Master Sleuthing as a Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
Explore the streets of London and follow intriguing leads to solve the various cases in Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective.
What’s the most amateur detective move possible? Taking years to finish solving a set of cases. Ha ha! I last managed to get Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Thames Murders & Other Cases to my table years ago… The final trio of cases sat there, untouched, and it was time to finally finish up this set and prove my sleuthing skills! Or, just try to. Ha!
Game Overview
Game Name: Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
Publication Year: 1982
Designers: R. Edwards, S. Goldberg, & G. Grady
Artists: B. Bittler, A. Demaegd, Neriac, & P. Quidault
Publisher: Space Cowboys
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Over the course of 10 cases, clues must be discovered to figure out the solutions. Newspapers provide seemingly entertaining articles that can prove most valuable, while a directory and map help explore the mysteries. Sherlock Holmes might be on the case, but he’s not the only one!
First Play
January 2, 2018
Complexity
1
Latest Play
December 2, 2023
Expansions
0
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
18
Play Time
1 Hour
High Score
N/A
Game Area
34" x 22"
Low Score
N/A
Looking to the Thames
By sheer coincidence, I played through the first 7 cases and stopped just shy of the major case. It warns that it’s the lengthiest one, and I can attest to that being the truth!
No spoilers here, yet this is certainly where the meat of this set of cases exists. So much information to sift through and make sense of to reach the final solution.
As usual, I completely ignored the race to solve the case, but chased down every possible narrative path I could.
It was definitely a lot, although I never felt like I was bored with the case. Quite the interesting highlight of the set!
Fun with Investigating
Perhaps the best part of this series is how it truly feels like information is being picked up and explored. Something I found in the newspaper might not be obvious at first.
But with the case details, that might lead me to look at the map or directory to track down someone else to question.
Across this final trio of cases, I had some pretty fun moments. Did I get everything correct? No comment. I’m just going to say I worked with Sherlock. Ha ha!
The only gripe I had was how the main case wasn’t the last one… It sort of lost its luster after that one ended.
A Little Bit of Humor
You better believe I scour every newspaper for clues! More than once, I ended up at the wrong location by trying to follow an advertisement or potentially coded note.
And I know this little piece of news is terrible, but amidst the rather serious atmosphere, I found a reason to laugh at the way this was worded. Violent contact?! Oh, no!
I actually wish the newspapers were used a little bit more. Only a small portion of each one is actually relevant.
Still, I enjoyed this piece of each case. I could just sit back and find some humor or historical note from the 1800s.
Street by Street
The large map was also pretty unused for a lot of the cases. It was pivotal to solving some elements, but it felt like another somewhat missed opportunity.
Maybe I hoped for a little too much overall, although that didn’t detract from the fun I had with all of the cases!
It was just a shame there wasn’t some sort of ending or conclusion. The last case wrapped up, and I was ready to pass along this set, at long last. Years of sleuthing done!
Definitely a unique sort of experience that might show its age, but this is one that set the stage for other games.
Getting the Most Out of a One-Time Game
Since these cases have a single solution, it’s really not possible to play through them over and over. I managed to partially forget about a few of them over the years, though, leading to multiple plays! There were also the times when I walked my parents through cases, helping out a bit since I knew the answers, but mostly just managing everything.
I’ve often thought I might keep this box set around forever, returning to the cases every 5 years or so. However, with limited space and no strong connection to anything, I believe I got the most out of this one. All happy times, too, so I have no regrets keeping it around this long! Often, it’s enough to love playing a game in its time, then letting it go.
Session Overview
Play Number: 16-18
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Cases 8, 9, & 10
Outcome: 3 Wins
All done! I found some interesting parts to enjoy about each case. As a last hurrah, I also re-read the cases I previously finished. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this one, but with the solutions still clear to me years later, I’ve gotten all I’ll get from it. My detective skills made some leaps and bounds, or so I keep telling myself. We’ll see what happens with the next deduction game!
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
9
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- Every case differs quite a bit, and there are unexpected interconnected bits that may come back in later cases.
- Play time moves relatively quickly, even when trying to track down every clue and lead possible.
- Scouring each newspaper for useful information is an excellent part of gameplay that often brings in some humor.
- Offhand character descriptions can actually be major clues in the narrative, rewarding careful and slow reading.
- Watching each case unfold from visiting location after location is very satisfying and engaging.
- Plenty of twists and turns may be found throughout the cases, which all feel like they feature excellent writing.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Some of the font choices are hard to read, especially with some of the handwritten notes or other clues.
- Each case has a linear path and single solution, so there really isn’t any way to play through in a different way.
- The newspapers and map feel like they’re not always used as much as they could be, and there are some typos.
- Including scoring to race against Sherlock Holmes feels like an odd choice, as reading every paragraph is fun.
Victory Conditions
Complete the Case
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Complete all 10 cases.
Continue the Conversation
Have you completed every case in Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Thames Murders & Other Cases? Did you discover a favorite one along the way? It’s been a long time coming, yet I’m very happy to have completed this set! My experiences were very fun, and I’ll fondly look back at a lot of these cases. Time to keep rolling through my collection!
Absolutely love this one. We scored a 65 on or first case and 75 for both the second and third cases. We dropped to 40 on our 4th case, and now we’re back on the fifth exciting caper.
When I was keeping track of scores, I think I did pretty well at first, and then absolutely started showing my amateur detecting skills. Ha ha! Hope it all goes well for you and you get the correct answers with the rest of the cases: They’re all very interesting!