Looking for a specific Clue Jr. The Case of the Missing Cake rule? | Set Up | Playing the Game | Moving Characters | Taking Notes | Winning the Game | FAQ | Components |
Objective
The objective of Clue Jr. The Case of the Missing Cake is to figure out who ate the cake, with what drink, and at what time.
Set Up
- If the labels aren’t applied yet, apply the green crumbs and the five time labels to the bottom of the white bases. Apply the yellow drink labels to the bottom of the yellow bases. Finally apply the square labels to each side of the die.
- Set aside the white base that has no label on it and the base that has the crumbs on it. Then mix up the rest of the white bases and randomly pick one. Place the base you picked in the middle of the gameboard. The time on this white base is when the cake was eaten. No one should look at this white base or any other other white bases.
- Add the two white bases you set aside earlier to the remaining white bases. Randomly place one character pawn on each base. Place each character on their corresponding spot on the gameboard.
- Find the two yellow bases that don’t have a label on them and set them aside. Then mix up the remaining yellow bases. Pick one and place it in the middle of the gameboard. No one should look at this yellow base or any of the other bases.
- Add the two yellow bases you set aside to the rest of the bases. Mix all of the bases up and place one piece of furniture in each base. Each piece of furniture should be placed in the corresponding room in the mansion.
- Each player takes a Detective Notepad sheet and a pencil. To keep your sheet secret from the other players, you should fold it in half.
- The last player who ate a piece of cake starts the game. Play moves left/clockwise throughout the game.
How to Play Clue Jr. The Case of the Missing Cake
You will begin each of your turns by rolling the die. What you roll on the die determines what you will do on the rest of your turn.
Should you roll the yellow side of the die, choose a piece of furniture. Turn it so you can see what is on the label on the bottom of the base. You should turn it so only you can see the label. You will make a note on your sheet based on what you see. Return the furniture to where you took it from. See the Taking Notes section below.
If you roll the white side of the die, choose one of the character pawns. Turn it over so only you can see what is on the label on the bottom of the base. Make a note on your sheet based on what you see. Return the character to the space you took it from. See the Taking Notes section below.
Finally if you roll a number, you will move one of the characters. See the Moving Characters section below for more details.
After you have taken the corresponding action, you turn ends. Play passes to the player on your left.
Moving Characters
When you roll a number, choose one of the characters. You will move your chosen character up to the number you rolled. You don’t have to move it all of the spaces you rolled. When moving a character you will follow the paths printed on the board. You may not move through a space that another player is on or land on an occupied space. You also can’t move a character back to the space that they started the turn on.
After you move your chosen character, you will take an action based on what space they landed on.
Should the character land on a yellow space, you will look at the piece of furniture that corresponds to your current location. Turn the furniture so you can see the label on the base without letting the other players see. Then make a note on your sheet based on what you see. See the Taking Notes section below.
If you land on a white space, you will look at the base of the character that you moved without letting the other players see. Make a note of what you see on the base.
Should you land on a footprint space, you do not get to take an action on your space.
Taking Notes
As you play the game you will look at the bottom of the bases. Anything you see on one of the bases gives you information about the solution to the case.
Whenever you look at a yellow base you likely will see a drink. Should you see a drink, you know that drink couldn’t have been used when the culprit ate the cake. Cross off the drink on your detective sheet. Also make sure to cross off the piece of furniture you looked at so you know not to look at that piece of furniture again.
Should you look at a white base you will likely see a time. If you see a time, you know that the culprit didn’t eat the cake at that time. You should cross that time off on your sheet. Also make sure to cross off the character you looked at since that character is not the culprit.
If you look at a white base and you see the crumbs, you now know that character is guilty of eating the cake. Make a note by that character so that you remember that they are responsible for eating the cake.
If you see no label on the bottom of a white or yellow base, you gained no information this turn. Make sure to cross off the corresponding character/furniture so you don’t look under the base again.
Winning the Game
As you play the game you will start to cross off times, drinks and characters. Eventually you may cross off all of the options except for one in each of the three categories (characters, times, drinks). When only one option remains in a category, you know that option is part of the final solution. In order to win the game you need to figure out all three parts of the solution.
If you think you know the solution, you can make an accusation at the end of your turn. When you make an accusation you will tell the other players the character, the drink and the time that you think are the solution. You will then look at the bottom of the two bases in the middle of the gameboard. These will tell you the correct solution for the drink and the time. You will also have to look under the base of the character you suspect. If there are crumbs under the base, that character ate the cake.
Should all three of your choices be correct, show the other players the bottom of the bases. You have won Clue Jr The Case of the Missing Cake.
Incorrect Solution
If one or more of your choices are incorrect, you did not solve the case. Since you now know the solution to the case, you are eliminated from the game. You shouldn’t tell the other players what the solution is or give any sort of clues. The rest of the players will continue playing the game.
The game ends when one of the players correctly guess all three parts of the solution, or only one player remains. If all but one player guesses incorrectly, the remaining player wins the game.
Clue Jr. The Case of the Missing Cake FAQ
If you have any questions about how to play Clue Jr The Case of the Missing Cake, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.
Components
- Gameboard
- 6 Clue Character Pawns
- 6 Furniture Pawns
- 7 White Bases
- 7 Yellow Bases
- Detective Notepad
- Die
- Instructions
Year: 2003 | Publisher: Hasbro, Parker Brothers
Genres: Children’s, Deduction, Roll and Move
Ages: 5+ | Number of Players: 2-6 | Length of Game: 20-30 minutes
Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: High
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