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Drinking Game / Sherlock Holmes

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Take a drink every time:

  • Holmes figures out the mystery immediately but withholds the solution from Watson (and the reader) until the most dramatic possible moment.
  • Holmes talks about eliminating the impossible.
  • Holmes breaks the law in the pursuit of justice.
    • Holmes lets the culprit off.
  • Somebody ejaculates.
  • Holmes and/or Watson refers to any unrecorded case.
  • Holmes complains about the police being incompetent, or snarks at them for their incompetence.
  • Holmes has a good laugh at the skewed account in the press.
  • Conan Doyle makes an obvious continuity error.
    • Contradictions of Holmes' stated knowledge gaps in A Study In Scarlet. Sips for this one.
  • Holmes sends Watson off to investigate something-or-other, gives him no instructions whatsoever, and then berates him for doing it all wrong.
  • The client, or the object of the client's concern, dies after the investigation begins.
  • Holmes indulges in a bit of gratuitous high culture.
  • The killer is an animal.
  • The twist is that nobody actually got killed.
    • The twist is that nobody actually committed a crime at all, by the laws of the era.
  • The Sherlock Scan tosses in an obvious observation for chuckles, e.g. "Er, you're still wearing your Masonic pin."
  • When Holmes has the chance to show off his boxing abilities, take a vodka.
  • The case prominently features someone fleeing a dark past overseas.
  • When the story goes off on a British jingoist tangent, have some Tokay.
  • Have a brandy whenever a) there is a more-than-token gesture toward Watson being a physician, or b) Watson's status as a physician is flagrantly ignored. This is a lot less frequent than you'd suppose, but it comes in handy for publication-order marathons.
  • These words are all worth a sip:
    • Singular
    • Significant
    • Transparent
    • Elementary
    • Extraordinary
    • Tragedy
    • Halloa!
    • Dear me! (This one can be upgraded to a full drink as needed.)
  • Someone complains about England's divorce laws.
  • Someone says something in another language and doesn't translate.
  • Holmes plays the violin.
  • Holmes complains about women being a mystery.
  • Holmes is a terrible housekeeper.
  • Watson (or anyone else) has trouble saying no to Holmes.
  • Someone is given alcohol because they fainted or nearly fainted. Have another drink if it's not clear where the alcohol came from.
  • The persian slipper is mentioned.
  • For teetotalers: Sherlock says the entire phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson."

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