Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

Components

Setup

1. 1Agree on a case to play. The official rules recommend playing in chronological order — later newspapers may contain content related to earlier cases, spoiling their surprises.
2. 2Place the map of London in the middle of the table.
3. 3Place the London Directory and the list of informants (back of the Directory) near the map.
4. 4Lay out the newspaper matching the case's date, plus every newspaper with an earlier date. Do not use newspapers dated after the case.
5. 5Optionally grab blank paper and pencils for notes. One player may be put in charge of notes.
6. 6One player becomes the 'lead investigator,' takes the case book, and reads the introduction aloud to begin.

A turn — choosing and following a lead

1. 1The current lead investigator decides where to go next (e.g. "I want to visit the crime scene").
2. 2Find that person or place's address (zone+number, e.g. 42 NW) in the directory or on the map.
3. 3Find the matching paragraph in the case book by zone and number, read it aloud, and mark that lead as followed.
4. 4Pass the case book to the player on your left. That player becomes the new lead investigator and repeats the process.

Reading the map and directory

The map divides London into five zones: Northwest (NW), West Centre (WC), Southwest (SW), East Centre (EC), and Southeast (SE). Addresses are written as zone+number (e.g. 95 NW); the long form used in newspapers adds the street name (e.g. 95 Park Lane NW). On the map, red marks are fixed specific places like the British Museum, black marks are police stations, and every other number denotes a housing block.

The travel-time scale in one corner of the map is used to check a suspect's movements or alibi. To keep the game simple, travel speed is treated as a fixed value regardless of transport method, and the players' own travel time while investigating is never counted.

Using informants and newspapers

The back of the directory lists 14 recurring informants who appear across most cases. Not every informant is relevant to every case, and some may be unavailable depending on events.

Scoring

1. 1Once the group decides to stop investigating, move to the case book's 'Questions' section.
2. 2Answer the case-specific questions, plus the bonus set of questions about related facts you may have uncovered.
3. 3Open the 'Solutions' section, read Holmes' explanation aloud, and total your score using the question point values.
4. 4Count the number of leads the players followed. If the solution marks any lead as 'free,' it is excluded from this count.
5. 5Compare this to the number of leads Holmes used for the same case. For each lead beyond Holmes' total, subtract 5 points; for each lead fewer than Holmes, add 5 points to reach your final score.

End of the game

1. 1When to stop investigating is entirely up to the players — there is no turn limit or time limit.
2. 2After answering both sets of questions, open the 'Solutions' section and have one player read Holmes' conclusions aloud.
3. 3Open the envelope, tally the question score and the lead-count adjustment into a final score, and compare it to Holmes' 100.

Strategy tips

• You don't need to visit every address. Choosing leads that establish the overall picture first, such as the crime scene or key figures, makes later choices easier.
• Every newspaper up to the case's date can be reread at no lead cost. Skimming the articles and advertisements before committing to an uncertain lead is a free way to gather information.
• Each informant has a clear specialty (autopsies go to Sir Jasper Meeks, criminal records to the Office of Records, and so on). Working out which informant fits which question in advance avoids unnecessary visits.
• Make use of the lead investigator's final say. Time spent discussing doesn't affect your score, but the number of leads actually followed does.

Player count, modes, and follow-up case packs

Frequently asked questions

History and editions

The original was designed by Gary Grady, Suzanne Goldberg, and Raymond Edwards and first published by Sleuth Publications in 1981–82 (sources differ between 1981 and 1982). It won the Spiel des Jahres in 1985 and the 1982 Charles S. Roberts Best Fantasy Board Game award.

Over the following decades, publishers in many countries licensed the game for local editions (BGG lists more than ten publishers). BGG's honors also include a 2012 As d'Or — Jeu de l'Année Prix du Jury, but which specific reissue earned that award was not confirmed. ⚠️ Unverified: which edition received the 2012 As d'Or award — not assumed without confirmation.

Space Cowboys (part of Asmodee) republished ten cases as The Thames Murders & Other Cases in 2016, and has since continued the same system in Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures, The Baker Street Irregulars, and Carlton House.

The English Wikipedia article focuses on ICOM Simulations' 1991 video game, so its coverage of the board game itself is limited to a single sentence: "a tabletop game-gamebook hybrid of the same name first published in 1981." As of a 2026-10-11 search, Namuwiki had no dedicated article for this board game.