In the 1930s and early 1940s, a British musician named Anthony Pratt played gigs at country mansions. The elegant guests would often play act at these get-togethers, and it was typically crimes involving “skulking, shrieking, and falling dead to the floor.” Pratt took mental notes of these games while he played piano.
Pratt was a crime nut as well. He was apparently an avid Raymond Chandler (the noir GOAT) and Agathie Christie (the whodunnit GOAT) reader.
During World War II, Pratt worked in a Birmingham munitions factory. Between 1943 and 1945, he recreated those murder-mystery parlor games by turning them into a board game. He invented suspects and weapons to pass the time during air-raid blackouts. His wife Elva helped him design the board on their dining-room table.