Sherlock 13 Review

I absolutely adore Sherlock Holmes and his universe. I binged the Cumberbatch series as quickly as I could, and still stand by my opinion that he makes the best Sherlock. Now, I also very much adore the series Lupin, who takes the title from the literary character of Arsene Lupin (a “gentleman thief”). Mashing these two characters together in a deduction card game excited me to no end, and when I received this game in the mail I HAD to play it as soon as I could. There is a reason we show our final scores as the first image on all our posts: we do not want to have the reader aching to know our ratings, and this one, unfortunately, fell flat for us. Why? Read on.

Sherlock 13 is a very simple deduction game of sussing out who amongst the game’s 13 character is secretly acting as the thief Arsene Lupin! Even Sherlock himself is a possible suspect. Players will win the game if they can use the limited information they are given along with any information they are able to pry from their opponents to correctly guess the criminal at large.

DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover the variant rules included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS.  -T

DISCLAIMER 2: My wife and I have recently moved into a new home and I have been unable to find my fancy purple tablecover. So you get photos on a naked table. Sorry. – T

To setup a game, hand each player a screen, a sheet from the large pad, and a writing utensil. Shuffle all 13 cards, deal each player the appropriate amount per rules for number of players, and place the final card face-down in the middle of the table. This is the criminal card. THE GAME IS NOW AFOOT!

Sherlock 13 is very light on rules. On a turn, the player must perform one of three actions: Investigate, Interrogate, Accuse. These actions are depicted as reminders on the backs of the player screens. To Investigate, the active player will announce an icon name to the table, and those who possess the icon (in any number) will raise their hand in response. CAUTION: the table must only raise their hand – there is no need to speak or give any other information. Once the active player has recorded any notes on their sheet, the next player may then choose an action. Perhaps they choose Interrogate in order to uncover more specific information. To do so, the active player will ask one other opponent directly for the number of a specific icon they possess. Only during this action should an opponent speak about their icons held. When enough turns have been taken for an active player to have the necessary information they may choose to Accuse by announcing to the table the name of the character they suspect is in the middle of the table. If correct, they win! If incorrect, they are disqualified from winning, but still must participate in opponents’ Investigate and Interrogate actions. Once the correct Accuse has been made, the game is over and the criminal is jailed. Or something else. I’m not totally sure how the British justice system works

Components. This game consists of 13 cards, a pad of paper, and four cardboard player screens. So the rules are light, and the components inside the box are also few. That said, this game is absolutely GORGEOUS. Vincent Dutrait’s artwork simply sings here, as his character portraiture is on full display. His artwork has certainly become among my favorites in the entire industry and I look forward to playing any game where his name graces the cover. The cards are fine quality, as are the screens and pad of sheets. I have no issues with any component at all.

Where I do find issue is the derivative nature of the gameplay. If I can distill the experience down, in my opinion, Sherlock 13 is a combination of Clue and Go Fish. A criminal is to be figured and found by asking questions of your opponents, but when asking questions it feels almost childish. In fact, I did catch myself audibly responding with, “GO FISH!” when my 7-year-old was asking question during my first play with him (we play a lot of Go Fish with him and his 4-year-old sister). I do need to address what I just typed. Yes, I played this game with my 7-year-old, defying what the box suggests as a game for humans aged 10+. The rules are light enough and the concepts easy enough to understand that he only really had troubles figuring out how to make notes for himself.

Adults I played with were underwhelmed by the gameplay. It is very easy to grasp and play, does not take long at all, but also gives back little satisfaction, even when victorious. Now, I did rate this game as a 4 for myself, and while I was not alone with that, I feel that the art pushed it from a 2 or 3 from me. If the theme and art were different, I would not recommend this game. However, if you are a fan of the subject and art by Dutrait, this is a game for your collection. If you are looking for a powerful or stimulating time at the table with a deduction game, stick with Clue or other favorites of yours. Purple Phoenix Games gives Sherlock 13 a disappointing 12 / 18. I believe Lupin has stolen away with the satisfaction of the experience and left us with a cubic zirconia replacement. That Lupin!!