podcastles 17 - Shut Up & Sit Down

Podcast #97: Meeting Your Shadow Self and Other Excitements

smooth moves, secret families, lost letters, and loose dinos

Fans of our award-winning board game podcast should know that the pod-apult is armed and ready. Contained in today’s payload are impressions of the party game Stay Cool (02:45), the excellent Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid (09:01), the frighteningly intense Letter Jam (21:42), the adorable Welcome to Dino World (29:22), the heavy roll’n’write Rome and Roll (38:19) and the world’s first “boxed megagame”, Vampire: The Masquerade – Blood Feud (43:28). Finally, following on from team SU&SD having recently discovered the joy of using pencils to write on paper, we’ve just now learned about BOOKS! Specifically, the book Top 10 Games You Can Play In Your Head, By Yourself (49:35). Enjoy, everybody.

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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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Podcast #95: The Danish Crisis

A Small Ham, A Terrible Roundabout, Quintin's Simulated Subconscious

In this special episode of our award-winning podcast, Matt and Quinns talk about their trip to Danish board game convention Fastaval. Games discussed include the superb Hansa Teutonica (02:56), the as-yet unannounced Deep Blue (12:02), the also-unannounced Auto (15:50), Flamme Rouge’s unnamed campaign expansion (24:05), That’s Not Lemonade (35:43) and Mid-Life Crisis (45:23). Finally, we close with a discussion of Fastaval itself, and what makes it so magical (59:18). Is it the terrifying, viking-like cleaning crew? Is it the black tie award ceremony? Is it the unparalleled gender equality, or the world-class roleplaying games? It’s all of these things, and more. Huge thanks to the organisers for choosing us as this year’s guests of honour.

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Podcast #94: Seven Players, Exchanging Bananas

clomping in circles, desperate for citrus, almost eating the intern

Recently, Quinns was tasked with hosting a 7 player game night, and rose to the challenge with Herculean vigour. In this episode, Matt, Quinns and intern Kylie discuss his breathtaking efforts. That means talking about Watson & Holmes (03:00), Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space (12:14), and a little card game called Bourré (19:55). Incidentally, Bourré is probably the only time that SU&SD will ever crossover with the NBA. Afterwards, the group slims down for a chat about some 3 player games, namely Gùgōng (27:34) and Chinatown (38:30). Finally, the team answers a quick reader mail asking what table is best for board gaming. Big or small? Square or circle? That’s right! We are beyond parody.

118 Comments

Podcast #93: Alone with the Norwegians

a trojan expansion, matt's pizza-toast, quintin's oily market, the mandela effect

The 93rd ever episode of the SU&SD podcast begins with Matt and Quinns discussing Klaus Wunderlich, before then talking about people talking about us talking about Blood on the Clocktower (02:05). With a bit of luck, this should clear up some misgivings surrounding our glowing review. There’s then chat about the hot new roll’n’write Corinth (10:08), the superlative expansion A Feast for Odin: The Norwegians (18:36), an additional superb expansion, Space Base: The Emergence of Shy Pluto (27:32), the oh-so-nearly-a-SU&SD-video-review Monolith Arena (32:42) and the fantastically inventive game Alone (43:52). Finally, the mailbag returns! We chat about which games offer the best emotional rollercoaster of feeling very clever, and then very dumb (01:05:27).

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Podcast #92: Matt’s Crap Trams

matt's villainous trams, a secret stargate, elevated dorado's

All aboard! In this very special tram-isode, your favourite board game podcast is going on a journey. This chat makes stops at the enormous new Race for the Galaxy spinoff New Frontiers, both expansions for Kemet, namely Ta-Seti and Seth, and The Quest for El Dorado, before terminating at the bizarre game of Tramways. After that, Matt had to dash off to hospital for an “adrenaline test”. We’re not sure what that is, but we’re pretty sure it involves him putting on electrodes and then doing a kickflip. Good luck, Matt!

48 Comments

Podcast #91: The 2018 Pearple’s Choice Awards!

the board game manger, hallucinatory spaghetti, art, burps

It’s a podcast! You know the drill, everybody. Recover your audio tubing from the protective sheaths and retreat to your listening hutch. In this episode Matt and Quinns share their experiences with Wingspan (you’ll find the NPI review here), Chronicles of Crime (our SHUX Preview here), Franchise and Woodlouse Chaos, before strapping on their tuxedos for the annual Pearple’s Choice Awards, which we last celebrated back on podcast #73. Who will win Best Game? Best Production? Best Designer? And will SU&SD’s audience finally decide that mum and dad… are bad and wrong? Enjoy the show, everybody, and thanks again to clg6000 for putting these awards together.

116 Comments

Podcast #90: The Generation Train

saxomophone, grasping at grasshoppers, oily caviar, desperate bakeries

Oof! Matt and Quinns have thundered unsteadily into 2019 with a podcast overloaded with games. There’s Blackout: Hong Kong (again), Just One (a party game), Sumer (which isn’t a board game), Quacks of Quedlinburg (which is a board game), Schummel Hummel (or “Cheating Bee”), The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 (a game of the film), Pipeline (which doesn’t have that many pipes actually) and Gen 7: A Crossroads Game (our first disappointment of the year). After that, we’re sad to report that the structural integrity of the podcast collapsed, killing everyone inside. Extra special thanks to musician and super cool guy Mr. Steve Davit for hooking us up with those sexy new musical stings, and helping us to make our 2019 that much brassier.

Podcast #89: Those Unattainable Vegetables

bad hexagons, bad prawns, bad words, and crunk monks

Matt and Quinns are joined in this episode by Microsoft Powerpoint(!) to discuss their experiences with a selection of hot new board games. They’re talking about the trashed monks of Heaven & Ale, the unattainable carrots of Reykholt, the questionable fishing practices of Captains of the Gulf, the bad nouns of Trapwords and the passive-aggressive parapets of Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig. In a rare mailbag double-bagger, the pair then field two questions, one about the phrase “The Teach”, the other about theoretical business ventures for SU&SD. Quinns wants to open a new telephone hotline and Matt wants funding for… erm… well, it’s not exactly clear. This podcast is also available as a video, which includes the 20 minute Q&A with the audience at the end.

Podcast #88: Neon Salads of Hong Kong

you must mmm the slurp, gather your batteries, and most importantly, blurp

My goodness. We always say this, but… have we ever had so many luminary board games on one podcast? In this episode, Matt and Quinns discuss the twin games of Cockroach Salad and Cockroach Soup, a discovery so exciting that Quinns has since hunted down all of Drei Magier’s “Ugly Animals” games. The pair then move on to chatting about the wicked worldbuilding of Neon Gods, the dexterity magic of Men at Work, the small-form joy of Targi, the BEHEMOTH box that is Lisboa, and finally their game of the podcast, Blackout: Hong Kong. We also answer a particularly tricksy question from our mailbag. If Chess had never been invented, how do we think it would be received today? Enjoy, everybody!

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