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Post by centaurofattn on Feb 27, 2016 11:33:15 GMT -5
I picked up this game made by Ystari Games yesterday at my local game shop when asking for "games you can play when you don't have any friends...available." After the clerk laughed at my silly joke she pointed me to Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective. The back reads: You are a member of the Baker Street Irregulars working to solve mysteries before the Master! You are either investigating the mysteries as an individual, or trying to win against up to 7 other investigators.The curse of the mummy, the murders of the Thames, the mysteries of London, the stolen paintings... strange cases of the most famous detective ever: Sherlock Holmes! Equipped with a copy of The Times, a map of London, a directory and more importantly - your logic, you will roam the streets of London trying to solve the most heinous crimes. Will you visit the crime scene? Meet Inspector Lestrade? The decision is in your hands and each clue that you follow will bring you a step closer to the truth.Unravel the string of intrigue, answer a series of questions and compare your score to that of Sherlock Holmes.Can you beat the master?It cost $40 and has 10 mysteries in it that do not have a replay factor unfortunately. However, each mystery is supposed to take one to two hours and I've read online that some people have taken up to three. So if you divide it all out, it's still cheaper than seeing 10 movies and if you involve friends in the mix, I think it's a good deal. I've also been told that you don't need to write in any of the materials, so it can be gifted or resold later. I am holding off on solving any of the mysteries solo so that I can get the most out of the game, but I will report back after game play on how I liked it. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2511/sherlock-holmes-consulting-detective
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Austruck
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Post by Austruck on Mar 3, 2016 10:30:01 GMT -5
YES YES YES to this game! My son and daughter-in-law have this game (all my kids are grown). We've (sadly) made it through all the cases, but we'd get together as a group (five of us), sit around their dining room table all afternoon, and go through a case (or most of a case -- sometimes they took two sittings because we'd end up on rabbit trails). We had an amazing time with this game and have been searching out others like it. If you can get a group of at least 3 people to play along with you, it's great fun. (We found five people was perfect -- more people would have been a bit chaotic and two people would have been possibly too few.) You're not playing against each other. You're working together to solve the case. The description doesn't do the game justice. By the time we hit the 9th and 10th cases, we were looking for excuses to drag it out and take two sittings per case because we didn't want it to end. The ONLY thing we all noticed was that there are a fair number of typos in the case book. Ha! Not really a deal-breaker.
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davidgpeterson
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Post by davidgpeterson on May 12, 2016 0:24:20 GMT -5
Best game ever made.
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Post by tanders on Aug 18, 2016 9:14:00 GMT -5
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Austruck
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Post by Austruck on Aug 18, 2016 9:29:41 GMT -5
Oh, wow! I just sent this link to my son so we can be on the lookout for it later this year! Looks right up our alley. In the meantime, we've been playing the monthly "cases" put out by a sort of "rival" of the Mysterious Package Company, a group called the Mystery Experiences Company. They put out a monthly case box, which arrives with all sorts of stuff in it to solve a case. It's very much like a modern version of the Sherlock Holmes game. And each box/package/month is a self-contained case. Most come with a sealed "solutions" card so you can finish knowing whether or not you've solved the case correctly. I'm still a subscriber to Curios and Conundrums, but let's face it: it's only quarterly (if that) and the timing is sketchy. This new group is always on time (so far -- I think I have about 5 cases here now), and their stuff is just right for us as we sit down for an afternoon of snacks and gaming at my son's dining room table. It's filled a bit of a gap for us. But that Jack the Ripper game looks quite promising! Here's a link to the main page for the Mystery Experiences Company: mysteryexperiences.cratejoy.com/They're also on Facebook.
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Post by tanders on Aug 18, 2016 9:31:57 GMT -5
Oh, wow! I just sent this link to my son so we can be on the lookout for it later this year! Looks right up our alley. In the meantime, we've been playing the monthly "cases" put out by a sort of "rival" of the Mysterious Package Company, a group called the Mystery Experiences Company. They put out a monthly case box, which arrives with all sorts of stuff in it to solve a case. It's very much like a modern version of the Sherlock Holmes game. And each box/package/month is a self-contained case. Most come with a sealed "solutions" card so you can finish knowing whether or not you've solved the case correctly. I'm still a subscriber to Curios and Conundrums, but let's face it: it's only quarterly (if that) and the timing is sketchy. This new group is always on time (so far -- I think I have about 5 cases here now), and their stuff is just right for us as we sit down for an afternoon of snacks and gaming at my son's dining room table. It's filled a bit of a gap for us. But that Jack the Ripper game looks quite promising! Here's a link to the main page for the Mystery Experiences Company: mysteryexperiences.cratejoy.com/They're also on Facebook. Yep, I gave up on Mystery Experiences. They started watering down the monthly mysteries and we weren't having fun anymore. You can check out more about them in the other threads we have already started. Some of the months also have their own sub-threads. Was hoping it would improve but just became too simplistic for us...
