Watson & Holmes is a game of deduction set within the magnificent works of Arthur Conan Doyle. Two to seven aspiring detectives step into the shoes of Doctor Watson, working alongside the detective Sherlock Holmes to try to solve a series of so far unpublished cases directly extracted from Doctor John H. Watson's diaries. Those who accept the challenge relive the adventures of the crime-solving duo, visiting each of the locations where the inquiries were made. Following the trail, each clue brings players closer to solving the case.
The objective of the game is to immerse yourself in the Victorian world depicted in each story. Visit the right places, decipher the clues, and above all find the path that leads you to solve the mystery before anybody else. Victory goes to the player who accurately uses the deductive reasoning so famously and ingeniously implemented by the hero of 221B Baker Street.
The game consists of a series of separate cases, each of which raises a number of questions that each player tries to solve before anyone else. To do this, once the case and the questions have been read aloud, players proceed to visit the locations where the clues are located. Each location cannot be accessed by more than one player at any one time, so if two or more players want to go to the same place, the player who travels there the fastest (i.e., he who uses the largest number of Carriage Tokens) gets the clue, forcing the others to go to a different location. Once every player has a destination, they proceed to read in secret the clue that was discovered at that location. They can discreetly take any notes they deem appropriate. Once this is done, the cards are returned to their place so that others can read them in later turns.
This procedure is repeated during each turn until one player believes he has found the solutions to the case; at that time, he must go to 221B Baker Street to check if his answers are correct. If all the answers are correct, the player wins; if they are wrong, he will have lost and retires from the game, and the game continues.
Each detective will also have the invaluable assistance of a number of Sherlock Holmes' allies, above all, the good Dr Watson and of course of the detective himself.
- Engaging deduction theme with familiar detective vibe
- Varied locations and clue distribution create interesting decisions
- Not universally loved for its competitive twist on cooperation
- Can be dependent on player language and clue interpretation
- Mystery investigation and clue synthesis
- Deduction in a detective setting; competitive twist on a classic deduction format
- Story-driven investigative play with variable scenarios
- The Initiative
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- asymmetric information — Different players have different viewpoints or objectives that affect deductions.
- Asymmetric Teams — Different players have different viewpoints or objectives that affect deductions.
- competitive deduction — Players gather clues and deduce outcomes in a competitive setup.
- Deduction — Players gather clues and deduce outcomes in a competitive setup.
- location-based exploration — Players visit locations and piece together what happened.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It is traveling to the Netherlands and playing some of the best escape rooms in the world.
- the quality of escape rooms are just very high.
- We played 22 escape rooms.
- You can do any puzzle at any time you want.
- It's a deck of cards with puzzles and a cool little story to go with it.
- It has a great hint system.
- full replayable
- language based things.
References (from this video)
- Fell flat for us
- Not as good as other deduction games
- Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
- The Search for Planet X
- Cryptic
- Awkward Guests
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Deduction — it's deduction.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's a double keep. This one was really fun.
- Very quick game. Highly recommend this one. A small filler game that is really really good.
- It was meh.
- ultimately, I I found it just like I have I have better games that I'm more excited to play. That's the bottom line.
- It's a fine game. It's another one of those where I played and I like that was a fun. Never need to do that again.
- But it ended up feeling very like meaningful for in tactical when you started playing and just like oh, but I saw this opportunity.
- This was not up to those No. I mean, I know some people really liked it, but for us it just fell flat.
- It is long.
- But for me, it ends up not being a keeper. Oh yeah, for me, too.
- This is a game about leading an expedition. Through Ice and Snow. Yes. And you I would say this is a painfully thematic game.
References (from this video)
- race against the clock adds adrenaline
- auction/bidding adds strategic tension
- interactive information denial and access feels clever
- can become punishing if information access is blocked too aggressively
- race to solve a case more quickly than opponents
- Victorian crime world featuring Watson and Holmes
- procedural, competitive deduction
- Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Auction / Bidding — tokens bid to visit certain cards and can block others from accessing information
- bidding and blocking tokens — tokens bid to visit certain cards and can block others from accessing information
- grid of case facets — cards represent different aspects of the crime scene; players read and note them
- turn-based information access — each turn all players move to a card place and extract information
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is the collection starter and here are the top 10 games like cludo but better
- it's brilliant
- the perfect next step
- production-wise it feels like a million bucks
- it's quiet tense and thinky
- a tense beautiful little puzzle gameplay stuffed with side eye pirate paranoia
- you've got this map in front of you which can be broken up and arranged in many different ways depending on the scenario you're playing
- it's an awesome film about language the nature of communication