CHEN Qiang's Sherlock Squad, Yaofish Games, Rules Summary & Review
Transcript
Four crimes, a room full of suspects, and only the clues can lead you to the truth. Welcome to Sherlock Squad. Sherlock Squad is a familyweight deduction game featuring various mechanics, including roll and move, dice rolling, grid movement, action points, deduction, pattern recognition, and a market. Designed by Shenang with illustrations by Shu Yuking Liea, Yang Jinguin, Xi Yukin, and Shenzhi. The original Chinese edition was first published in 2025. Now in 2026, a new English edition has been published by the same publisher, and that is Yaoish Games. The game accommodates one to four players, takes around 45 minutes to play, and is recommended for ages eight and up. Set in London during the time of Sherlock Holmes, players take on the role of members of the Baker Street Irregulars.
Your team must assist Sherlock Holmes and Solen Scotland Yards four baffling cases. Within a limited number of turns, you'll scour London for clues and try to identify the culprits behind as many of the four crimes as possible. Holmes will then evaluate your performance, so strive for the highest possible rating. Sherlock Squad features two distinctive game modes, a cooperative mode and a competitive mode. In the cooperative game, players move around London, complete missions, earn money, purchase clue cards and item cards, and investigate four different crimes. By combining clues and carefully analyzing the information they reveal, players must deduce the identities of the four culprits from the list of suspects found in the suspect doier. The competitive mode offers a completely different way to play. Unlike the cooperative mode, it does not include most of the components and only includes the clue cards, crime scene cards, suspect dosier, and detective sheets. In this mode, the players compete directly against one another using clue cards to investigate the four cases and become the first player to correctly deduce the identities of all four culprits.
Now, let's take a closer look at the two distinctive game modes. Starting with the cooperative mode. Cooperative game mode. In the cooperative game mode, players will move around the London area to try to uncover and identify the culprits from a series of four crimes using a list of suspects from a suspect dossier. Players will move around the board, which is set in the London area, complete missions to earn money, purchase clue cards and item cards, and use them to aid them in their quest to find out who the culprits are. The game starts with the youngest player and then proceeds clockwise until the game is completed. The game ends once all mission cards have been drawn. On their turn, players start by drawing two mission cards from the top of the mission deck. They keep one in front of them and place the other on the pending mission pile on the card tray. There are various missions and once completed they offer different benefits. The active player then rolls all six dice. The dice depict different things such as footsteps for movement, currency for money, magnifying glasses which are used in certain missions and with item cards, and an X which means you can't use that dice any longer. Players may choose to reroll any of their dice that did not initially roll an X up to twice. Then with their remaining dice, they decide
which actions to take. This can include moving around the board. Moving around the area costs a certain number of footsteps as depicted at the different locations on the map, and players need to spend the required number of footsteps from their dice to move. Players may spend dice showing currency at the headquarters location in order to gain money. There are various buildings on the board that provide different outcomes. At the tavern, players may buy a glue card. At the secondhand shop, players may buy an item card. At the clinic, players may buy a medical kit, which helps with dice rerolls. At the carriage house, players may choose to move to another carriage house location freely. At the police station, players may select and add a pending mission for this turn as an extra mission. At any of the crime scenes, players may use their clue cards to help identify the culprits. This is done by flipping the crime scene card over and pairing it with the clue card they have. The back of the crime scene card has a pattern, and the back of the clue card also has a pattern. You need to combine them to form a full pattern. The back of the crime scene card also has a name printed in invisible ink, which you can discover by lighting up the area with the LED light provided with the game. Once the two cards are combined, a pattern will be revealed. Depending on how many traits from the clue card match the
culprit's traits, the letter B may appear one or more times. Each B indicates that one of the traits on the clue card is correct and matches one of the culprits traits. Players need to deduce which traits are the correct traits for the crime scene so they can figure out who the culprit is from the suspect dosier. The four different traits consist of gender, which is either male or female, clothing, which is either gray or green, whether the suspect wears eyeglasses or not, and whether the suspect is wearing a collar, bow tie, or not. Players record their findings on the detective sheet provided with the game. A player may use any number of clue cards at their disposal.
Players may also, as a free action, exchange money, clue cards, and item cards with another player who is in the same location as them. Players may also use item cards as a free action. Once a player finishes all of their actions, they end their turn by placing all of their mission cards, whether completed or not, into the completed mission card section on the card tray. The next player in clockwise order then takes their turn. When the last mission cards are drawn, that signals the last turn of the game. Once that turn ends, the game ends. At this point, players still have one last opportunity to write down or modify the culprit's name for each case. After all four culprits have been written down, or a player decides not to write an answer, proceed to the final solution revelation phase. Solution revelation.
