Help me jury-rig CLUE to play with my 6-year-old

[Simon Atavax]

Here's the deal. My 6-year-old loves games. We've played LIFE, UNO, Blackjack, Checkers, PIRATEOLOGY: THE BOARD GAME, and tons of others.

We also played CLUE JR. Great game, and she loved it for awhile, but now refused to play anything with "Jr." in the title. She isn't really old enough for "real" CLUE, but she's old enough to not want to play a "kiddie" game.

What I want to do is jury-rig CLUE so that my little girl and I can play it together, just the two of us. In addition, the game has to be co-operative (she and I together "solve the mystery"), so no "hidden hands".

Now if you're thinking, "Dude, you want to change CLUE to a two-player co-op game? That's a huge change!" then you see why I came here for help.

Keep in mind that she's only 6. The murder theme isn't a good thing at her age. Thus we're using the Disney Haunted Mansion edition. If any of you don't know it, it's a version of CLUE where there is no murder; instead, you have to figure out which guest is being "haunted". This doesn't affect gameplay at all, but it may affect the brilliant ideas you folks throw at me. If it's helpful, here's the link:
Clue - The Haunted Mansion (The Disney Theme Park Edition) | BoardGameGeek

My idea is a simple one: every room contains a "clue" (i.e. a card) or two. You go in, get the clue, and check it off on the list. Tedious for an adult, perhaps, but that's how we played CLUE JR. and she loved it.

But I don't know. I'm hoping for something a bit more inspired. Any thoughts? I'd deeply appreciate any and all ideas.

Atavax

 

[Asmor]

My first thought is maybe you should try out some other games. Hey! That's my Fish! is a popular game for all ages, simple enough for young'uns yet it has some real depth to it.

Ok, that said, here's a kernel of an idea...

Suppose you each have half the mystery, and you're not allowed to just tell the other person. Somehow, you need to give each other clues. If you're less interested in it being a strategic 'game' and just want something for you and your daughter to do together, maybe a 'guess who' style thing where whenever you enter a new room you can ask the other player 'Was it Ms. Scarlet?' 'Was the weapon made of metal?' etc.

 

[Cadfan]

You might want to consider looking into the hobbyist/eurogame market. Its filled with games designed for children.

Try things like Duck Duck Bruce, Gulo Gulo, and others. Check out boardgamegeek.com and look around a bit. There's a whole world of games out there that you probably don't know about.

If you DO know about it, sorry. I'm making assumptions based off your list of games, which seems to be mostly standard american games.

 

[Frostmarrow]

You need the other characters in play. Colonel Mustard is too cool to be left out of a two player game. I don't know about you little girl but mine sure would love Miss Scarlett. And she would want to visit her.

So, basically, you distribute the clues to all the characters though they do not participate. You invite your daughter to place the characters in the different rooms. Maybe she feels Reverend Green belongs in the Library.

Gamewise you move your co-op pawn through the mansion and interview the characters inhabiting it. Let's say they have four clues each; you draw one and your little girl draws one. You can then chat about the clues reveled for a spell before ticking both off your common list. Then you have to move on, for the character is whisked away to another vacant room, still keeping two clues.