Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

I have been watching the BBC Sherlock and enjoying it in my limited evening free time not spent trolling here.

I watched the Shut Up and Sit Down review of Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective and seemed right up my family's alley.



I am curious for
1. FATties opinions of the game
2. An errant used copy someone is done with

Played yesterday with my extended family and had a good time. We just jammed on the case together and got it it 80% correct. Missed one detail!

You can pick this critter up cheap and should -- likely for about $18 including shipping on an old, unplayed copy. That's how I got mine.

Ebay had them at $50+- maybe the effects of having it covered by a review site.

Age range that seems to work would be helpful to know. Something I could team up with my 8 year old to play?

My FLGS did have a copy of the reprint recently but I don't know if it is still there or not.

I always enjoyed it although I think I like Gumshoe a little more.

As those attending WBC will remember, I unpacked Jay's copy of Gumshoe at WBC and read the rules. Definitely not a convention game. I would go so far as to say it would be impossible to play at a convention.

Looks like the kind of game that would work at home, with the wife, mulling over the clues with a bottle of wine. I just could not see how you were only supposed to talk if you were in the same building and then you were supposed to go off and find clues elsewhere, meeting up later to discuss your findings. No way that would work in a convention setting.

The paragraphs to read out were massively long that would just not work with folk who don't like sitting quietly and listening to a guy read you a novella.

We played a couple cases a few weeks back. I really liked it. Think of it more as a very light RPG experience and you'll be closer to the mark than thinking of it as a traditional board game.

There is a great deal of exposition in the game but nothing like what I saw in Gum Shoe.

Peggy, the non gaming wife says "Oh that game we played at F:AT Thursday? I liked it. I thought it was fun."

I think your eight-year-old is fully capable intellectually, whether they'll be interested in sitting still to debate a murder case for 90 minutes is another story.

And you're right, the price is through the roof on eBay. I checked my mail -- $7 plus $12 shipping on June 2nd of this year. Not sure what happened, but I can't imagine it will stay where it is.

We played late at night at Trashfest Mid-Atlantic with 20 people in the house and it worked fine, but I don't think I would have taken a shot at it in Open Gaming at WBC. There's a lot of talk and debate involved.

S.

Copies have started to dry up in distribution and with the publisher first being reluctant to make an English Edition, followed by none of the expansions being translated, I think is fueling the "Crap, get it before it is gone rush...No matter the cost."

I have the old blue box version which is fully serviceable. I didn't see those going for cheap either though. I'd wager that more of these copies will appear out of the woodwork once the rush dies down.

S.

Damn, combination of the print run drying up and SU&SD reviewing it is making me really glad I got a copy for my birthday at the end of July. Sounds like the timing on it was just about perfect.

I haven't managed to play it yet, unfortunately, so I'm pretty much no help. The newspapers are pretty cool though.

I reviewed it awhile ago:
fortressat.com/blogs-by-members/4456

I have copies of both the new edition and the old blue box. In addition, my buddy has the binder version. They are all functionally the same though they changed some dates and sequences around in the new edition so you couldn't use them together. If one is cheaper than the other, then follow the money but that being said, the old blue box is a little functional even if it looks cheaper. The font, the paperstock, & the old Strand illustrations make it feel like an old book. The new edition is on glossy pages combined with script typeface is a little harder to read but that's a minor nitpick. The bigger issue is that the expansions aren't currently available for it and it's looking more likely that they may not see English translations.

This is not a sit around a table game. This plays best with comfortable seating like couches or poolside. If we were to play it at WBC, then I'd suggest around the pool rather than open-gaming.

I played through a case last night with some friends of mine last night (case 8 in the Sleuth edition), we played for around 5 hours, and after visiting 11 leads and painting this undeniably true portrait of the killings, were humbled by Holmes, who in 7 leads solved it. We missed an important lead, and in my opinion an obvious one, we were also reminded of an important lesson, always revisit the newspaper prior to the endgame quiz.

Thanks all! Google and persistance yielded a few copies through Target (?!?). Just came in the mail two days ago.

Wow, nice, Target?