Description
Get ready for a duel between the two sharpest minds in London. Sherlock has to gather enough clues to solve the attack on Parliament. Moriarty gathers clues too, but to cover his own tracks and stop the case from being solved. In Holmes: Sherlock vs. Moriarty (originally Holmes: Sherlock & Mycroft), you visit famous, suspicious and helpful characters from Arthur Conan Doyle's stories and make clever use of their abilities. The player with more clues at the end wins.
How to play Holmes: Sherlock vs. Moriarty
The game lasts seven rounds, and each round is one day. Every day a new character arrives in London. Each player has three action tokens, which you take turns moving onto characters. You may not move a token onto a character where one of your tokens already stands. When you arrive at a character, you may use their ability: Mrs. Hudson gives you three influence tokens, Dr. Watson gives you a clue from the common display for one influence token, and Irene Adler steals a clue from your opponent. If both of you visit the same character on the same day, that character is unavailable the next day. Dr. Watson, Mrs. Hudson and Inspector Lestrade are available every day.
After the seventh day, you compare your clues of each type. The player with more clues of a type scores as many points as that type is worth, minus the number of clues of that type the opponent has. Extra points come from having all the clues of one type and from pieces of the Parliament map. The player with more points wins.
Why you'll love it
- A short duel for two that lasts 20 to 30 minutes.
- Only eight of the ten characters come into play, and you never know in advance when each one will appear, so every game is different.
- You keep an eye on what your opponent is collecting and try to take the majority from them.
- The Mycroft cards and the hidden clues variant make the game more challenging once you know it well.
Who is Holmes: Sherlock vs. Moriarty for
The game is for two players aged 10 and up and lasts 20 to 30 minutes. The rules are simple, but every move needs some thought, so the difficulty is medium-light. The clue cards have no text needed to play, and the characters' abilities are described on the overview cards. The game suits couples and friends who like playing against each other.
What you might not like
The game is for two only, so it doesn't suit larger groups. If you don't like card stealing, you can play without Irene Adler, as the rules also suggest.
What's in the box
- game board with a day track
- 52 clue cards
- 10 character cards
- 2 role cards (Sherlock and Moriarty)
- 2 Mycroft cards for the variant
- 2 ability overview cards
- 6 action tokens and 24 influence tokens
