Following the sell-out success of its Monte-Carlo Monopoly, Société des Bains de Mer (SBM) is preparing to release a Monaco edition of Cluedo, complete with a familiar cast of Monte-Carlo characters, famous resort locations and beautiful illustrations by Jean-Benoît Héron.

On Wednesday, the company gave a small group of journalists an early look at its latest collectable, a Monaco edition of Cluedo, due out in time for Christmas. It follows the SBM Monopoly, which sold out its run of 3,000 last winter, with around a third reportedly bought by the company’s own employees, and has since become a sought-after collector’s item.

Inside the mystery

The premise of SBM’s Cluedo is pure Monte-Carlo. The victim is Madame Charlotte Banco, a roulette champion in town for a grand tournament, whose lucky golden chip vanishes over a glittering weekend at the resort. Players have to work out who took it, where, and with what — the familiar Cluedo formula, remade in Monaco’s image.

The six suspects are a knowing cast of Riviera types. There is the Influencer, Jen Scoop, who never puts her phone down and knows a photo of the stolen charm would send her follower count soaring; the Baroness, Garance de Rochemont, elegant but embittered, upstaged at her own charity gala and quietly short of funds; and Carine Boncru, a celebrated wine expert with a dream of a Tuscan estate. Completing the line-up are the devoted assistant Nadyne Dévouée, the ever-watchful paparazzo Chris Voitou, and the Grand Rival, Matthew Jeuxton, a One Monte-Carlo resident who insists luck has nothing to do with his success.

The rooms are the resort itself — the Casino de Monte-Carlo, the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo and its Bar Américain, the Hôtel Hermitage’s bar Gustave, the Caves de l’Hôtel de Paris, Sporting Monte-Carlo, Monte-Carlo Beach and One Monte-Carlo — while the weapons of the original become elegant accessories: a dice cup, a Panama hat, a card holder, a casino pouch.

The whole story was written in-house, by an SBM lawyer who is also a published author. And there is a private joke buried in the cast: the suspects carry the first names of the working group who made the game, their surnames reworked into small puns that land better in French — Boncru, a fine vintage; Voitou, who sees everything.

The man who draws Monaco

For Jean-Benoît Héron, the illustrator behind both games, this is the latest chapter in a love of drawing Monaco that goes back nearly 30 years. It began, fittingly, with the Casino — still his favourite subject. Long before he had any tie to the company, walking the corniche above the coast, he remembers thinking: “One day, I would really like to draw the Casino de Monte-Carlo.” The commission, when it eventually came, was an “exploded view” of the building, its ceilings peeled back to reveal the rooms inside.

He has been drawing it ever since, and relishes the way it keeps evolving — the contrast, as he puts it, between the Casino’s heritage, “the gaming rooms and salons, which retain magnificent historic architecture”, and the bright, modern glow of the slot machines. Finding a way to hold both on the page, he says, is what keeps the work interesting.

When I ask him whether he sees himself as someone who is, essentially, charged with documenting the history of Monaco, he agrees. “In a way, what I do is a historian’s work. It helps to build a bridge between the work of historians and the general public.” What matters to him, he adds, is that the result “can be seen and appreciated by everyone” — that the visual history of Monaco will be shared rather than shut away.

There is a romance to it, too. What first drew him to Monaco, he admits, was the same thing that draws everyone: “What mattered to me most was entering the place – the Casino de Monte-Carlo – where James Bond had played.”

Selling Monaco, differently

SBM has found a new way to introduce its resort to a younger generation, while offering those who already know and love Monaco something to collect – and another reason to return.

Like the venues they represent, the games are deliberately exclusive. They are produced in limited numbers and available only through selected SBM outlets or by special order. The plan is to release approximately one new game every year, creating a collection through which the world of Monte-Carlo can be passed from one generation to the next.

For Jean-Benoît Héron, the project forms part of his own legacy. Nearly 30 years after his first SBM commission, his illustrations will also appear in a forthcoming book on the history of the Casino de Monte-Carlo.

“I genuinely have the clear impression – and I am rather proud of it – that I am also part of SBM’s history,” he says.

The Monaco Cluedo and a special edition of the Monte-Carlo Monopoly will go on sale from November/December 2026.

Stay updated with Monaco Life: sign up for our free newsletter, listen to our podcasts on Spotify, and follow us across Facebook,  Instagram, LinkedIn, and Tik Tok.

Photo of Jean-Benoît Héron by Cassandra Tanti