Shut Up & Sit Down

Podcast #38: 504 Ways to Eat Paper

the worst elevator pitch ever, stolen cakes, self-interested twerps, deadly goldfish

Welcome back to the podcastle! Not to be outdone after listener Alex Cannon contributed a jingle for last episode, Matt’s made yet another jingle. Ready your body! Lube up your ears. It’s got a harmony. You’ve been warned. As for games, we chat about Liar’s Dice, Arboretum, the new editions of Archaeology, and Elevenses: The Card Game of Morning Tea AND new releases 504 and Power Grid: The Stock Companies. Plus our folk game of the month, of course. It’s not just Friedemann Friese who can pack a whole lot of nonsense into a small package.

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Games News! 15/02/16

crisps, bins, englands, viking fire hazards

Paul: Hello to you all and welcome aboard the Games News Submarine! We took our Gold Club donations and decided, rather than spending them on something silly like web hosting services, we’d move our WHOLE OPERATION TO A SUBMARINE. There’s no property tax!

Quinns: Paul every single member of the team has been sick

Paul: Dive! Dive deeper to the news! Thematically-appropriate news such as SEAFALL IS COMING.

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Review and a Recipe: Arboretum and Pasta with Trees

sexy magnolias, terrible willows, bonus ducks, the law of garlic

The Opener returns! Everyone’s favourite series featuring a straightforward game paired with a sexy recipe. Except we’re not calling it The Opener any more, it’s just “review and a recipe”. Nice and simple! Just like the game. And the recipe. And Matt.

Don’t be deceived by that svelte little box, though. Not unlike the trees it depicts,Arboretum is beautiful, tough, and all about hidden depths.

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Review: Mombasa

we're not sure what bookkeeping is, we think it's kind of like beekeeping?

Matt: Diamonds and bananaaas!

They will slip you up, and please you

They can stimulate and tease you

Bring icecream in the night

and I promise I might DESSERT YOUUU

Quinns: Bananas are forever,

Hold one up and then caress it,

Touch it, stroke it, and undress it,

I can see every part,

And I know in my heart they’re GOOD CAAARDS!

Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-BABA!

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Games News! 08/02/16

a fine wine with a side of diced box, delivered by a bicycle man from a garbage heap

Paul: February has fallen out of the future and landed smack in the present, flat on its face and groaning. The strangest of months, it likes to be inconsistent with its length, but it has at least brought us some very exciting news. It was news that had me running to the Shut Up & Sit Down office, my arms full, stumbling through the rain.

Spyfall 2! Surely the biggest, biggest news we’ll have this month, and maybe some of the biggest news we’ll have all year, is that Spyfall 2 is coming. Spyfall 2. SPYFALL 2. A sequel to one of our favourite games and to one of last year’s biggest and most deserved hits. Spyfall 2.

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Review: Food Chain Magnate

twerp eggs, cokey cola, the terrible tale of alcotown and its five competing foodgangs

Do you want the good news, or the bad news?

The good news is that Food Chain Magnate is an absolute barn stormer of a game. A delicious puzzle patty rolled in thematic batter, deep fried across years of playtesting(?).

The bad news is that it became almost entirely sold out between us receiving this game and publishing the review. Your best bet is to pre-order straight from Splotter, or reserve a copy at your friendly local game shop (where it should be cheaper).

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Review: Blood Rage

the gorethe glory, the boobs, the surprise multi-ball bonus

Quinns: Ooh, hold on to your helms! Today we’re looking at Blood Rage. That’s exciting because (a) this box gathered positive reviews last year like a corpse gathers flies, and (b) it’s called BLOOD RAGE. If you were thinking of buying this miniature-stuffed box, read on! If you were hoping to find out what a blood rage is, I warn you: I still have absolutely no idea.

2-4 players in Blood Rage control viking clans, fighting for glory in the final moments before Ragnorok shatters the world and drowns it beneath the sea. Your goal is to pillage the board’s villages, undo your friends’ plans and lay claim to the prestigious central area containing the great tree Yggdrasil which connects the 9 worlds of Norse mythology. Then you pillage that, too.

Once again: I have absolutely no idea.

On to the miniatures!

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How to Play Fury of Dracula!

have fun hunting an old and potentially misgendered man across europe

You ask, and we provide! Our second ever How to Play video walks you through your first game of the sublime 3rd edition of Fury of Dracula.

Once again, this isn’t a COMPLETE rules explanation (we forgot to mention that Dracula can’t be found in sea spaces and doesn’t place encounter cards, for a start), but it should certainly give everyone a ruddy good grasp of the game before you get stuck into the dirty business of questions and manuals.

Enjoy, everybody!

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SU&SD Play… Concept

Man fast outside, storm tool, bird on a wire with goldie hawn

What would it be like to live in a world without words? How difficult might it be to communicate the idea of a person, an object or a work of art through nothing but a collection of slightly ambiguous icons? How would that even go?

If you think the answers to those questions, in turn, are “Pretty awkward!” “Very difficult!” and “It would be a disaster!” then you’re already primed for our first playthrough video of 2016. Paul sat down with some of his friends, a copy of Concept and some very simple rules:

Divide into two teams of two.
Play to a two minute turn limit.
Choose the card (though not the exact concept) the other team must play.
Play the game on the middle of its three difficulty levels. That should be fine, right?

This is what happened.

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RPG Review: Fall of Magic

different dates, bird coins, empty spaces, ghost markets

Hilary: Ross Cowman’s Fall of Magic is, indeed, magical. It’s the kind of game you become immersed in, losing track of time, only to find yourself wandering out later from a rich and compelling world of your own creation. Like some wardrobe-portal to a new and fantastical land, you’ll find yourself yearning to find a way back.

Luckily for all of us, continuing our journey to Umbra doesn’t require any train wrecks or magical paintings. Only one to three other players, and a few more hours of our time.

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