Clue Jr.: Case of the Missing Pet

Lore & Background

Clue Jr.: The Case of the Missing Pet is a deduction game for two to six players, designed for ages six to ten. The object is to determine which character is responsible for a missing pet, which pet is missing, and where the pet is hidden. Possible suspects include Polly Peacock, Samantha Scarlet, Wendy White, Mortimer Mustard, Georgie Green, and Peter Plum. The missing pets may be a dog, cat, monkey, turtle, bird, or goldfish. Hiding places include a bank, dentist's office, sign store, wig store, rug store, and glasses store. The game includes 24 different mysteries, with a revolving Mystery Wheel beneath the game board that sets the clues and solution for each round. Players move around the board by rolling a die and follow instructions on the space they land on. When a player believes they have solved the mystery, they announce the solution and check it against the information hidden under the trap door at the Police Station. If correct, the player wins; if incorrect, the player is eliminated from that round.

Reader's Guide

Clue Jr.: The Case of the Missing Pet is significant as the first junior version of the classic Clue game released in the United States, adapting the adult murder-mystery theme for children by replacing murder with a pet theft. The game introduced a simplified deduction system using a mystery wheel and trap doors, making it accessible to players ages six to ten. Its legacy includes establishing a template for later junior editions of popular board games, as noted by The Washington Post: 'Put either Jr. or For Kids after every popular game and you have got a whole new market.' The game also received commentary from scholars, such as Terri Patkin, who observed that the adult suspects were transformed into children with alliterative first names and that the game eliminated disturbing adult content. The Palm Beach Post highlighted the game's 24 different mysteries and the use of a revolving Mystery Wheel. The game remains a notable example of how classic board games can be adapted for younger audiences while retaining core deduction mechanics.

Did You Know?

• The game includes 24 different mysteries set by a revolving Mystery Wheel.
• Players use a red magnifying glass to read clues on the wheel.
• The Police Station is the only location where a player can make an accusation.
• The suspects are children with alliterative first names: Peter Plum, Wendy White, Georgie Green, Mortimer Mustard, Samantha Scarlet, and Polly Peacock.

Deduction Mechanics & the Mystery Wheel

Clue Jr. built its replayability around a clever mechanical innovation: a revolving Mystery Wheel mounted beneath the main board. Before each of the twenty-four distinct cases, players rotated this wheel to lock in a new combination of suspect, pet, and hiding location. The wheel also held the clues themselves, readable only through a small red magnifying glass included in the box. The board featured seven hinged trap doors, each concealing one element of the solution—whether a suspect's eye color, a store's flooring type, or the identity of the stolen animal. Players rolled a single six-sided die, followed the instruction on whatever space they landed on, and moved in and out of stores to gather and cross-reference details. Once a player felt confident, they had to physically reach the Police Station space to make a formal accusation. A correct guess meant victory; a wrong one meant elimination from that round. This structure turned every session into a fresh puzzle while keeping the core deduction loop of the original Clue intact.

The Suspects, Pets, and Hiding Places

The game populated a downtown or suburban neighborhood with six alliterative child detectives, each distinguished by three identifying traits: eye color, hair color, and whether they smiled. Polly Peacock had brown eyes, dark hair, and no smile; Samantha Scarlet matched her in brown eyes and dark hair but wore a grin; Wendy White brought blue eyes and light hair without smiling; Mortimer Mustard paired brown eyes with light hair and a smile; Georgie Green combined blue eyes, light hair, and a smile; and Peter Plum finished the set with blue eyes, dark hair, and a straight face. The stolen animals ranged from a puppy and kitten to a monkey, turtle, canary, and goldfish. Hiding spots included a sign store with a yellow sign and wood floor, a wig store with a green sign and rug floor, a rug store with a red sign and wood floor, a bank with a green sign and wood floor, a dentist's office with a yellow sign and rug floor, and a glasses shop with a red sign and rug floor. The Pet Shop served purely as an information source, while the Police Station was the mandatory destination for making a final accusation.

Critical Reception & Press Coverage

When Clue Jr. hit shelves in 1989, the press framed it as a clever reimagining of a beloved franchise. The Palm Beach Post drew a playful comparison, noting that the familiar surnames—Scarlet, Green, Plum, White, Peacock, Mustard—had delighted murder-mystery fans for over four decades, and that Parker Brothers had swapped homicide for pet theft. The reviewer likened a successful deduction to the sharp instincts of Inspector Poirot and a failed one to the bumbling clumsiness of Inspector Clouseau. Richard Harrington of The Washington Post took a broader industry view, observing that thievery replaced murder and that simply appending "Jr." or "For Kids" to any popular title could open an entirely new market segment. Decades later, Terri Patkin's 2020 academic work Who's in the Game? Identity and Intersectionality in Classic Board Games examined the title as a case study in how junior editions strip away adult content, recasting the original's grown-up suspects as chubby-cheeked, personality-neutral children with alliterative first names.

First Junior Edition & Franchise Legacy

Published by Parker Brothers in 1989, Clue Jr.: The Case of the Missing Pet holds the distinction of being the first dedicated junior edition of the Clue franchise released in the United States. It was engineered specifically for two to six players aged six to ten, translating the original's mansion-and-murder premise into a child-appropriate neighborhood mystery. The six suspects, once adult figures in the parent game, were reimagined as young characters with alliterative first names and no assigned personality traits, depicted as round-cheeked, cheerful figures. The murder was replaced entirely by a pet-theft scenario, and the weapon element was dropped in favor of identifying which animal had been taken. The game shipped with six player pieces, detective notepad pads, a single die, seven plastic trap-door covers, and the signature red magnifying glass. By preserving the deduction core while softening every element of content, Parker Brothers created a template that demonstrated how a decades-old intellectual property could be adapted for a younger audience without losing its essential appeal.