Use the LED flashlight on the backs of the four crime scene cards to reveal the culprit's name. Scoring. After comparing the culprit names you wrote down with the correct solutions, for each correct answer, you gain 40 points. Unanswered cases receive neither points nor penalties. For each incorrect culprit name, check how many traits differ between your guess and the true culprit. Deduct 10 points for each mismatched trait. Now, use your final total score to see Sherlock Holmes evaluation of your performance. Game modes. The game also offers an easy mode and a hard mode, but I'll let you discover that on your own. Competitive game mode. Sherlock Squad can also be played competitively, offering a completely different way to play. Unlike the cooperative mode, this version only uses the clue cards, crime scene cards, suspect dosier, and detective sheets.
The objective is to be the first player to correctly deduce the identities of all four culprits. Each turn consists of three actions. First players must either take any number of cards from the central discard pile or draw from the clue card deck until they have four cards in hand. This action is skipped on each player's first turn. Next, players must choose one clue card from their hand and use it to investigate one of the four cases. The investigation result must be kept hidden from the other players. And after recording the result on their detective sheet, the used clue card is placed face up in the central discard pile. Finally, players may optionally discard any number of clue cards from their hand.
The game ends immediately when a player has written down answers for all four cases. The other players then finish their current turns so that everyone has taken the same number of turns. After which all players must complete their answers. The solutions are then revealed and players are scored using the same scoring method as in the cooperative mode. The player with the highest score wins with tied players sharing the victory. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data and sensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts. Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Bohemia, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1892.
Sherlock Squad is an enjoyable family weight deduction game that I've really enjoyed playing. The cooperative game mode was a lot of fun, especially when played on hard mode, where the game provides a much more challenging deduction puzzle. On easy and normal mode, it also caters well to families with younger players, making it a game that can easily be adjusted to different skill levels. The official competitive game mode, however, didn't work for me. It removes a lot of the components and many of the fun elements that make the cooperative game so enjoyable. While it does offer a more direct competition between players, I personally didn't find it nearly as interesting as the cooperative mode. In many ways, Sherlock Squad reminds me of a more revolved version of the classic clue. You're still trying to piece together clues, narrow down the suspects, and figure out who committed the crime. But Sherlock Squad takes that familiar deduction formula and adds much more to it. With the different traits, clue cards, hidden information, missions, and the ability to move around London and investigate different crime scenes. It feels like a step up from the classic formula while still retaining that same satisfying feeling of solving a mystery. Where I think Sherlock Squad truly shines, though, is when you take the cooperative game and make it competitive while still using all of its components. If you don't mind adding around 20 minutes or so to the game, this is my favorite way
to play. In this version, you play the game essentially as you would in the cooperative mode, using the board, the dice, missions, money, item cards, clue cards, and everything else that makes the game so much fun. you would need to modify and adjust a few of the cards, but this is very intuitive and easy to do. The exchange action also remains active, meaning players can buy from other players, exchange cards, and trade with one another. This adds a fun competitive trading element to the game and creates even more interaction between the players. The main change is how the mission cards work, and this needs to be adjusted depending on the number of players. As a general rule of thumb, keep in mind that each flare gets a total of eight turns before the game ends. With two players, simply play through the entire mission deck once.
There is no need to reshuffle the completed mission cards into a new deck. With three or four players, once the first mission deck is exhausted, take all the completed mission cards, shuffle them together, and create a new mission deck. Continue playing until each player has taken a total of eight turns. This gives everyone the same number of turns while allowing the game to run long enough for players to potentially complete two or even three of the four crime scenes. The final crime scene may still remain unknown, meaning you may have to make an educated guess for the final culprit, which I think adds a lot of excitement to the end of the game. The game ends once each player has taken a total of eight turns. At that point, players must write down a culprit for all four cases on their detective sheets, meaning you can't leave any answers blank. Scoring is then handled using the same system as in the cooperative game mode, except that there are no unanswered cases. The player with the highest score wins. I really enjoyed playing Sherlock Squad this way. It keeps all of the fun elements of the cooperative game while adding direct competition, trading, and a little more tension between the players. I would recommend using a shield to cover your detective sheets during the game, especially when playing competitively so that your investigation results remain hidden from the other players. The artwork in this game is absolutely charming and gorgeous. I really enjoyed all of the illustrations throughout the
game, and I think the overall presentation is very wellmade. The components are also great, as I've come to expect from another Yaoish Games title. As always with Yaish Games, the packaging is excellent, and the component quality is just as good. Overall, Sherlock Squad is a great family deduction game that I've really enjoyed playing. The cooperative game mode is where I think the game shines, especially when played on hard mode, and with a small house rule adjustment, I think the game becomes even more enjoyable when played competitively. If you enjoy deduction games with a charming theme, fun components, and plenty of clues to piece together, Sherlock Squad is definitely worth checking out.
Thank you so much for watching. Hope you enjoyed the video and see you next time.