I had never seen an episode of Peaky Blinders, a Netflix series about a Birmingham criminal gang set at the end of World War I. I thought the name was obscure rhyming slang until I looked it up just a few minutes ago and discovered that it was named after the fashionable peaked flat cap. Let's cut to the chase: three years ago, "Peaky Blinders" became "Peaky Tactics," a top-down heist puzzle game in the vein of "Commandos" and "Shadow Tactics": now available for free.

Surprise: Peaky Blinders: Mastermind was delisted from Steam last December 30; it's still not available for purchase on PC, but it's also one of the current free games you can get when you join Amazon Prime (opens in a new tab) and Fanatical ( Also given away by Fanatical (opens in new tab); the Xbox One version appears to be available for purchase again, but the Steam page (opens in new tab) says only that it is "no longer available."

In any case, you can claim your free Steam key from Fanatical (opens in new tab) until April 27, and you must activate it by May 11, when it expires. The keys expire May 11 and are valid in all countries except China. If you have problems with the website, retrying from a different browser often works. You are welcome.

As in any real-time stealth game, each member of the "Peaky Blinders" crew has a special ability: in Mastermind, each member has a special ability. Polly can bribe guards to open locks, John is good at brawling and arson, and Arthur is good at kicking down doors. Tommy, the ringleader of the family, plans burglaries and apparently has a talent for foresight, expressed in his ability to rewind each level until it works.

While it seems unlikely that a crime drama set in the early 20th century would be the subject of a video game adaptation, there is another game in "Peaky Blinders. Peaky Blinders: The King's Ransom, a VR game set a few years later in 1928, which seems to have a more action-focused atmosphere. It is currently available on Meta Quest 2 (open in new tab) and PICO 4 (open in new tab) and is "coming soon" on Steam (open in new tab).