Hasbro Games Junior Collection has a case to crack

Peacock, the maths room and a bottle of glitter: the accusation screen in Hasbro Games Junior Collection has a pleasingly school-sized mystery to solve. Three big, illustrated choices ask who, where and what, with separate buttons to keep investigating or accuse. It's a lovely introduction to the collection's approach. Familiar board games become bright little places, with rules aimed at younger players and room for the family to join in.

Casual Brothers' compilation arrives on 6 November for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. Outright Games brings together Monopoly Junior, Cluedo Junior and The Game of Life Junior, with solo play and local multiplayer for up to four. The three boards offer a straightforward invitation for families: choose a board, customise your character and settle in for a shared game. Each of the three gives that gathering a different objective.

Glitter in the maths room

Cluedo Junior is the most immediately charming of the three settings. Its school has blue lockers, a science room with a model volcano and a library full of books. The board is viewed from above, with walls cut away so you can see the rooms and the spaces connecting them. Suspects stand on round bases around the building. Purple-and-white tiles mark the science room, while the library has red carpet, reading tables and a globe. The cutaway layout keeps those spaces visible together. It's a recognisable place to investigate, with the classroom props doing plenty of the work of establishing its character.

The aim is to search for clues, cross off suspects and solve the case ahead of the other players. That accusation panel makes the final decision particularly readable: a character portrait supplies the who, a school subject supplies the where, and an illustrated object supplies the what. Peacock, Math and Glitter are the selected combination in the official screenshot. The images give each part of the guess a clear identity; you can understand the shape of the answer before knowing the full mystery.

Rent money or a car full of stars

Monopoly Junior supplies the property contest. Roll the dice, move around the board, buy places and collect rent, with the goal of becoming the last player standing. The digital board keeps its coloured property spaces and prominent corner squares, surrounded by miniature attractions. Chunky animal pieces give it a toy-box quality. Pet Rescue and Community Garden take their places along the edge, with a post office and parked toy cars beyond the squares. Free Parking and the question-mark Chance spaces keep some instantly familiar landmarks on this smaller board. For anyone who enjoys seeing a collection grow, a place you buy becomes somewhere another player can owe you money.

Junior is the useful word here. The rules are designed for children to learn easily and play quickly, giving the collection a clear role as an introduction to buying places and collecting rent. A match-length estimate hasn't been announced. The smaller ruleset is already a reason to pay attention if your household likes the idea of Monopoly but wants a version designed around younger participants.

The Game of Life Junior changes both the transport and the reward. You spin a spinner, drive a car along a path and collect stars. Its landscape is a colourful miniature holiday, with branching yellow roads, boats and a sign pointing towards mud puddles. A huge numbered spinner dominates another screenshot, with the little characters gathered around it. Following that road offers a different attraction from acquiring properties or narrowing down a suspect: movement and discovery lead towards a growing star collection.

Four people, three boards

Character customisation ties the collection together. You create an avatar and unlock new looks and cosmetic rewards by playing matches. The selection screen puts four characters side by side, each with their own clothing and appearance choices. There are colourful hairstyles, glasses and outfits to pick through. Having a little figure to dress gives younger players something personal to bring to the boards, alongside the separate goals of winning money, solving the case or collecting stars.

Local play supports up to four people on one system, and you can also play alone. On PC, Steam lists full controller support and Remote Play Together. For another option when planning a gathering, our Let's Sing 2027 preview explains its singing modes and player counts. Hasbro's collection has a particularly clear audience within that company: children learning these three board games, with family members sharing the same screen.

Nintendo's two systems are both getting the collection at retail and digitally on the Nintendo eShop. The release also reaches PlayStation, Xbox Series and Windows PC on 6 November. Its strongest attraction is the variety inside that small selection: a property race, a classroom mystery and a star-collecting drive, all with characters to customise. Cluedo Junior's glitter accusation is an especially good calling card. A bottle of craft supplies can be quite enough trouble for this game night.