The SU&SD 2020 Holiday Gift Guide

Welcome one, welcome all! It is officially the most December-est time of the year, and that might mean you’re on the lookout for the perfect gift for the board gamer in your life? The board gamer in OUR life wants “an egg timer”, so there’s really no knowing if you’re barking up the right tree – but the whole SU&SD team is on-hand this week to give you great suggestions for great games that are currently in stock! Enjoy!


0:54 My City
1:51 Tournament at Camelot / Tournament at Avalon
2:35 Gùgōng
3:10 Undaunted: Normandy / Undaunted: North Africa
4:06 Pandemic Legacy Season 0 / Pandemic Legacy
4:28 Quacks of Quedlinberg
4:54 Oceans
5:19 Monikers: Serious Nonsense
6:03 Patchwork
6:22 The Mind
6:41 No Thanks!
7:00 The Crew
7:35 Ghost Blitz
8:24 New York Zoo
8:54 Modern Art
9:27 Solo RPGs: 9:41 Artefact, 9:58 The Sealed Library & The Wretch3d, 10:18 Thousand Year Old Vampire
10:38 Senet Magazine

A few more worth a look!
Little Town
Unmatched
Junk Art
Paris: La Cité de la Lumière
A Fake Artist Goes to New York
Watergate
Insider

The Best Ways to Make Chess Fun

Like backaches and questionable political opinions, Chess sets seem to be one of those things that people just acquire as they get older. But is it possible to have fun with them?

We put our top board game scientists on the case, and they said “Yes. Yes. We think so.” In this video we’d like to present the games of Peasants’ Revolt, Horde Chess, Monster Chess, Atomic Chess, Alice Chess, Demi Chess, Bughouse ChessSynchronistic Chess and much, much more.

Were there any particularly spicy, simple Chess variants that we missed? Please leave us a comment. And enjoy the video, everybody.

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SU&SD Play… Wingspan with designer Elizabeth Hargrave!

We played some Wingspan! So that we could impress designer Elizabeth Hargrave with all of our cool bird knowledge, Tom and Matt spent WEEKS in a bird blind; method-acting as birds. Things got ‘not-very-social-distancey’ awful quickly, what with all the regurgitative feeding.

Sorry, that was disgusting. Matt shouldn’t have trusted me to write actual copy for the website – especially when it’s relatively low-stakes content and I’ve had several strong coffees – each one propelling my tiny bird self through the day’s workload like a bird that has had several strong coffees. Enjoy!

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What’s the future of Shut Up & Sit Down?

This might come as a surprise due to the time-warping effects of Covid-19, but it’s that time of year again! Today, we’d like to give you a quick behind-the-scenes message from Shut Up & Sit Down.

If you’re new to this community, you might not yet know that Shut Up & Sit Down is kept alive by donations from people who love what we do. So if you think you can afford it, please consider giving us a dollar or two this summer.

That’s all! We promise to only bother you about this in another six months. Have a great weekend, 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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The Amazing World of 1 Player Print’n’Play Games!

It’s time for us to apologise the only way we know how. By smearing raw egg on Quinns.

If you caught the first instalment of our Solo Special, you’ll remember we didn’t always find 1 player games easy to recommend. But since then, Quinns has disappeared into the wild thicket that is absolutely free print’n’play solitaire games, and we’re not sure he’s coming out.

To get stuck in yourself, we recommend browsing the winners of BGG’s yearly print’n’play solitaire contest: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.

Godspeed, folks! And do let us know what you find.

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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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