Solve the Mystery to Win the Game
- What: Clue Junior board game
- When: 5 years and up
- Why: Entertaining, improves logic skills
- Where: Amazon
My seven year old son received Clue Jr for his most recent birthday, and it has been a huge hit in our household. I can barely remember the rules from the adult version of the game, but I have fond memories of the basics. (Colonel Mustard in the study with the candlestick sound familiar to anyone?)
Clue Junior brings back the same beloved color-inspired names for characters, like Mrs. Peacock and Mr. Green, along with a new character, Dr. Orchid, to even up the guys and gals. Instead of solving a murder, through a process of elimination kids try and figure out who ate the last piece of cake at what time and with which drink.
Each room has a piece of furniture, and each character has a stand. The furniture base contain the info about the drinks, while the white character stands give info about the time of the crime. Five possible times (between 1:00 and 5:00) stick to the white bases of the six characters, along with a blank and a crumb base as well. The crumb piece indicates who ate the cake and the extra pieces (one with a time, one with a drink) go in the middle to determine the solution.
Players can move any character, which took my kids a few rounds to get used to, along a path of footprints. If you land on a white footprint, you can look under that character. End up on a yellow set of footprints and take a peek at the furniture in the room to eliminate a beverage from the list. The die also has both a yellow and white side, which nets you a free peek at a piece of your choosing in the associated color (white for characters/time and yellow for furniture/drink).
You can guess the solution anytime, but If you guess wrong, you lose and play continues.
The double sided sheets come in black and white. My kids can’t tell the difference between a few of the characters that do bear a striking resemblance to each other. The sheet has the characters’ names on it, but the characters themselves do not. If you don’t know peacock is a shade of blue and scarlet a shade of red and plum means purple, it can get confusing. A color coded sheet would help, but we have managed even with this drawback.
Practically Apparent 
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