In February 1895, London woke up to a loud bang. A large pillar of smoke showed that a bomb had exploded in the Houses of Parliament. Security forces were activated immediately and they arrested a suspicious young laborer near the area.
Mycroft Holmes, at the service of the crown, was commissioned to investigate the relationship of the young laborer with anarchist groups. He thinks it will be an easy task that he can do from the comfort of his armchair in the Diogenes Club — until he is informed of disturbing news; his younger brother Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective, has been hired by the boy's parents to prove the innocence of his son, who believes to be a scapegoat of a dark conspiracy.
For the first time, the brightest minds in London face each other. Was the young laborer involved in this terrible attack or he is just a scapegoat for a dark conspiracy?
A game of Holmes: Sherlock & Mycroft lasts seven turns (days of investigation). At the beginning of each day, famous characters extracted from the books of Arthur Conan Doyle appear in London.
Each player has three action tokens that move from one character to another to use their special abilities, knowing that a player can never have two tokens on the same character. Therefore, a character must be freed before reuse. The abilities of each character allow them to obtain Evidence Cards or gain Investigation Tokens in multiple ways. The game has great replay value because it is not known whether a character with a specific ability will make their appearance on the board in the Day 1 or in the final Day 7. Each game is different!
- Great two-player head-to-head experience
- Simple to teach and quick to play
- Thematic integration feels strong, especially the memory aspect
- High-quality components and attractive artwork
- Dense enough strategy for advanced players while accessible for beginners
- Limited character variety may reduce replay value
- Memory-based elements can cause forgetting or confusion if not managed
- Single-game scope with limited starting setups may limit long-term variety
- Mystery solving through deduction, memory, and competitive play between Holmes brothers
- Late 19th-century London; Holmes universe with Mycroft and Moriarty as villains
- Competitive head-to-head with day-by-day progression and memory-based clues
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- clue cards and map pieces — Clues come in numbered cards and map pieces; players aim to collect the majority in each valued category.
- day-based action structure — Turns progress through days; actions and available characters change as days advance.
- final scoring by majority — Scoring emphasizes who has the majority of each numbered value; bonuses for complete sets.
- investigation tokens — Tokens are earned to acquire clues and drive scoring.
- meeple placement — Players place a meeple on character cards to activate abilities or gather resources.
- reserve and play cards — Some cards can be reserved and later played; reserved cards may carry negative points if unused.
- villains and deck interaction — Villains appear and alter game state; cards are discarded and replaced to introduce new challenges.
- Wild cards — Wilds augment clues or start new numbered value piles; only one Wild per value.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Holmes Sherlock and Mycroft is a great two-player game
- excellent for any level Gamers from beginner to expert
- simple to teach yet packed with enough meat for the most Discerning Gamers
- it gets an eight out of 10