Clever Junior rules

2 to 4 players · ages 5+ · 15 minutes · dice game

Five picture dice, a score sheet with balloons, candles, presents and treats, and a pencil. The roller picks one colour, and the rest of the table picks from what is left. That way everyone plays along every turn, and a game is over in a quarter of an hour.

Set up in one minute

1. Everyone takes a sheet from the score pad and a pencil.
2. Put the five dice in the middle. Each side shows a colour and a picture; three sides are a joker.
3. Look at the sheet: yellow is the balloons, red the candle train, green the presents, blue the treats.
4. Whoever had the most recent birthday takes the dice and goes first.

How to play a turn

In short: the roller rolls all five dice once and picks one colour. They tick off all the dice of that colour on their own sheet, and jokers can be added. Then the others each pick a colour from the dice that are left.

1. Is it your turn? Roll all five dice, once.
2. Pick one background colour. Take all the dice of that colour, plus any jokers you rolled.
3. Tick off the pictures in the area of that colour (rules for each area: see the table). A joker can be any colour and any picture, but each turn you tick in one colour only.
4. If you took a die you cannot use after all, put it back. Cannot tick off anything at all? Then roll all five again until something useful comes up.
5. Now the others. Each of the other players picks a colour from the dice you left behind and ticks off those pictures. The dice stay where they are, so two players may pick the same colour. Nothing useful? Then you skip this round.
6. Is a picture you ticked inside a coloured circle? Then at the end of your turn, add a bonus tick in the area of that colour. If that lands on another circle, keep going.
7. Pass the dice to the player on your left.

The areas on your sheet

Area	What you do here	What you get
Yellow, balloons	Twelve balloons, from left to right starting at the red heart balloon. The balloon colour on your die must match the next balloon in the row.	Four stars, three bonus circles.
Red, candles	The carriages of the train, from left to right. A carriage with two candles needs two candle dice at once, the last carriage three.	Four stars, three bonus circles.
Green, presents	The present on your die, in any order you like.	One star per full row and one for the full left-hand column. Filling column two, three or four gives a bonus circle.
Blue, treats	Three rows (doughnuts, slices of cake, cupcakes), each from left to right. Every box needs two dice with the same treat.	Seven stars and five bonus circles, the most on the sheet.

When does the game end?

As soon as someone has ticked off every picture in one of the four areas. If that was the roller, the others still get to pick from the remaining dice this round. So the number of rounds is not fixed.

Scoring

In yellow, red and blue, circle every rainbow star next to a ticked picture. In the green area you get a star for every full row and one for the full left-hand column. Write the total in the purple star box in the middle of your sheet. The most stars wins; in a tie, there are simply two winners.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference from regular Clever?

In Clever (published in English as That's Pretty Clever!) you roll up to three times, pick a number die after each roll and add things up. In Clever Junior you roll once, pick a colour and tick off pictures. No numbers, no sums, but the same bonus circles with chain reactions. Clever is for ages 8 and up, Junior for ages 5 and up.

Can I tick in two colours on my turn?

No. You pick one background colour and only tick in that area. A bonus tick from a circle can go in a different area: that is a reward, not a choice.

What if the roller cannot use anything?

Then they roll all five dice again, as often as needed. Only the roller may do that; anyone whose turn it is not and who cannot use anything skips the round.

Does a joker count as two pictures?

No, a joker is one die for which you choose the colour and the picture. So for a box with two doughnuts you need a doughnut die plus a joker, or two jokers.

Can I tick off one of the two candles on a carriage in advance?

No. You only tick off a carriage like that when you have both candles at once; there is no such thing as half a carriage. The same applies the other way round: a bonus tick is always a complete picture, so there you get both.

Tips for experienced players

• Go for the blue side: the most stars and bonus circles, and filling that area ends the game at a moment of your choosing.
• When it is not your turn, look first at what the roller leaves behind. Two matching treat dice left on the table are a gift.
• Save a joker for the last carriage. You rarely roll three candles at once; with a joker it works more often.

Do you play a house rule that is not listed here, or have you spotted a mistake? Let us know and we will update it.