.SYS through MCPF_202.SYS. They are BMP files, but the 4-byte header uses "STAN" instead of "BM.." Repairing the header allows the images to be viewed in any bitmap viewer.