Review: Museum

Quintinkahmun, a weekend in phoenis, the wetness exhibit, a bad spade

Ava: Let us take you on a tour of the weirdest, most beautiful objects in the world. We can show you the largest palaces and the most specific digging implements, the canniest navigation tools and the shiniest hats you’ve ever seen.

Welcome to Museum, a game of archaeology (stealing), curation (re-arranging), and prestige (letter-writing).

Quinns: With over 300 gorgeous illustrations by Vincent Dutrait, Museum is the definition of a labour of love. In fact, Ava and I approached it like a real museum, taking a leisurely tour of its exhibits across two days.

Finally, we’re ready to write our review. Ava, do you want to explain the game?

Ava: Let me be your guide through the byzantine corridors…of board game.

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Announcing the second SU&SD Monikers Kickstarter!

The Serious Nonsense Box is now available to buy online!

Fans of dumb jokes in a box, rejoice! The Monikers Serious Nonsense Box is on Kickstarter right now, offering 320 brand new cards for Monikers, each lovingly written by SU&SD and friends of the show. Even if you don’t want to buy it, it’s probably worth watching my ridiculous video to observe a man losing his sanity via greenscreen.

For those unaware, Monikers is the slick, boxed  implementation of the folk party game more commonly known as fishbowl, celebrity, or the hat game. We reviewed it back in 2015, and eagle-brained readers will recall that in 2017 we created a small-box expansion titled “The Nonsense Box” (and since then, we’ve been careful not to mention Monikers in our editorial without caveating our involvement with the designers).

Back then, we had a lot of fun being deeply silly with our first foray into party game design, but this time we’ve really stepped up our game: taking onboard critical feedback, thinking carefully about the flow of the game, and squeezing in a higher density of solid jokes without getting in the way of what makes Monikers great.

If you’ll allow us a moment of heart on sleeve-ism, we honestly didn’t anticipate that so many people would have such a good time with the original Nonsense Box. Feedback we’ve had over the past two years both humbled us, and stuck a rocket to our bottom when designing the new box – it felt vital to us to reflect that love back, and ensure that this triple-sized Kickstarter sequel was the absolute *best* that it could possibly be. We love it, and we hope you do too.

Thanks everybody!

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GAMES NEWS! 10/06/19

a bag of birds, Lofflin Belchlord, carnivorous grass, bad hats

Quinns: Ava, you have to help me! Following our reviews of Chronicles of Crime and Batman: Gotham City Chronicles, SU&SD fans are desperate to know what the third and final review of Chronicles Month will be. I can’t have a moment’s peace.

You have to hide me in the games news!

Ava: Never fear, noble Quintin. Follow me, and come below the “Read More” button.

Quinns: They’ll never find me!

Ava: Quick, hide under these hats.

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Review – Batman: Gotham City Chronicles

mr. riddles, the jokerman, batman's carmobile

It’s time for the second review of Chronicles month, and oh boy, have we got a chronicle for you.

With a price point of $130, Batman: Gotham City Chronicles is the second most expensive game we’ve ever reviewed. If there’s a bat-thing you love, you’re bound to find it sequestered in one (one!) of this game’s many, many boxes.

But could some boxes of fictitious bats ever be worth that much money? Click play, let us tell you what we think.

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GAMES NEWS! 03/06/19

ink stains, joy smells, math clouds, popes clash, train days

Ava: Welcome back to our weekly dive into the pages of the Shut Up & Sit Down Chronicle. Only the hottest news makes the pages of your most finger-smudging paper, guaranteed.

Quinns: In hindsight, I really don’t know why chose that as our promise.

Ava: It’s only natural to want to leave a mark.

Quinns: Groan.

Ava: This week we’re taking a deeper dive than usual into the opinions section, as well as some of those grubby adverts in the back.

Which is to say, today’s news is mostly think-pieces and kickstarters, and we think that’s okay.

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Review: Underwater Cities

Pimp my Symbiotic City Dome, vanilla churn, a goodie fountain

Kylie: In Vladimír Suchý’s heavy management game Underwater Cities, players are competing to build the ultimate deep sea nation. But is it actually better, down where it’s wetter? Are there no troubles when life is the bubbles? Can we really trust a crustacean that sings? I guess we should find out.

Each player is given a personal city map which you’ll fill with a scattering of white and red biodomes, which will connect to a flourishing network of factories and laboratories. Ideally, this network will score you points, as well as act as an engine that’ll occasionally spew out resources such as credits, biomatter, and kelp. Lots of kelp.

Apparently when we colonise the seas, the only thing available to eat will be kelp. I’ve never tried kelp. Have you tried kelp? They tell me it’s the kale of the sea, but I’m pretty sure that’s a lie.

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Podcast #96: Dipping With The Druids

cowboys vs. angels, lu bu vs. king arthur, batman vs. your free time

Just who are druids? What are they doing? And is it safe to “dip” with them? We can’t be sure, but we can tell you that the following games are discussed in this podcast: tableau-builder Res Arcana (02:38), cuboid contest Dice Throne (11:50), hidden role game Insider (20:10), cult hit Three Kingdoms Redux (26:56), new expansion Isle of Skye: Druids (37:21) and the staggering in scale Batman: Gotham City Chronicles (42:47). At last, we close out the podcast with a tempting question from our mailbag (55:54). If we could force board game fans the world over play one thing, what would we choose? Thanks to our fabulous community, podcast transcripts are available here, and are usually completed within a week of the podcast’s release.

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GAMES NEWS! 27/05/19

What happens in il castillo, stays in il castillo, (until revealed during scoring)

Ava: Welcome all, to the Chronicles of Newsia. It’s chronicles month this Majune at Shut Up and Sit Down, and we’re here to bring you the newest, most ancient tales bound in the thickest volumes of web-based e-vellum. Inside this dusty tome you’ll find tales of winners, losers, sickness, war, dragons, castles, birds and Belgium.

Sit down, young acolyte, and let me tell you the okay news.

Quinns: Wow. I think this is going to be SU&SD’s best Chronicles Month *ever*.

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Review: Chronicles of Crime & the Noir Expansion

follow the money, enter the holocupboard, accuse the boy

Oh boy, have we got an exciting announcement! Today marks the start of Chronicles Month on Shut Up & Sit Down, where we’ll be celebrating all things chronicled (as well as the general art of chronicling).

To kick off proceedings, we’re reviewing Chronicles of Crime together with the brand-new Noir expansion. Is it a better crime-busting game than Consulting Detective? Or a better disposable game than Unlock? Did Matt write this whole review just to play with noir grading? Click play, and follow the money.

Have a lovely weekend, everybody.

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GAMES NEWS! 20/05/19

a very good "boring game" joke, no really you gotta see this joke

Ava: Hello lovely news-lovers. It’s another Monday, and I’m a bit worn out. I’ve had a wobbly weekend of overwhelm.

Board games can be a playful, joyful anchor when the seas of your mind are rough, a set of routines and actions you can fall into that pulls you together, brings you back in touch with the people you care about. I’m so grateful to games and the people that make them and the friends that play them. That’s why I keep coming back to dig through the newsiest jungles of the internet, bringing you select morsels of upcoming play possibilities.

Here’s the news.

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