Clue Junior
Clue Junior Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Level 1: Playground Mix-Up
Oops! While cleaning up the playground after all the fun and games, someone put one of the items in their backpack by mistake.
Object
Work together to find items on the playground tiles and figure out WHAT item is missing and WHO took it. In this game, you win as a team!
What You'll Need
- Gameboard
- 6 character pawns
- 6 blue bases (one has the backpack sticker)
- 9 playground tiles
- Playground Mix-Up detective notepad
- 2 dice (the first time you play, apply the labels)
Set It Up
- Put the gameboard where everyone can reach, playground side faceup.
- Shuffle the playground tiles and place eight of them facedown randomly on each of the outlined playground spots on the board.
- Place the remaining playground tile facedown next to the board. This tile contains the missing item!
- Place all six blue bases facedown and shuffle them up. Then, without looking at the bottoms, put a character into each base. The character with the backpack is the one who took the item!
- Place all of the characters on random, separate playground tiles. Now everyone picks which character they want to play as. Remember, don't look under them!
- Then take one of the detective notepad sheets and make sure you have something to write with. There are four different themes to choose in the notepad: toys, art supplies, snacks, and sports gear. If you pick a toy sheet, for instance, you'll be searching for a missing toy. Everyone shares one sheet because you'll work together.
Play
Search the picture, find the item! Each playground tile has just one item from your detective notepad sheet. Each item from your sheet appears on only one tile.
The youngest player goes first! Play moves to the left.
On Your Turn
- Roll the number die and move your character that many connected playground spaces whichever way you choose.
- Example: You rolled a 1! You can choose to move to the Slide or to the Soccer Net.
- Now roll the icon die.
| If you roll... | Do this! |
|---|---|
| Smiley face | Look under any character! Do you see the backpack? - If no, cross that character off the notepad. They didn't take the item! - If yes, circle that character. They have the missing item! Already know who has the backpack? Then you can stop rolling the icon die on your turns and just flip a playground tile! |
| Playground slide | Flip over the playground tile on this spot. Now search for an item from your notepad sheet! Once you find the item, cross it off your sheet. Remember, you can work together! Keep the tile faceup so you remember you already searched there. |
| Question mark | Pick either option! |
- Now it's the next player's turn. Keep going until you've crossed out all but one item (that's what's missing) and have discovered which character has the backpack (that's who took it). You've solved the mystery!
Win
Once you've solved the mystery (meaning you've crossed out all but one item and know who has the backpack), it's time for the big reveal. Flip over the playground tile that's off the board and see if you can spot the missing item. Great job working together to solve the mix-up!
Bonus Fun!
Your family can use the playground tiles to make up your own "find the object" games! For example, ask your kid to spot something blue, or race to see who can find a toy first!
Level 2: Science Lab Mystery
Oh no! The volcano in the science lab has mysteriously erupted! It looks like a curious junior scientist left another class early to experiment...
Object
Explore the school for clues as you try to figure out WHO set off the volcano, WHAT they poured into it, and WHERE they should have been in class instead. In this game, you're competing to solve the mystery on your own!
What You'll Need
- Gameboard
- 6 character pawns
- 6 furniture tokens (the first time you play, punch these out of their cardboard frame)
- 1 die
- Science Lab Mystery detective notepad
- 7 yellow bases
- 7 white bases
Set It Up
- Place the gameboard where everyone can reach, with the inside of the school faceup.
- Place all the yellow bases facedown and shuffle them up. Then, without peeking, put one facedown in the center of the board. This is what was poured into the volcano to set it off!
- Stick a furniture token into each of the remaining yellow bases (don't look at the bottoms!) and place each token in its matching room on the gameboard. Don't cover up any spaces with furniture!
- Set aside the white base with the volcano. Then, place the other six white bases facedown and shuffle them up. Without peeking, put one of those bases facedown in the center of the board. This tells you which class the sneaky student should have been in!
- Mix up the volcano base facedown with the remaining white bases. Stick a character pawn into each, but don't look at the bottoms! The character with the volcano is the student who set it off!
- Place all the characters on their matching color start spaces, even if there aren't six players. Now everyone picks a character!
- Everyone takes a notepad sheet and a pencil (not included). You can fold your sheet so no one can see it as you find clues and mark it up.
If your younger players may need a little help, try playing in teams!
Play
Take turns rolling the die to see if you can move your character, look under characters, or check under furniture. As you find clues, you'll eliminate choices and eventually uncover what happened.
The youngest player goes first, and play moves to the left.
On Your Turn
- Roll the die.
| If you roll... | Do this! |
|---|---|
| Yellow circle | Secretly peek under any furniture token. |
| White circle | Secretly peek under any character. |
| A number | Move your character up to that number of connecting spaces. - You cannot land on a space if another character is already on it. - You cannot end your turn on the space where you started. |
If you rolled a number, where did you land?
| If you land on... | Secretly peek under... |
|---|---|
| A yellow-lens magnifying glass | The furniture token in that room. |
| A white-lens magnifying glass | Any character. |
| A blue-ringed empty space | Nothing! Sorry, better luck next time. |
- Mark your sheet. Each turn, you'll cross out TWO things!
- If you look under a yellow base, cross out the object you see. This can't be what was poured into the volcano! Also cross out the furniture in that base so you remember you've already looked in that room.
- Example: You look under the easel and see milk, so you cross out both those things.
- If you look under a white base, cross out the class object you see. This can't be the class where the culprit was supposed to be. Also cross out the character in that base UNLESS you find the volcano. Whoever has the volcano is the one who set it off, so you'll want to circle them!
- Example: You see the guitar under Plum, so you cross both out. Plum couldn't have been the culprit. When you look under White, you find the volcano. She did it!
- Even when you figure out who set off the volcano, you may still need to keep looking under characters to figure out which class they left early.
- If you look under a yellow base, cross out the object you see. This can't be what was poured into the volcano! Also cross out the furniture in that base so you remember you've already looked in that room.
Ready to Solve the Mystery?
Make an accusation! You can do this at any time on your turn, even after marking your sheet.
- Say, "(WHO) set off the volcano using (WHAT) when they should have been (WHERE)."
- Secretly look under the bases in the center of the board and under the character you're accusing. Are you right about all three?
- YES! You've solved the mystery and won the game!
- NO! Oops, you're out of the game. Don't tell anyone the solution! The others keep playing until someone gets it right or only one player is left in the game.