Clues tokens are an in-game currency obtained and spent through various methods, representing secrets and lore about the Ancient One. The clue tokens have numbers corresponding to the spaces on the Map on one side of the token.
Interact with Clues
Spawning Clues
Clues can be spawned (drawn from the unused pile of Clues and placed on the space marked on their obverse side) in any of the following ways:
- Spawning at the beginning of the game. The number of clues spawned depends on the number of investigators in the game.
- Spawning as part of the Mythos phase. All Green Mythos cards spawn Clues, while some Blue ones will. Yellow ones will never spawn clues.
- An investigator action may spawn a clue under certain specific conditions (
Mandy Thompson and 
Roland Banks can do this). - A Location Encounter in London will generally spawn Clues upon successful resolution.
Obtaining Clues
Clues can be obtained in any of the following ways:
- An investigator may start the game with a clue (e.g.
Akachi Onyele). - An investigator action may give the player a clue under certain specific conditions (e.g. Trish Scarborough).
- An investigator on a space where a clue has spawned may resolve a Research Encounter. Successful resolution usually grants the player that clue.
- Some Assets have an effect that can give clues to investigators if a specific condition is met (e.g. Mineralogy Research).
Clues that are drawn come from the reserve.
Spending Clues
Clues can be spent in any of the following ways:
- A clue can be spent to re-roll a die during a test. This can be repeated if desired. Some abilities or cards increase the re-roll efficiency of Clues.
- A clue can be spent to solve a Mystery. The number of clues required to solve a mystery depends on the number of investigators in the game.
- Similarly, clues can be spent to solve Rumors.
- Although less common, Clues may be required to gain the "pass" effect of an encounter.
- An investigator action can require to spend a clue (e.g. Patrice Hathaway).
Other Uses
If a player is told to "move to a random space", draw a random Clue from the reserve, note its location, and place the player on that space. Return the clue to the reserve when finished.
Advanced Technicalities
- When a clue is discarded, it is not added back to the current clue pool. This is to ensure equal probability of all clue locations being encountered. These Clues can be used when clues are used for other purposes, such as adding Clues on Syzygy's Final Mystery.
- When a clue is obtained from a Research Encounter, the clue obtained is always the token by which the Research Encounter was activated. If the Research Encounter, another card, or ability allows you to gain additional clues from successful resolution of the Research Encounter, these clues are gained from the current clue pool.
- When drawing clues, if the current clue pool becomes empty, the discarded clues should be added back into the pool to form a new clue pool.
- Clues are considered possessions when an investigator dies of health or sanity loss. This means that the clues will stay with the body of the investigator and can be recovered upon encountering the deceased investigator.
- Clues may be traded between investigators during a Trade Action. Jacqueline Fine may trade clues with an investigator no matter what space they share.
- It is generally considered unwise to spend a clue token for re-rolling except as a last resort, especially since the introduction of Focus tokens to gameplay with the Mountains of Madness expansion.
