Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective

I couldn’t resist. It was like Sherlock was written for a game to be made from his adventures. And wouldn’t you know it, someone did. Sleuthing Publications debuted Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective, back in 1981. However, they have since gone out of business. Space Cowboy publishers has allowed the game to carry on in three boxed sets of cases: The Thames Murders, Carlton House and Queen’s Park, and Jack the Ripper. There is a fourth series pending, named The Baker Street Irregulars. The new cases were set to debut in April of this year; however, the release date has been pushed back, like everything else these days.

The name of the game is deceptive. No one gets to play as the famous detective. You might think this is a board game too, but it’s not. No, Sherlock is a book game where players test their wits against Mr. Holmes himself.

You and your friends at the table are the Baker Street Irregulars, led by a grown-up Wiggins looking for a start in the detective business. The cases you investigate are those Sherlock seems to have no interest in, and you are tasked with helping Scotland Yard untangle the mystery at hand.

For each case, there is a quick exposition piece. If you are so inclined, you can download the app to have this part of the case read to you. Players typically get who was killed, where they were killed, and theories from Lestrade. At your disposal are a map of London, a handful of useful informants, a trusty stack of newspapers, and your own wits. These tools will help you track down leads and build your case. Oh, and get a notepad and a good pen.

Each player, on their turn, will visit a location to learn more about the case. You’ll need to keep track of each place visited for end game scoring. Keeping track and taking good notes will keep the facts straight and minimize how many times you have to flip back and read a previous entry. You have the option of playing cooperatively at the table or everyone playing for themselves, taking in the clues, and then making their own deductions.

Now, you might have noticed I said Sherlock seemed to have no interest. He, of course, does investigate the case you’re working on and is one of your informants if you need help. His investigation is also what you will be comparing your results against. Daunting and downright infuriating. What else could you really expect when Sherlock is involved?

The boxes say gameplay lasts between 60-90 minutes. Adam and I have had cases fit that time, but we’ve also picked up and put down a case over several days. How long these cases go depends heavily on his fresh your brains are when you sit down at the table.

As for the component of trying to best Sherlock’s score, we have given up on that component of the game. In some cases, Sherlock figures everything out in five leads. There is no way you can answer all of the final questions using only five leads. When we play, our objective is to make sure we can answer any sort of question that the ending throws at us. I feel like we’re insulting the writers if we don’t read a good chunk of the content anyway.

Adam and I have not tried playing against each other. We find it more fun to work together to track down the killer. But, I like that we have the option to turn the tables and make the game a competitive one.

We’ve been toggling between The Thames Murders and Jack the Ripper box sets. There are other cases in the Jack the Ripper set of cases. It was recommended to go through the non-Ripper cases to get a handle on gameplay. They are not kidding. We just dipped our toes into the real-life mystery and dis abysmally.

Most games have a downside to them, and these mysteries are no different. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective can only be played once. Adam argues that if we put these away for like five years, we could revisit them because we would have forgotten what happened, which could be true. But five years is a long time to wait to play a game.

I don’t want to put anyone off from buying these by saying that. If you like mysteries and sleuthing, though, these will fit the bill for both even if you only get one shot at playing them. The storytelling is terrific. Each of the informants has a personality. Wiggins and company manage to infuse humor into the hunt. Not to mention, each case is definitely a brain teaser. Anyone following on social media saw the stack of notes left in the wake of our last gameplay.

With all the time on our hands these days, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective is an excellent game to have on hand. Time flies when you’re on the trail of a murderer…or something like that.