Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2511/sherlock-holmes-consulting-detective

You play as a member of the Baker Street Irregulars trying to help Sherlock solve a case by following clues (or "leads") and traveling around the streets of late 19th Century London. When you think you have cracked the case, Sherlock will quiz you on who/why/what/where/how as well as bonus questions that you may or may not discover the answer to along the way. Then he'll explain how he cracked the main case (usually in about 4 leads). There is a point system which compares you to Sherlock (who always scores 100) to see how you did.

Not so much a game as it is an activity. The game is driven (essentially) through the use of a few resources: A case file, in the form of a short book; The newspaper from the day of the crime/day you get the case; a london directory with the names of everyone who lives in london who will appear in one or more of the cases; a map of london divided into 5 districts (NW, SW, SE, WC, EC); and a list of useful people (e.g. Mycroft Holmes if you wish to know something about the government). The case book is divided into different sub-sections which correspond to different areas in London. Information is garnered from specific clues within the book (e.g. 52W may be the scene of the crime where you find a clue such as a note signed by Mr Billefort, The London Directory tells you Mr Billefort lives at 47SE so you go to 47SE etc).


My gf and I are really enjoying playing through the 10 cases that come with the base game (case 3 was a trainwreck though), usually taking a night to solve one with a bottle of wine and some snacks. We find we get a much richer and much more rewarding experience if we take our time and really get into the game (putting on accents for different characters is optional), instead of just trying to race through it to outscore Sherlock.

Has anyone else played this?

We've not played it yet, but Kat and I have very much the same idea. I think we're going to enjoy it just as soon as we can find a free evening!

Like you, we played through it as a couple and took our time over it. We both found it a really absorbing and enjoyable activity, sitting by the fire with a glass of port and putting on various attempts at accents as we read through the stories. Yes, the third adventure just had a ridiculous 'solution', possibly due to a mix up in the translations (I think I heard that in some of the other language versions of the game there is a different culprit).

I think it would have been okay to work through it solo or with a bigger group but I think it's best for a couple.