221b Baker Street Master Detective Game (version#1)
1984 to 1990
HP Gibson / Gibsons Games
 
First produced
?
Players
2 to 6
Age(s)
10+
             
 

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At the start of each game, one of 40 specially written cases is read to all the players. This case sets out the details of a crime; murder, theft or disappearance, as Sherlock Holmes would have been introduced to one of his famous cases.

Be the first player to return to 221b Baker Street with the correct answers to the case being played; who committed the crime, how and why? The game board is similar to Cluedo but instead of rooms, the board represents a number of locations in central London . By visiting some or all of these locations, players will be given valuable information to help solve the case.

View a list of more 221b games and additional cases.

  Contents Notes
 

1 x folding game board (19" x 19")
6 x wooden playing pieces
40 x individual case cards
6 x Scotland Yard cards
6 x skeleton key cards
1 x pad of solution checklists
1 x 20 page rulebook, 560 individual clues, 40 cases;
01- The Adventure of the Unholy Man
02- The Adventure of the Dead Inventor
03- The Adventure of SilverPatch
04- The Adventure of Chameleon's Vengeance
05- The Adventure of the Kidnapped Infant
06- The Adventure of the Murdered Banker
07- The Adventure of the Bones of Contention
08- The Adventure of the Eternal Sleep
09 -The Adventure of the Locked Chamber
10- The Adventure of the Suicidal Architect
11- The Adventure of the Bludgeoning Bobby
12- The Adventure of the Murdered Prankster
13- The Adventure of the Tobacconist's Demise
14- The Adventure of the Waylaid Courier
15- The Adventure of the Murdered Chemist
16- The Adventure of the Beeswax Heiress
17- The Adventure of the Coded Message
18- The Adventure of the Repeated Murder
19- The Adventure of the Missing Plans
20- The Adventure of the Disappearing Doctor
21- The Adventure of the Rewritten Death
22- The Adventure of the Pillaged Pawnbroker
23- The Adventure of the Luckless Mariner
24- The Adventure of the Empty-Handed Thief
25- The Adventure of the Unpaid Fare
26- The Adventure of the Peculiar Chairwoman
27- The Adventure of the Bashful Benefactor
28- The Adventure of the Duplicate Deaths
29- The Adventure of the Banker's Note
30- The Adventure of the Murdered Manager
31- The Adventure of the Reporter's List
32- The Adventure of the Bloodthirsty Bard
33- The Adventure of the Posthumous Client
34- The Adventure of the Spinster's Will
35- The Adventure of the Mettlesome Bride
36- The Adventure of the Financier's Fall
37- The Adventure of the Thief's Cipher
38- The Adventure of the Royal Heir
39- The Adventure of the Duping Diogenes
40- The Adventure of the Giant Rat of Sumatra

 

   Careful planning of routes may give an edge over rival players but the essence of the game lies in your ability to sift the evidence provided by each clue. These fall into 3 main types, 1) The factual clue 2) The cryptic clue 3) The misleading clue.
There have been different published versions of the game which were only very slightly modified on each print run. All versions play exactly the same, the only difference being the way the game has been presented or packaged.

This post 1983 version#1 edition;
- has a scanner bar code on the side of the box
- uses wooden pawns, later changed to plastic miniature Sherlock Holmes figures
- has a plain box base
- has a separate sheet with instructions and photo of the contents
- the skeleton key and Scotland Yard cards have a simple design with single colour print on buff coloured card
- the case cards have single colour print on plain card
- the game board is coloured black, yellow and red. Later editions are more colourful.
- the banner with 'Master Detective Game' on the box is cream, later changed to light green.

Additional case packs can be purchased separately if players complete all 40 in this master set. Packs of UK 60 additional cases were available but are no longer made.

In the US edition of the game, the additional case packs continued up to case 180, with 20 cases in each set. The US case packs can be easily used with the UK edition of the master game but some of the terminology is changed eg. Chemist becomes Apothecary, Newsagent becomes Newspaper Shop, Theatre becomes Playhouse and Boar's Head becomes The Pub.