Literary Adventure Society - "Sherlock Holmes in the Adventure of the Second Stain"
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Company: Literary Adventure Society
Game: Sherlock Holmes in the Adventure of the Second Stain
Country: USA 🇺🇸
Language: English
Type of Game: Tabletop Game 📬
Genre: Mystery
Date Played: September 4, 2026
Difficulty (based on 2 players): 5/10
Size of Team: Unlimited (Recommended 1 to 6 ppl)
Time: Unlimited (Recommended 1.5 - 2 Hrs)
Price: $55.00 USD
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A sensitive letter from a hot-tempered monarch has vanished, and its release could spark an immediate war across Europe. Sherlock Holmes is called to investigate but at the same time, another murder unfolds. Could the two events be connected? It’s up to you to find out.
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When we opened the box, we found it was beautifully packed and assembled. Inside, was a welcome letter, envelopes of evidence, a candle and tea to add to the ambiance, and plenty of other extras for a fun and extraordinary experience.
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Beginning with the welcome letter, it outlined everything we needed for the experience, including a small description of the contents in the box and how to use them. For the full experience, we brewed the tea and mixed one of their recommended cocktails. We also lit the candle which accurately captured what 221B Baker Street would smell like.
The welcome letter directed us to a website featuring an audio play and several extras, including cocktail and mocktail recipes, with one that incorporated the tea, a guide for adapting the game for young children, and helpful tips for reading cursive. An internet connection is required to stream the audio play, but LAS also offers a downloadable version for offline use and an eBook for those who prefer to read or follow along like me. How the experience works is that we would listen to the audio play and along the way, Sherlock and Watson would find evidence and reference it by its envelope letter, which was our cue to open it up and examine it. LAS did a fantastic job of incorporating the instructions and guiding us through the narrator.
This audio play was a classic Sherlock Holmes story adapted to include an extra mystery for us to solve. The production quality of the audio play was spectacular. The voice actors, music, and effects were all professional quality.
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This game was entirely deduction based and flowed through the story and physical evidence. As Sherlock and Watson found the evidence, we would too as we opened the envelopes. Near the end, they reveal they have solved the case, which signals us to pause the audio play and see if we can piece the mystery together ourselves. The mystery was well thought out where everything was in front of us and we just needed to make the connections.
Additionally, instead of a hint system the game has an answer checker. After completing the case, we could take a short quiz asking key questions that would give us an overall score without revealing which specific answers were incorrect. This was a lovely touch as getting it wrong brought us back into discussion to review the evidence. After completing the puzzles and story, LAS also provides a detailed write-up on the evidence and clues to ensure we caught everything.
One other bonus in this particular game that caught our attention was that there was an epilogue puzzle that revealed something, which has us excited for future LAS games.
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Even after playing many of Literary Adventure Society’s games, we still get excited for each one of them. From the quality of the evidence packets, audioplay, and overall experience, this game hits the nail on the head for such a fun evening of deduction. All the extras elevated the experience even further. This was a perfect game for a couple’s night in but can easily be expanded to having a few friends over for a fun, casual mystery solving night. Every experience gives us the snug feeling of curling up under a blanket in the evening with a hot “cuppa” and a cozy detective story.
(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
Disclosure: We thank Literary Adventure Society for providing us with samples of the game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
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