Do you have to show a card in Clue if you have one?
Yes. If a suggestion reaches you and you hold one of the three named cards, you must show it, privately, to the player who made the suggestion. If you hold more than one, you choose which to show. You can't pass to protect your hand.
The rule:
In Clue, yes: if a suggestion reaches you and you hold any of the three named cards, you must privately show one to the player who suggested, choosing which if you hold several. You can’t pass to protect your hand.
How disproving works:
- The player on the suggester’s left checks their hand for any of the 3 named cards.
- Holding one? Show it to the suggester only.
- Holding two or three? Pick just one to show.
- Holding none? Say so, and the next player to the left checks.
Who sees the card: only the player who made the suggestion. Everyone else just sees that a card was shown, which is a clue in itself.
Choosing which card to show: the rules leave it to you. If you’ve already shown this player one of the named cards earlier, showing the same one again gives nothing new away.
Example:
Rosa suggests Colonel Mustard with the Rope in the Kitchen. Ben, the first player to her left holding a match, has both the Rope and the Kitchen card. He has to show one, so he quietly shows Rosa the Kitchen card and keeps the Rope to himself.
Why players argue about it:
Some players think you can stay quiet to keep your cards secret, or that you must reveal everything that matches. The rules sit in between: one card, shown only to the suggester.