Codenames

Feature: A Day in the Life of Quinns’ Game Collection!

Quinns: Ladies and gentlemen, roll up! It’s time for a new series where we take a look a team SU&SD’s board game collections. Come and see! Be amazed. Be aghast. Be envious. Comment with thought-provoking assertions like “why do you have that game it is bad”.

You guys will have seen my collection in the background of loads of SU&SD videos, but I don’t think you’ve seen the work that goes into it. Come with me today as I perform… a CULL.

But before that, let me show you my collection as it stands. It’s both completely ridiculous and not as ridiculous as you might think.

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Podcast #46: One Miniature Vlaada

Oh dear! After a metaphorical explosion of our recording equipment at Gen Con ’16, this is all we could salvage from our two live shows. Please don your protective masks and take turns passing the blasted husk around. The first 30 minutes of this ash-smelling podcast feature Paul, Quinns and our miniatures columnist Eric Tonjes discussing some highlights from the show, including the Runewars Miniatures Game, Pandemic: Reign of Cthulu, Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Conan and the real-time tile laying game of 4 Gods. Exciting, right? Not as exciting as the second half, friends! Paul and Quinns were able to snag an interview with a little designer by the name of Vlaada Chvátil. But this doesn’t have to be a disaster-cast. Did you go to Gen Con, or have some otherwise transcendant board gaming in the last few weeks? Why not leave us a comment telling us all about it!

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Games News! 06/06/16

Quinns: Exhausted from the UK Games Expo, I have slithered up to my desk with a biscuit and a cup of tea to write the news. Huge thanks to everyone who came along to our live shows, played a part in our live review or witnessed our epic game of Question Wood Toy Folds High. If you weren’t there, not to worry! All will be posted on this site in good time.

As for the spicy slivers of news I’ll be dishing up like a powerful dad, we begin with the announcement of 2016’s Spiel des Jahres nominations! A shadowy council of German board gamers has once again met to hand out board gaming’s most prestigious award, and the only one that can multiply a game’s sales 100 times over. But this year we’ve played all the nominees!

I wonder what we shall think…

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Games News! 02/05/16

The Game Canopy

Quinns: What’s the world coming to? It’s Expansionanuary in May!

This week we’ve got news that all sorts of SU&SD favourites are getting improved and expanded, starting with Widow’s Walk, an expansion for bizarro horror movie simulator Betrayal at the House on the Hill. The spooktacular new box will add 50 new haunts, 20 new rooms and lots more.

And that’s not even the best bit. Let me walk you through why this announcement totally blindsided me.

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Games News! 02/11/15

Escape rooms

Quinns: I write to you, toothbrush in mouth, suitcase open, packing for the trip of a lifetime.

Tomorrow Team SU&SD will fly to Fantasy Flight’s 2015 World Championships. We’ll be interviewing folks, previewing new releases and generally luxuriating at the world’s best publisher of licensed games. We are also going to steal so much stationary.

We’ll have lots of content up on the site for the next week, but probably in unusual shapes. In the meantime, here’s a quick Games News! A gasp of normalcy before Paul and myself climb onto a jetplane, bound for five days of board gaming. Ah, Roseville, Minnesota! Truly, a field of dreams…

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Podcast #34: The Great Antarctic Experiment

The Great Antarctic Experiment

In what could be our most exciting reader mail ever, Quinns has helped a marine biologist pick some board games to take to the above Antarctic research station for 18 months. Tune in next year to hear how those games fared against penguins, boredom and the deadliest winters on planet Earth.

But that’s not all! Join Paul and Quinns as they walk the tightrope of talking about Pandemic Legacy without spoiling a darn thing. Listen as they discuss other Game of the Year candidates Codenames and Mysterium. Laugh as they chat about the most dangerous games they played as kids, and moan with delight as they describe yet another perversely erotic folk game.

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Codenames

Codenames

In Codenames, two teams face a square grid of 25 word cards. Each team has a captain, and both captains can see (via a hidden picture) which cards belong to their team, which cards are neutral, and which single card is the “assassin”.

On a turn, the captain gives their teammates a clue such as “Car 4”. Those teammates then select cards (up to the number given) which they think the captain might have in mind for the clue (perhaps “Wheel”, “Electric”, “Vacation” and “Price”). Choosing a word not belonging to your team ends the turn, and choosing the “assassin” word makes you lose immediately. Assuming neither team falls to the assassin, the winner is the first team to uncover all of their own words.

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Review: Codenames

Review: Codenames

Quinns: In an age where we can fit dice on rings and hold Battlestar Galactica LARPs in decommissioned warships, team SU&SD has learned that rules can only hold us back. The only rule we have left is that before we review a game, it has to be available for our readers to buy it.

Today, we’re breaking that rule!

Codenames was the smash hit of Gen Con this year. It’s still perched happily atop BoardGameGeek’s “Hotness” sidebar, it sold out despite having a terrible name and a terrible box, and it’s the game I heard most people gossiping about. Under such crushing hype, and knowing that articles will soon be flowing in, today we’re offering our review early.

Let’s start with two words: Vlaada Chvatil.

Then another five: He’s done it again.

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Podcast #29: Nightmares at the Hilton

Now Quinns is back from the UK Games Expo, we slid a microphone under the door of the con-tamination chamber to record a new podcast! Paul’s got questions about the sublime Welcome to the Dungeon, the prototype of Vlaada’s Codenames and Quinns’ performance at the UK Netrunner Nationals. But that’s not all! Quinns is starved … Read more

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