Strategy Games
"Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective," published in 1981, falls somewhere between a role-playing game and a card game. Players are supplied with a facsimile case book, a map of Victorian London and fake newspapers from the era. Once presented with a case, players could find clues in the newspapers suggesting people to interview, locations on the map to visit, and little by little, uncover enough evidence to solve the case. The game is now long out of print but still available on used hobby and auction websites.
Board Games
"221 B Baker Street," the fictional London address of Sherlock Holmes, is the title of a board game. Players assume the role of Holmes and his companion, Watson, as they race through crowded streets and seedy back alleys of Victorian London to retrieve clues to 20 original mysteries written solely for this game. The first player to return to 221 B Baker Street on the board is the winner.
The crime-solving board game "Clue" developed a Sherlock Holmes version as well.
Card Games
"Holmes: The Card Game," published in 1991 and winner of the 1994 "Fairplay a La Carte Award," pits as many as eight players against each other. Each player is dealt a hand of cards, one of which contains the villain card. The object is for each player to get rid of their respective cards as soon as possible, all the while collecting information on which player might possess the villain card before the so-called villain manages to play all of his own cards and "escape" the game. The cards feature illustrations from the Sherlock Holmes novels.
Video Games
From regular PCs to popular platforms like Xbox 360 and portable machines such as Nintendo DS, Sherlock Holmes is represented in game form. "Sherlock Holmes Chronicles" for PC gives players the opportunity to solve original "Holmesian" mysteries written specifically for the game. "Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack The Ripper" on Xbox 360 places Holmes in the detective role of a real-life unsolved murder that took place in London around the same time Doyle published the first Sherlock Holmes mystery.