SU&SD - Shut Up & Sit Down

Daft Souls is a new gaming podcast! With us!

Quinns: Sound the competence klaxon! Matt and myself have a quick announcement. We’ve joined forces with a few other UK games writer luminaries to create DAFT SOULS, a new weekly podcast about video games! And much like SU&SD, it has the single, lofty goal of not being shit.

So if you like SU&SD and you do play video games, give the first episode a listen. Underneath your seat you’ll find the iTunes page, SoundCloud, RSS feed, and even Youtube. Oh, and you can follow Daft Souls on Twitter here.

It’s kind of amazing how good a job Matt and I do of seeming like we’re not hurtling towards 30 when we’re talking about cool games like Luftrausers, Dark Souls 2 and Heroes of the Storm. And no, this doesn’t mean we’ll be spending any less time on this site or the SU&SD podcast. We’ll be revealing a similar refurbishment of our own podcast in just a couple of weeks.

[And now, a special treat for Simplicity Week. We’re very lucky today to be joined by Eric Zimmerman, games academic and designer of Quantum, a great new release that simplifies the space warfare genre into a few riotous handfuls of candy-coloured dice. In the first of a series of new developer post-mortems, we talked to Eric about exactly how simple the process was.]

Quinns: So, Quantum’s out, but board games don’t enjoy the immediacy of communication and online play you’d get with the video games you worked on before. How does it feel knowing this labour of love is being purchased and played in secret, the world over? HI, by the way.

Zimmerman: Glad to be here!

HELLO everybody! Do you enjoy SU&SD? Would you like to help us do what we do, and receive a goodie bag from us in April? There are just 19 days left to get in on the second ever Gold Club bag, which is hardly any days at all!

Of course, if you’re a subscriber, you can just sit back and wait for the goods to come to you!

A couple of other announcements. By now, your rewards for our first pledge season should have arrived. If you’ve yet to receive these, or your bag was damaged, please email Quinns directly via [email protected] and he’ll ship a replacement out immediately with some extra Haribo inside.

Second, for everybody waiting for a forum or full episodes, we request your patience for a little while longer. Turns out turning SU&SD into a sustainable business is a lot of work, and we’ve never done work before, so it’s very confusing. Apparently there are “lawyers” involved, who are a bit like wizards but a lot less fun.

Sincerely,

— Team SU&SD

[This is the story of Earth #00001941. It comes to us from American journalist and fan of SU&SD Jacob Tierney, and holds the honour of being the first retrospective to almost make Quinns cry.

The following is spoiler-free. Images courtesy of BoardGameGeek.]

“NOTE: What’s done can never be undone.”

The statement is emblazoned on the sticker that seals every copy of Risk Legacy, forcing you to acknowledge it before you even open the box. It’s a warning, but also a promise. This game will be something completely different.

It was the last week of 2011. My friends and I had chipped in for one of the most-discussed games of recent memory, and we planned to complete it before I returned to college for my final semester the following month.

Completion is a weird concept in board games, which are usually meant to be infinitely replayable. But then, Risk Legacy is all about weird concepts.

After slipping more than 20,000 things into 2,500 envelopes, our first donation season’s Gold Club bags are assembled, and will be shipped to you guys this very week. Hooray!

Since none of us died in the process, we’ve just opened donations for the 2nd season’s Gold Club, which will be shipped on April 15th. We’ll do a proper video preview of the new season in a bit, but for now, we just want to give last season’s donors a huge, huge thanks for keeping Shut Up & Sit Down on its feet, to the tune of a preposterous $83,073. This is going to be our best year ever, and we’re so glad we can keep growing and improving together with the table gaming hobby.

Thank you. We love you. And if you want to want to get in on this hot Gold Club action, you’ll find everything you need on our donations page.

— Team SU&SD

Hello everyone! Couple of quick Gold Club-related announcements before we enter 2014, the Chinese year of the board gamer.

ONE! We’re now accepting shipping addresses for the 1st Gold Club bag! Cleverly, there’s NO NEED to do this if your shipping address is the same as your billing address. The rest of you guys have until January 7th to get your info in.

TWO! Subscribers who requested to be topped-off to Gold Club level will be billed at 12:00:00 EST January 1st.

THREE! All other donations afterwards will go towards our 2nd pledge season, and the 2nd Gold Club bag.

FOUR! People who pledged for the first Gold Club bag but whose bank failed their skill check will be able to correct billing errors through January 7th (EST.)

Happy New Year, everyone!

In a crossover of comic book proportions, Quinns can today be found on episode 118 of the official Plaid Hat Podcast, having an intimate chat with owner Colby Dauch.

Plaid Hat are the redoubtable publisher behind Mice & Mystics, Summoner Wars, the BioShock: Infinite board game and City of Remnants, as well the upcoming Dead of Winter. Even more importantly, they’re excellent people, interested in blowing board gaming open in much the same way as SU&SD. Anyone who’d like to hear Quinns talk about his past, the present state of the board game media, or the future of our very own site will find all the necessary listening implements in the above link.

Best of all, Colby’s agreed to appear on our own podcast next year! Any questions for him, guys? Just leave them here, in the comments.

Paul: Like a snowman at the door, having a wank through your letterbox, Christmas is coming fast. Everyone and their dog is going to be asking for board games and hoping to unwrap something special but, but not everything that you ask for is going to be suited to families.

Does your brother want to play Twilight Imperium for eight hours? Does your dad understand how the Ambush card works in Memoir ‘44? Will your mum flip the table again if she loses another game of Space Hulk?

Here, then, are Shut Up & Sit Down’s recommendations for games your family can play at Christmas. These are all games with rules you can learn in just a few minutes, and won’t keep you returning to the manual. Some are simple, some are smart, some are physical and some are outright dangerous. But they’re all terribly, terribly good fun.

The Shut Up & Sit Down Community Guidelines

Paul: Hi everyone.

We wanted to take a moment, between videos where we fall over and lewd reviews of bean-trading games, to set out some community guidelines.

We want this to be a safe, friendly, welcoming space for everyone. That means we’re queer-friendly. We won’t tolerate sexism, racism, bigotry, or any form of hate speech.

We’re so proud of our community. You’ve been fantastic, supportive, intelligent and contributed so much. Don’t see this as us saying we’re unhappy with you guys, only that Shut Up & Sit Down is growing faster than ever. It’s important to us that we set the tone and that everyone who comes here feels comfortable. You can help with that and, indeed, you already have. So much.

Quinns: Paul and I work in games media, but we’ve never seen a community as kind and respectful as you guys. Respect! On the internet! It’s a rare thing, and something we’ll be working to protect in our comments from here on.

If anything should bother you, please do email the contact address at the bottom of the site. That’ll reach us. Oh, and you’ll only need to stay shivering out in the comments for a bit longer. Your forum will be ready in the new year.

Thanks, everyone!

Review: 1960: The Making of the President

[We’re very sorry. Unfortunately, this week, we’re not able to give you a new video. We were planning to post another Opener, one of Matt’s friendly introductions to both gaming and cooking, but circumstances have thrown us, as Matt explains:] Matt: Hello there, Openerererers! I’m sad to say that this month’s unlikely blend of a … Read more

Daft Souls is a new gaming podcast! With us!

An Actual Interview: Quantum

Introducing our Gold Club, Season 2!

Retrospective: Risk Legacy

Gold Club bags are now shipping!

Shipping Addresses & Top-Offs!

Quinns is on the Plaid Hat Podcast!

SU&SD’s Best Games For Your Family

The Shut Up & Sit Down Community Guidelines

An apology, a look back at an old review, a breakfast calzone

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