SHUX 2023

An important but hopefully understandable update: we won’t be hosting a SHUX event this year. That’s the bad news out of the way – with the GOOD news being that we’re already planning SHUX 2024 for next October, and hoping to return to the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Obviously, this is a bummer. We know how special and important this event is to a lot of people, partly because WE are those people too. It’s our highlight of the year, and as we’ve said repeatedly at the events themselves, we’re amazed and humbled at what SHUX has become – sprawling out to be something that’s bigger and cooler and kinder than any of us.

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SHUX’22 is in a month!

Tom: “SHUX! HUH?! What does it stand for?!” We don’t really know. But we do know that it’s Canada’s biggest (and best!) board game convention. It’s happening in less than a month, and you should absolutely come along!

As Matt (who is in your garden, right now) attests in the video above, SHUX is our annual board game get-together in the beautiful city of Vancouver. This year we’ve got GAMES, GUESTS, AND RIGOROUS COVID PRECAUTIONS! That last one is less exciting, but it’s certainly important – for your whole bod! We take pride in SHUX being a safe space – and not just in a covid-cautious sense – we truly do want everyone to feel as welcome as possible to sit themselves down at any table they like, and start playing some molten hot board games.

We’ve got a great set of special guests running all kinds of shows, a fabulously stocked library of games, and the whole team running around trying to say hello to literally everyone. I can’t wait. Tickets are available right here, as well as everything you need to know about the show.

But what’s happening in the land of YouTube? Nothing this week, I’m afraid! After the absolutely shocking revelation that a card game (with tokens!) does in fact exist, the whole team have gone into hibernation… by which I mean ‘squirrelling away on preparations for SHUX’. We’ll have a fresh video for you next week, instead!

But don’t fret too much, because we’ve got a truly fabulous feature over in pod-town; Quinns and Ava are going to be talking all about their favourite RPGs! I’m just about to edit it, and I’m quite excited.

That’s all for this week! What have you been up to, everybody?

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8000 Years of Board Game History in 43 Minutes

For this week’s Wednesday video, we wanted to offer something a little different.

At SHUX last year Quinns gave a talk on the history of board games. A quick’n’dirty tour of the games of ancient prehistory, all the way through to the invention of cardboard in the 19th century.

We present it today as a reminder that while today’s tabletop scene is overwhelming white, this is a blip in the 8000 year history of the hobby. The earliest known board games are found in Africa. Dice were invented in the Middle East. The first games that tell stories are found in Egypt. Playing cards were conceived in China. Chess came from India, by way of an Islamic Caliphate.

This hobby owes a debt to people of colour that it could never possibly repay. At the very least, we can make sure we don’t forget it.

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SHUX’20 tickets are now on sale!

Quinns: Are you interested in coming to the fourth Shut Up & Sit Down convention this October? Because tickets are now on sale on the official event page!

If you’re one of our amazing attendees from previous years, you’ll know what to expect- a world-class buffet of published and experimental games, plenty of goofy stage shows, and all sorts of opportunities to make new friends.

It’s a huge privilege for us to be able to throw this party for the best community in board gaming. If you want to see what all the SHUX is about, we’d love to see you there!

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How to Win Games and Manipulate People

Those of you with functional memories may recall that at the very first SHUX in 2017, myself and Alan Gerding sat down in cosy room and had a chat about psychology. It was pegged as a talk about the psychology of games, but being both exhausted and faintly ill-prepared, we decided instead to enjoy a rambling introduction to some of the magic behind this unfairly-maligned strain of science.

And the people in the room at the time loved it! The people online afterwards? Not so much. A chunk of those who watched it were understandably annoyed that we didn’t tackle the topic as intended, and were more than woolly with our citations. And wow! Look what you made us do.

This year myself and Alan returned with an actual powerpoint presentation on the fascinating topic of manipulation, with a lens particularly focused on how you might use this information during games with elements of persuasion. It’s meaty, it’s interesting, it’s surprisingly fun. If you want the slides for this lecture-in-sheep’s-clothing, you can find them here.

We hope you enjoy it – have a great weekend!

And with that, Team SU&SD Leave for SHUX!

Quinns: With just over a week until the third annual Shut Up & Sit Down convention, which still has a good few tickets left (including one day passes), it’s time for our team to G.O.S.P. (get on some planes).

For those of you attending, it’s gonna be fabulous. For those not attending, I’m here to say that our content schedule for the next couple of weeks will be a little spotty. Keep an eye on the SU&SD Instagram for any hijinks that occur, and expect the occasional written article, but probably no more than that.

But fear not! We’re going to return with all kinds of recorded shows, unusual jetlag-infused videos and tales of games big and small.

Thank you for your patience, everybody. See you on the other side!

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More Fun Stuff for SHUX 2019 announced!

Quinns: Have you got your ticket for SHUX 2019 yet? Because the big show is just six weeks away, and our team is up to our elbows in SHUX prep, stuffing it full of games, shows and special features.

Matt’s packed our very best announcements into the above 2 minute video, but here are some high points…

  • Pandemic designer Matt Leacock and Gloomhaven designer Isaac Childres are going to be on our stage, talking about their games!
  • I’ve signed up to do a terrifying, high-octane stage show compressing the history of board games in 60 minutes!
  • You’ll be able to play one of the intense social games from hit Korean show The Genius!
  • Our free library now has in excess of 1,000 games!
  • You get a free game and a limited-edition pin upon arrival!
  • Kids under 10 get in free!
  • Fully wheelchair accessible!
  • Exclamation marks!!!

My anticipation for SHUX ’19 is reaching boiling point. How much more excited can a man get? I intend to find out.

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