Cluedo Junior

I’ve loved board games since I was very young although, at that time, I was only able to choose from a small selection of games that were appropriate for my age. Nowadays, getting into boardgames is becoming increasingly easy for younger games as the selection of “junior” games grows constantly. Personally, I love to see age appropriate version of some great classics and I usually try my best to gift them to my son and to my friends’ children.

Recently, I had the opportunity to try the latest version of Cluedo Junior from Hasbro and I really loved the newer design and style of this game. As you may be wondering, the game does not focus on finding a murderer but to locate a missing toy in a playground or the kid that sabotaged a science experiment. And yes, you read it correctly: this version of Cluedo Junior comes with a double side game board offering two different type of games with increasing difficulty. Both versions of the game still retain the same feeling of the classic traditional game while been carefully aimed at younger kids. So, let’s get that magnifying lens out and let’s find some clues.

School Hall Or Playground? – Components

First thing first, Cluedo Junior comes in a very nice and well organized box that includes two smaller cardboard boxes. The first one stores the rulebook, a notepad with multiple game sheets and the game-board. All these components are of very good quality and are designed with eye-catching graphics and vibrant colours.

The second small cardboard box stores all the main players and game pieces sorting them in three small compartments. Overall, the game includes a few standees representing school rooms, a few tiles representing different locations of a playground, some dices and 6 beautiful player pieces. These 2″-tall mini figures are very detailed and each of them represents a different student in a different colour. The base of each figure is also designed to fit into a plastic ring that contains precious clues to solve each mystery. There are two colour-coded sets of these plastic bases, one for the game set in the school and one for the game set in the playground.

Overall, I found the box of Cluedo Junior to be quite clever and very handy for a game designed for kids. The components are great and they perfectly fit the scope they have been designed for.

Too Many Clues: The Mystery Deepens – Gameplay

As mentioned initially, Cluedo Junior offers the possibility to play two different games at increasing difficulty.

The first one, “Playground Mix-up” is designed for younger players that need to work cooperatively to identify what item from the playground went missing and which kid may have took it. Players will investigate the case by taking turns rolling two blue dice and moving from one playground tile to another. Depending on the dice result, they may be able to check a player piece to locate the kid that took the item identified by a backpack icon on their base.

Alternatively, players may turn a playground tile that will depict a lot of different objects. To find out which one has been lost, players will need to use a sheet from the detective notebook and cross any item from it they identify on the tile. Once all tiles checked, the one that has not been spotted is the one that went missed. As a very nice touch, the detective notebook includes a few sets of different sheets so the set of items potentially missed will change every few games. This approach is quite clever as kids will need to keep looking carefully to the the tiles in order to spot each object.

The second variant of the game, “Science Lab Mystery” is instead a fully competitive game. In this case the young detectives are called to identify which kid set-off a model Volcano in the science lab, which substance they poured into it and which class the culprit should have attended when they activated the volcano.

The game progresses similarly to previous game with each player moving around the different school rooms and checking the bases of the mini-figures or the standee of a classroom. The first one would show which class that kid was supposed to attend at the time of the incident. The second one will show one of the materials that may have been poured into the volcano. The case will be solved once a player will identify which material and which class are missing among those available on the detective notepad. The kid that triggered the volcano explosion will have a volcano icon on their base.

Who? What? Where? – Final Thoughts

When I think of Cluedo, I think of a game of deduction with a nice tension generated by not knowing how much the other players know about the case. When someone finally gets the solution and tells everyone the tension dissipates and the mystery is solved for everyone fun.

Cluedo Junior manages to capture all the main aspects that make the original game a great classic. The kid-friendly setup and the mild cases the game presents do not impact the game mechanic and the skills this game sharpen. It also provides a nice learning curve and the possibility to play cooperatively that is a nice variation on the classic game. Variability and replayability of the game are also quite good as the combination of icons on the bases changes at each game. The different sets of objects on the detective pads also increase replayability.

Overall, it has to be noted that the game mechanics are very linear and very dependent on chance. In fact, the only way to correctly solve the crime is to check all mini-figure bases and all the location tiles/standee. True, a player can always take a guess even if they miss some elements in order to beat another player but the overall aim would be to check all elements to find the correct solution. Considering the opportunity to look for clues is determined by a roll of dice winning may be very dependent on chance. Overall, this is not a negative aspect per se and it can be very suitable for very young players although it may become frustrating in case someone has very bad dice rolls.

In summary, Cluedo Junior should be definitely considered as a good entry level game for very young players. The colourful board and the nice mini-figures are very captivating and the game provides a nice challenge without being complex. More experienced or older players may find the game not enough challenging and they may disengage quickly. The age assessment (4+) looks definitely right for this boardgame.

That concludes our thoughts on Cluedo Junior. Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts and tag us on social media @zatugames. To buy Cluedo Junior today click here!