If I have to explain the theme of Sherlock 13 to anyone in the United States or Britain, I’ll close this blog tomorrow. There are very few IPs as ubiquitous as the legend of Sherlock Holmes. In a separate blog, I need to list out my top five incarnations of Sherlock amidst the steady stream of television, movies, books, and games that have come out, for sure.
The allure of Sherlock to me is the art of deduction, where Sherlock and his pals take what seems like ordinary facts that have no connection yet can eliminate those improbable elements that lead to only one conclusion. As a kid, we enjoyed Clue (although now I find the roll-n-move nature interminable) and as an adult gamer, I have had a lot of good experiences with Mystery of the Abbey (although somehow it is both too short and too long of a game). There are any number of other good deduction games, like Cryptic.
But what if you could find a game that removes all of the extraneous bits — like moving around searching for clues — and distill the entire experience of deduction into a ten to fifteen minute time frame? That’s SHERLOCK 13 a game designed by Hope S. Huang, with art from the legendary artist Vincent Dutrait, and published by Arcane Wonders.
In Sherlock 13, all of your favorite Sherlock Holmes characters are back, including some I frankly did not realize. One of these characters has committed “a serious crime”. (Other than the Sherlock Holmes artwork, there really isn’t much theme to explore here.) Up to four players will compete to figure out who done it.
Set up is a breeze. There are 13 character cards each depicting a different Sherlock Holmesian figure, like John Watson or Irene Adler. After a good shuffle, one of the cards is laid face down in the middle of the table representing the criminal we have to catch. The rest of the cards are evenly distributed among the group. Each of those cards has a series of “clues” a/k/a thematic symbols on them like pipes or jewelry. Each player marks their deduction sheet with the clues that their own cards have, and eliminates the three persons from being the criminal mastermind.
I remember the first time I taught the game. The excellent game screens, that hide your cards and your deduction chart from the other players, teaches the three simple rules. But as I was explaining the game, the other players actually guessed at how the game would go. Sherlock 13 really does boil down every deduction game you’ve played down to just the deducing. It’s that straight forward.
On your turn, you can only do one of three things. There’s no movement, no trading cards, no uncovering of any clues. You either (a) ask the entire group if they have a symbol on any one of their cards, and players have to answer truthfully yes or no but not reveal the amount; (b) ask one player how many of a certain symbol they have in their cards; or (c) accuse one of the thirteen characters of being the criminal (and secretly looking at the card in the center of the table to confirm.)
That’s it. If the person guesses the right character, they win, but if they are wrong, everyone else lets out a big sigh of relief and the game continues. (The wrong guesser stays in to answer questions, but does not take any more turns).
This is a deduction game simplified to its most basic component, the questioning of other suspects for clues that can lead to only one destination. It recreates the tension that you feel in Cryptid when you are close to solving the puzzle, and you just know that everyone else is close, too.
A clever component of the game is the fact that the symbols on the cards are not divided equally. Some of them are featured on only three cards while others are on five. If you ask questions about the ones with fewer representations, you are going to get to the answer quicker — but you know that you are helping every other person get their quickly, too. Do you then bluff? Ask questions you know most of the answer just to ferret out one more bit of info? Or do you cast a wide net, hoping to eliminate a bunch of characters?
And how soon do you accuse? We found that once you get to that 50/50 question — it’s either this character or another — you better take a chance, because the game might not give you another turn.
It’s surprising how much gameplay can come out of using just thirteen cards, but it’s a testament to the math work that was probably put in while designing the game. It feels clever, and when you pull off a good guess with only two choices left, that makes you feel clever, too.
Sherlock 13 is a solid deduction game. If you want a big game experience, you’ll probably need to look elsewhere to games like Cryptid or The Search For Planet X or Decrypto. But this one will stay on my small box game shelf for a while, because it is a perfect game to play two or three times while waiting for the game group to arrive.
Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!
— BJ from Board Game Gumbo
** A copy of the game was provided by the publisher. **
Board Game Gumbo 
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