Sherlock: Case Connection Review

I don’t know how many times I have said this in reviews, but Sherlock Holmes is one theme I will probably never tire of in board games. This still holds true to this day, and I have played some absolutely wonderful games highlighting the theme. Conversely, I have played some that more give me feelings of sleepiness than of fireworks. I am sad to say, but Sherlock: Case Connection has earned a spot on my “Might Be Leaving My Collection Soon” list.

Sherlock: Case Connection is a puzzly deduction card game for two to four players. In it players are loosely imitating the BBC Benny Cumberbatch version of Sherlock to connect a main baddie to leads through an interesting thread connection mechanic. The winner will be the player who first accumulates nine points or more with all players completing the same number of turns.

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 every single rule 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

To setup place all four of the Location Boards on the table. These house both cards and tokens throughout the game. These Proof Tokens consist of Witness (yellow), Forensic (red), and Cyber (blue). Gather these tokens into a face-down pile. The starred Universal Proof Tokens and Bonus Point Tokens are gathered in a separate pile. Shuffle both decks of cards separated by back designs and place them nearby. Populate the Location Boards with both Thread Cards (blue back) and random Proof Tokens from the pile. Players are dealt two of the Lead Cards (black back) from which they will choose one to place in front of themselves and one to discard. The game may now begin!

The game is played over a series of rounds with each player performing up to two different actions. In order to collect resources, players will need to select any combination of two Thread Cards, Proof Tokens, or one of each. Should two Locations be whittled down to one item each, the active player will then replenish the Location Boards. While other players now gather their resources in turn order, all other players may begin or continue to rearrange their cards and tokens to Make Connections.

A Connection is made by using matching tokens to combine two adjacent cards (as seen below). If the two cards are connected in this way the game refers to them as being “Direct Connections.” For example, the two cards in the middle of the photo below share a Direct Connection via the blue Cyber Tokens. Another type of Connection that may be formed is called an Indirect Connection. These are made when a new card is connected down-line in the series and the Proof Token matches that of the missing icon on the card. This is strange, and sounds confusing. In the photo below, the card in the middle of the photo shows both a Witness (yellow) and Cyber (blue) Connection, but is only directly connected to Sherlock and Watson via the blue Cyber Proof Token. The subsequent Sherlock and Watson Thread Card share a Direct Connection to each other via the yellow Witness Proof Token, and therefore connects to and satisfies the requirement on the old lady’s (whose name escapes me now) card.

Once enough Connections are made between cards, and all icons on the player’s current face-up Lead card, the player has Reconstructed the Lead. When this happens, the player scores points for the Lead card itself, and bonus points for any Thread Card that is Directly Connected to the Reconstructed Lead. If this satisfies the end game condition of nine points earned, the round is finished and the player with the most points wins! If the end game condition is not yet met, the active player then clears their play area, chooses two Tokens to keep for the next round and draws two new Lead Cards, as in setup.

Play continues in this fashion until one player triggers the end of the game and whomever has scored nine or more points (if multiple players have scored at least nine points) will be crowned the winner!

Components. Okay, here is where I start dropping the hammer. As much as I love the Sherlock show, this game features a bunch of screen caps for the cards. So many gamers complain about this kind of decision in other games, so if that is a turn-off for you, then I understand. It never used to bother me until I played this one. I think that I half expected some hybrid of screen cap plus the oft-used Word Art that they employ on the show. I also feel that many of the cards feature screen caps from light tests or photo shoots, which does absolutely nothing for me. The cards are fine, the Location Boards are thin, and the tokens are just uninspired. Usually I am a huge fan of Lucky Duck Games components, but this one is a huge whiff.

I have a deep appreciation and love for the Sherlock series that ran so long ago now. It was smart, sexy, and just so darn fun. Unfortunately, I just cannot use any of those words to describe the play experiences I have had with Sherlock: Case Connection. It is ultimately a passable game. I can find enjoyment in puzzling out my next moves and rearranging my current layout for a more efficient one, but I did not really feel any sizzle here. The theme is VERY loosely present, and I believe this could have been skinned by so many other things and been less of a disappointment. These are harsh words, but I almost have to use them simply because I cannot name any other Luck Duck Games offering that left me anything but massively jazzed to play it immediately again.

The Direct and Indirect Connections mechanic is new and somewhat interesting, but it only became so after several plays. At first I was just confused as to what I was really supposed to be accomplishing. After I got the hang of it I expected to be more pulled into the game and its experience, but that just didn’t happen. Unlike the chemistry between Sherlock and Molly Hooper, this left me without. If your tastes echo mine, I would like to caution you with any recommendation. I am glad to have played it, but after playing it I do not think I would purchase it. So if you are on the fence about this one, we are in agreement. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a teetering 8 / 12. I am extremely hopeful that Lucky Duck Games can offer an expansion to the game that either changes or updates some rules or just adds something a bit more interesting. I can see this one gaining more favor in the future, but only if more content is made for it. I fear that it will not happen, though, and may have to switch it out for another that more strongly joins my collection.