Videos 19 - Shut Up & Sit Down

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.

Oh dear. SU&SD is trying to review a 4,000 year old cultural institution? There are days where we struggle to review dexterity games aimed at drunks. This can’t end well.

In all seriousness, Go is easily among the most magnificent works of design that we’ve ever review. The only question that remains is… is it fun?

Huge thanks to online shop Masters of Games for lending us some of their Go stuff for this video. Quinns says he’ll mail it back shortly, and “Sorry for the Dorito dust.”

Our celebration of head-to-head games continues! This week Matt stacks up his opinions about the fabulous Cairn. Blue druids in hats versus brown druids with sticks – it’s a tale as old as time, but what new magic have they cooked up with this natty new formula?

July 15, 2020 Reviews Targi It takes two to tango! But it also takes two to Targi. Our second review of chess month is a snug little box, and a welcome reminder that eurogames don’t have to be big to be clever. (It’s not the first dedicated two player eurogame we’ve reviewed, mind you. That … Read more

July 8, 2020 Reviews Ice Team, chess month It’s the 8th of July baby, you know what THAT means! It’s time for Shut Up & Sit Down’s inaugural Chess Month – a season dedicated to the joy of fantastic two-player games, literally none of which are going to be chess. To kick us off with … Read more

After talking about it on the podcast a bunch, Tom decided to make himself a nice little video review of Thousand Year Old Vampire, as a treat. Along the way, he learned the challenges of Adobe After Effects (never again) and filming a compelling outro in a room with no discernible features.

Sit back, relax, and be dazzled once again by the tale of Kenneth – a vampire who gives the sound of boiling mud horrifying connotations.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a bird. In fact, it’s all of the birds.

At long last, after a preposterous 7 print runs in 14 months, Shut Up & Sit Down has published a review of Wingspan. It’s the biggest success story that the tabletop scene has seen in a long time. But is it a success story on our tables? Or in our hearts?

Click play, and find out.

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.

Gird your tabletops! Western Empires is the biggest game we’ve ever reviewed in both length and girth. A 9 player, 12 hour game? What could be bigger than that?

We’ll tell you what else. The combined game of Mega Empires, which you’ll be able to play when Eastern Empires releases in the near future. A game that the United Kingdom Department of Bigness and Sizeitude has gone on record as calling “Too Big”.

Also in the video is our new table from Geeknson! In fact, this exact table is on Kickstarter right now. You’ll find Quinns’ thoughts on that (and gaming tables in general) at the 18:04 mark of this video.

What’s that sound? Oh, it’s just Richard Nixon hurtling towards you at breakneck pace, making sure that you never say another word about his precious Watergates. Don’t trust the press, kids; those things are providing high-quality clean energy to all of America and the stories of ‘walls made of cardboard’ and ‘the electricity just powering a big slush puppy machine’ are completely false. And the boardgame of the same name? Don’t make me laugh.

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

CHESS MONTH – Go Review

CHESS MONTH – Cairn

CHESS MONTH – Targi (and Expansion) Review

CHESS MONTH – Ice Team Review

Review – Thousand Year Old Vampire

Review – Wingspan

8000 Years of Board Game History in 43 Minutes

Review – Western Empires

Review – Watergate

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