How to Get Into the World of Tabletop RPGs!

Well, here’s a first! The first ever Shut Up & Sit Down segment inspired by a letter from a medical doctor.

Huge thanks to Chicago’s “Dr. Randall” for giving Quinns the nudge to create this video, which is a lengthy guide to getting into RPGs. Are you intimidated? Lost? Confused? We’re here to make you marginally less of all of those things.

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How to Play RATS: High Tea at Sea

A banquet on a sinking ship can’t last forever, but there’s just enough time to prove yourself the most fabulous rat aboard! Each round you’ll be scavenging for supplies and competing with your honorable host in a most delightful competition of dishes and decorations – all the while forgetting that the ship is sinking beneath you!

Download the game here, or visit this page for half of your purchase to go to environmental charity – let’s make our cardboard addiction a more sustainable hobby together!

RATS: High Tea at Sea is a print & play, roll & write boardgame for 2-6 players that’s playable over the internet, in the same room, or a combination of the two! It is preposterously easy to learn and teach, but has sneaky twists and turns that will reveal themselves every time you play – a lovely little treat for whoever fancies climbing aboard.

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How To Teach Board Games Like a Pro

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This week Matt begged Quinns to revisit a topic he’s talked about a little before: what tips could he impart for mastering “The Teach”? It’s the hurdle that stops so many from getting into the hobby – the stumbling block that has seen a many an evening of potential jolly cardboard fun veer off-course into a scene of pure disaster. Whether you’re a seasoned somelier of analog fun or someone who needs the confidence boost to go for it and host, we don’t think there’s any better source of knowledge for teaching people how to teach a board game.

Enjoy! And do let us know if you have any invaluable tips or tricks that you think we’ve missed!

How to Play El Grande!

Today Quinns and Matt have joined forces to teach El Grande, one of the grand old girls of board gaming. This box is every bit as charming and dangerous as she was back in 1995, and with stock availability of the new “Big Box” still excellent, she remains a very smart purchase.

Any requests for what game we should teach next? Please first check that someone else hasn’t requested the same game as you, in which case you should just upvote their comment!

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How to Play Dead of Winter (and The Long Night)!

September 19, 2016 Learn to Play Dead of Winter: The Long Night, Heavy Games, SU&SD Recommends, Bluffing Games, Cooperative Games It was two years ago that Paul and Quinns ordered you guys to buy Dead of Winter. Today, we’ve got fantastic news for everyone who disobeyed us! Dead of Winter: The Long Night is a … Read more

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How to Play Imperial Assault’s Campaign!

Today we’re teaching one of the big boys! Imperial Assault (see our review here) is an epic box containing your very own Star Wars adventure. One person plays the dastardly forces of the Imperium and is given control of a never-ending hosepipe of henchmen, while up to four more players steer a pack of heroes through a fantastic campaign.

It’s not the simplest thing to play, though, so we put together this primer video for the hero team. Step one, invite heroes over. Step two, tell them to watch this. Step three, sit ’em down and start playing!

(Oh, and if anyone want’s to replace the Bothan Sniper with something a little more Matt Lees-y, they can do so using this fan art from game designer Jonathan Ying!)

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How to Play Arctic Scavengers!

Public service announcement: 2009’s Arctic Scavengers isn’t simply still a great game. It might still be the greatest game to ever let players slip cards into their personal deck and go “Ooh, this feels a bit nice.” And if you’re new here, you should know that that’s a hotly contested genre.

If you missed our extensive coverage of this frosty classic you’ll find Quinns’ original video review here and his investigation of 2015’s Recon expansion here. And remember, you can now get the base game and the Recon expansion in a single box! You scream, I scream, we all scream for icy warfare.

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How to Play Lords of Vegas!

Ever since our review, Lords of Vegas is the economic warfare game that we find ourselves recommending the most. Why pay for flights to Las Vegas when this game lets you gamble, drink heavily, invest unwisely and come to loathe your friends, all from the comfort of your own home?

For other entry-level economic slugfests, do check out Chinatown, or dip way back into the SU&SD archives for a peek at our Black Gold review. It’s one of our earliest ever bits of criticism, and a game we still have a soft (and oily) spot for.

(And yes, this IS our first video to use our YouTube channel instead of Vimeo! We’ll slowly be moving the back catalogue over, as well as putting all future videos on YouTube, but it’s still worth popping over now to check out Matt’s completely dope header image.)

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How to Play The Resistance: Avalon!

The Resistance: Avalon

May 9, 2016 Learn to Play The Resistance: Avalon Would you like to play the thoroughly excellent Resistance: Avalon? Sit back, relax and let Quinns teach you how to play! After all, you’ll soon be sat forward, distinctly un-relaxed and disbelieving everything said by anyone. But wait! There’s more! A few years ago we filmed … Read more

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How to Play Mysterium!

Mysterium

April 25, 2016 Learn to Play Mysterium, SU&SD Recommends, New to Games?, Creative Games, Card Games We reviewed Mysterium so early (and so breathlessly) that we never got to do a video on it. Gaw bless these rules explanations for letting us fix that! Mysterium didn’t so much replace Dixit as murder it in the … Read more

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