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."