Last Week for a new game Monday, we played Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures.
We started with the stand-alone adventures, and it is so reminiscent to my childhood FAVORITE, 221 B Baker Street, a choose your own adventure in Olde London.
You are in the room with Sherlock Holmes when you hear then case. You are asked to solve the case; however, Holmes is on the case as well, and the big question is, who will solve it first! Time to follow the leads. Do you go to the crime scene? Follow the clues in the daily newspaper? As a group, you travel through London collecting clues and take notes because there is much to unravel.
There is an App accompanying the game. It gives much detail and paints an interactive picture that sets up the premise of the crime, which we enjoyed. We wished that there was more interaction with the App, such as clues being narrated as the character. Once we got past the narration, we jumped right in. I was the taker of notes, and Derek was the reader of clues. Our approach was to find trustworthy information and to not leave any stone unturned. If you find that your hints have run cold, some informants can refresh the search. This gave the feel of a role-playing game, and we took full advantage to get into character. When you believe you have the solved the crime, you back to book and answer the question to the case. You read the solution and score your answers. We neglected to learn that it was a race to see who could solve it with fewer leads than Sherlock Holmes, so we severely lost because we relished in looking for clues and did not stop till we had found them all.
*We utilized the game pieces from Pandemic Legacy to help keep track of where we found clues and where we wanted to uncover clues. They were most significant tool on our adventure.
Though the replayability is low, multiple cases build on the last. Comparable to a Legacy game. Despite the fact, we were playing it wrong (which will continue) it’s a pleasure to immerse in the atmospheric adventures of Sherlock Holmes world. We will joyfully be exploring the streets of London with thick accents, deerstalker hat, and pipe.
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures (2017)
Gameplay
1–8 Players
Playing Time 60-120
Age: 10+
Nerdz Skills- Bring your British dialect, silly hats and bad puns.
Designer: Suzanne Goldberg, Gary Grady, Jérôme Ropert
Artist: Bernard Bittler, Arnaud Demaegd, Neriac, Pascal Quidault
Publisher: Asmodee, Asterion Press, Rebel, Space Cowboys
SuZann Smith
New Game Mondays
Nerdz Garage