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Austruck
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Post by Austruck on Aug 18, 2016 9:36:12 GMT -5
I've got about 4-5 boxes/packages of theirs here, but we've gone through only one completely so far. We're getting together Saturday to do another one. The last box that arrived here was, I believe, supposed to have a small vial of perfume in it. Unfortunately when I opened the box, it REEKED of this gaudy perfume... and the rubber stopper on the vial had come off in shipping. SO that whole box literally stinks! Sorry to hear the quality has not kept up. I'll let you know what we think if we do another one on Saturday. Perhaps keeping to the monthly schedule has forced them to dummy down the creativity a bit in favor of a deadline? Will check out the other threads. Haven't been back here in a while and I didn't realize others were posting about them here.
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Post by tanders on Aug 18, 2016 9:38:16 GMT -5
I've got about 4-5 boxes/packages of theirs here, but we've gone through only one completely so far. We're getting together Saturday to do another one. The last box that arrived here was, I believe, supposed to have a small vial of perfume in it. Unfortunately when I opened the box, it REEKED of this gaudy perfume... and the rubber stopper on the vial had come off in shipping. SO that whole box literally stinks! Sorry to hear the quality has not kept up. I'll let you know what we think if we do another one on Saturday. Perhaps keeping to the monthly schedule has forced them to dummy down the creativity a bit in favor of a deadline? Will check out the other threads. Haven't been back here in a while and I didn't realize others were posting about them here. The vial is supposed to be empty. What you smell is the incense stick...
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Austruck
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Post by Austruck on Aug 18, 2016 9:55:43 GMT -5
Ha! Well, I didn't get that far before I slammed the box closed. And yes, I see other threads here where people mention the incense stick. (I had incense as a teen and don't remember it smelling like perfume, though, which is probably why at first glance I thought what I did.)
Well, I'm cautiously optimistic. We definitely did NOT think the one case we solved completely was anywhere near as complex or intricate as the Sherlock Holmes game cases. But it filled in the gap for us. I am hopeful for that Jack the Ripper game, though.
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Post by nickcharles on Nov 24, 2016 20:14:01 GMT -5
I've played through the first couple of cases solo and find it very enjoyable. I look forward to getting a group together to play it with. Perhaps a group who would normally play a dinner murder mystery but without the amateur theatre company feel.
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Post by landau on Dec 9, 2016 15:28:25 GMT -5
I really enjoy these game(s). I picked it up back in the early 80's, when it was published in a 3-ring binder format. Just wonderful. Sleuth Publications, the original publisher, also made expansions: The Mansion Murders, The Queens's Park Affair, West End Adventures, and Adventures by Gaslight. Sleuth also made a game set in the hard-boiled detective style called Gumshoe. For those seeking a Lovecraftian experience, Mythos Tales, which was recently published 8th Summit, ought to fit the bill. Poke around BGG for more. There are also other adventures that have been published for Sherlock Holmes Consulting detective by fans. Consider, from Dave and Frankie Arneson, Sherlock Holmes and the Baby. You might recognize Dave Arneson as one of the co-developers of D&D. Some of these (Most? All?) fan-created cases are really quite amazing, boardgamegeek.com/thread/1614352/italian-cases-table-fan-made-cases, is a place to start on BGG for this. And a very generous soul has a list: laurencetennant.com/shcd-fan-cases. Enjoy!
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Post by Geodus on Dec 13, 2016 23:46:59 GMT -5
I did something for my SH:CD that I think improves the game, although it helps others more than myself. Often, included with the narrative for a location is an image of a letter, note, or some other kind of physical clue. I've found that even the most well-intentioned detective can have their eye stray upon these, or perhaps drift to adjacent narrative while referring to an already-found clue.
For each of these images, I made an suitably-sized color copy and cut them to shape, and put them in an envelope. If you are the host/narrator/reader and not engaged in solving the mystery, it's an easy process to pull out the clue at the appropriate time and hand it to the detective players, who can then pore over it and share among themselves. This has the added benefit of making discovery of them feel like a real reward for the players.
If there is no host or you are the only player, you can still cover up the clues in the book with post-it notes or the like after copying them, and hope that you can forget anything you saw while making the copy.
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Austruck
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Post by Austruck on Dec 14, 2016 12:57:38 GMT -5
landau ... thanks for the links. I knew there were other expansions out there in other languages but didn't realize they'd been translated. These will make our little group of sleuths very happy for a while!
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Post by centaurofattn on Dec 19, 2016 9:20:40 GMT -5
I still haven't actually played this, but I think I finally have some friends (lol) so we may be playing soon! Excited!
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Post by jackoat on Dec 19, 2016 9:57:38 GMT -5
I still haven't actually played this, but I think I finally have some friends (lol) so we may be playing soon! Excited! I wonder if there is some online version that can be played by a group in different cities??
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