Shut Up & Sit Down

Quinns is on the Plaid Hat Podcast!

equality, mice, origin stories, videogames, colby is braver than quinns

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.

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…And that’s it for 2013!

wizards, wrestlers, wombles, weeping angels, wangs, whatever works

After approximately ONE HUNDRED videos, reviews and podcasts, it’s time for us to say goodbye to 2013 the only way we know how. With EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENTS!

Enclicken yonder video to learn how we’ve decided to grow next year, what your stretch goal episodes will be and to hear what will be in season 1’s Gold Club bags!

NOTE: Our first pledge season ends in just 10 days. If you haven’t contributed and don’t want the first Gold Club bag to slip you by, definitely head over to the donations annex now!

Everybody else? We’re indescribably grateful to you, and will be collecting your shipping addresses shortly.

Have a happy New Year, everybody.

— Team SU&SD

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Review: A Distant Plain

half-dressed and shivering, dizzying flowcharts, sweet warlords, beardy bedfellows

Paul: Hey Matt! Quinns and the others are going down the pub and they asked me … well, they didn’t ask, exactly, but I thought you might get … erm, wanna come?

Thrower: No. Can’t you see I’m working?

Paul: Is that a ledger? Are you an ACCOUNTANT? I presumed you lived on secret backhanders from the Pentagon. What’s this game here?

Thrower: That’s A Distant Plain. It’s got solo rules, so I was hoping to play during my break. But I think I made a poor choice.

Paul: How so? It isn’t very good?

Thrower: I wouldn’t say that. But let’s step back. A Distant Plain is a game about the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and its ongoing consequences. In this, it’s an astonishing rarity. Politics isn’t generally done in board games which, when you consider it, is an appalling dereliction of duty. These are social games, things you drink beer and chat over instead of hunched on the sofa, half-dressed, shivering and alone before a flickering flatscreen.

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Games News! 16/12/13

bakers, commands and candies, candy spells, candyland, obnoxious boxes, beards

Quinns: Welcome to a Very Special edition of the Games News, in which Quinns finds out that Ryuutama exists.

The Kickstarter for an English release just ended, and it sounds like the roleplaying game I was born to play. Players journey across a fantasy land in a party, but you’re not adventurers. You’re merchants, healers, bakers, or other tradesfolk, travelling because you’re struck by an incredible wanderlust. It’s a game of wonder, relationships, and seeing what lies over the next hill in a very real sense. I cannot think of a game I’d rather have on my table.

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Hexagonal Tile-Laying Game Fest, 2013

bananas, borrowing forever, judo, good ol' lakes, grumplehex, hextoast

It’s that most wonderful time of the year! The holiday when families come together and induldge in colourful capitalism. That’s right, I’m talking about Economic Hex-Based Tile Laying Game Fest: 2013.

In this year’s hex fest we review the moreish Suburbia, the quaint Keyflower, remember the daring Archipelago, and in doing so unearth our Game of the Year.

Pour yourself a glass of hexnog, dear viewer. Tis’ the season!

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SU&SD’s Best Games For Your Family

steer a shark, freeze to death, certain dads, don't build snowmen with paul

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.

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Games News! 09/12/13

crunchy toast, coin spew, cuboid vikings, dirty bombs, nanogames

Quinns: Hello! Is it time for Games News? I feel so jetlagged that this is quite likely to be a terrible dream. Any second I’ll wake up still on the plane, one of my eyes gummed shut, the overweight man on my right having spilled an entire vodka miniature in my crotch.

Best to just enjoy this reality while it lasts, with its crunchy toast, hot coffee and board game news.

First up is the mighty Eurogamer, which has published a couple of articles about Chess 2 and Pandante, games that attempt to “fix” chess and poker, respectively.

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Review: Cutthroat Caverns

minotaurs, enemas, bad tea, quinns' netrunner tips

Would you like to come on an ADVENTURE? Get some treasure, some glory, back home in time for tea?

So you’ll come? …What’s that? Oh, nowhere special. Just the Cutthroat Caverns. No! Come back! It’s only a name!

What about you, dear reader? Will you join us? If you’re brave enough, you’ll see there’s an awful lot of fun to be had in those dingy, treacherous caverns. Assuming you’re just a bit of a jerk.

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Podcast #12: Quinns’ Holiday Crush

elijah wood, number six, twelfthlthl, are all board games awful?

Our very TWELFTH podcast has arrived! Twelfth doesn’t look like a proper word, does it? Twelfth. What are all those consonants doing? It sounds like a Lovecraft monster. So: Quinns is back from Board Game Geek con, and he’s fit to BURST with news of Nordic LARP, sinister physical games and a board game designer … Read more

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The Shut Up & Sit Down Community Guidelines

a serious post

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!

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