Podcast #107: The City of the Pork Shoulders

It’s Alive! With Tom Brewster, Storming! Hungry! Bowling!, Grandma Bonus, The Deafening Sound of Solo Silence

‘Ello ‘ello ‘ello, wot’s going on ‘ere then? Looks and sounds like there are three english men crammed inside one english cupboard talking about a series of “board games” from who knows where. That’s a recipe for disease-based disaster right there. City of the Big Shoulders? You’re certainly crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in here, though one of … Read more

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GAMES NEWS! 06/04/20

Let’s kick some bubblegum, Cruisin’ for an Oozin’, Night at the Newseum, Cubes are not your friends

Tom: Whose idea was it to go steal from the Newseum during lockdown? It’s spooky and it feels, I don’t know, a little wrong to take advantage of a cultural site under public ownershi-

Ava: Shh… keep your voice down. This is where all the best news is kept, if we’re sneaky then we can get some good stuff to put in this week’s games news, and no-one will even know it’s missing until after lockdown. We’ll put it right back when we’re done!

Tom: I’ve only been here a few months, and already I’m doing heists! My contract said ‘all sorts of hijinks’, but I didn’t think we’d be doing actual newscrimes.

Ava: You should’ve read the small print. Hijinks is a very complicated part of contract law.

Tom: So I keep hearing.

Ava: Too big to not mention (even though we’ve mentioned it before), is the game with the biggest box and the coldest setting, which only makes me assume this Gloomhaven sequel will actually be a fully functional fridge.

Frosthaven, from Isaac Childres, is smashing through the millions as quickly as you’d expect the follow up to one of the most lauded games of the last decade. Now that pretty much everyone knows what’s in store from a Gloomhaven game (and if you don’t, check out Matt’s almost as enormous review) it’s no surprise this dungeon crawling, legacy behemoth is covered in big numbers.

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Our 5 Favourite Brand-New Card Games

it is all thanks to the refreshing great taste of sprite

April 2, 2020 Reviews Card Games, New to Games?, Air Land & Sea, The Crew: The Quest for Planet 9, Tournament at Camelot, Mandala, Bruxelles 1897 It’s gonna take more than the ‘rona to infect THIS website! In this video Quinns tackles no less than five of the greatest card games to come out in … Read more

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MinuteWalt: In Memoriam

We talk a lot about community at Shut Up & Sit Down, and that’s because for a while we’ve been aware that it isn’t us that makes this place special: it’s the people who congregate around the fringes of our work that drive us to keep on making more of it. This week we’re extremely sad to report that one of the most beloved members of this community recently passed away, peacefully, after a long-term illness.

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GAMES NEWS! 30/03/20

Don’t say Monopoly isn’t so bad actually, Stumpwatch 2020, fetch!, Here Bohnanza, Tramampoline, The Horror The Horror

Tom: m o n d a y

Ava: Is it? It is? How can you tell?

Tom: t h e n e w s

Ava: Oh dear, you might be right. Let’s take a look in the news-pipes and see what pops out.

I try to avoid quoting the Simpsons too often, but if anything gives me the chance to say trombopaline, then I’m going to take it.

Trampoline Park is bouncing high to the top of the list of ‘games with themes I cannot believe have happened’, and what a bounce it is. It sounds like a family friendly puzzle of using varying power to bounce between trampolines, bouncing other players or your other bouncing tokens away when you land on them. First person to have three tokens bouncing on all the same colours or letters wins.

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Podcast #106: The Very First Quarantine Special

Wet ken, shut up and sourdough, a renegade host, too much sting for my liking

Welcome to the loosiest, goosiest episode of the Shut Up and Sit Down podcast yet, where three adults try to have a conversation via the internet without talking over each other all of the time. Experience the mixed results contained therein! Marvel at how 5 games are spread thinly over an hour of your life, … Read more

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A Shut Up & Sit Down Update

March 25, 2020 Specials Hello all! It probably goes without saying, but we just wanted to let you know that the work we do might be a little disrupted or different in the coming months. Thanks for your patience, and we hope you enjoy!

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GAMES NEWS! 23/03/20

FAFF REMOVAL SERVICES, IS THAT TWO SHINY PENNIES?, A TEMPORAL NIGHTMARE, JUST DON’T EAT DOGS AT ALL IF YOU CAN AVOID IT TO BE HONEST

Tom: …So they were saying that I didn’t care at all about the game, when really that couldn’t be further from the truth! I was super invested!

Ava: Wait what’s going on are you-

Tom: -and I just found myself getting so frustrated because even though my strategy was a little rough around the edges… Ultimately, I did Care, Too!

Ava: Ha! Just like the… Wait did you go back to the start of the article to edit this bit so that you could make the reference first? Nobody is going to have a clue what’s going on.

Tom: It’ll be like Primer. Everyone will have to go back and read it a second time, and we’ll get paid twice as much.

Ava: Well, you certainly will be, with this lovely shiny penny.

Ava: What’s more mysterious than Mysterium? Science just cannot tell us, but soon we’ll know what’s less Mysterium, with a stripped back sequel, Mysterium Park.

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Review – Wavelength

Harry what the hell, sparkly jackets

How much do you love your mum, Harry? This week we’ve got the timely review of a party game that involves everyone taking it in turns to touch the same hard plastic surfaces over and over again. Wavelength is an absolute joy, and potentially the perfect fit for Party Game Playable Over a Webcam? Just make sure your uncle promises to close his eyes when it isn’t his turn to look. Enjoy the video – and take care everyone!

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GAMES NEWS! 16/03/20

THERE AREN’T ANY NEWTS IN THIS GAMES NEWS, THIS IS A NEWT FREE ZONE

Tom: … So I’ve got all these because I thought you said ‘Games Newts’, it’s just a simple misunderstanding.

Ava: Look, it doesn’t matter, we’ll just get on with the news and absolutely nothing will happen, and nobody will notice and nobody will tell Matt and we’ll all keep our jobs, and you can put them in the Shut Up & Sit Down pond after we’ve finished.

Tom: Oh dang I think two of them escaped, and I think one had a bottle of whiskey and the other was carrying a tiny gun.

Ava: Uh oh. That’s some really bad newts.

New York Zoo is Uwe’s latest attempt to re-bottle the lightning of Patchwork, with a lovely looking tile laying zoo builder. You’ll be filling tiny zoos with tiny animals, and trying to best your opponents in this hopefully sharp family friendly game. Each turn you can either expand your zoo with new tiles or pull more tiny wooden animals onto your board, provided you’ve got the space to house them. On top of this, New York Zoo borrows a bit from some of Uwe’s big farm themed games. Just like in real life, animals will breed when the shared elephant crosses certain thresholds on the central board, helping you fill up enclosures to grab bonuses. It’s like a little Uwe’s greatest hits. Capstone Games is publishing in collaboration with Feuerland and they always make things look pretty.

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