Review – Hansa Teutonica: Big Box

mister rules, flinging sugar, the super accountant, england: it's difficult

What’s historical, great fun, set in medieval Germany and has two thumbs? THIS GUY! Wait, that can’t be right

Look, the point is we’ve done a review of a marvellous new edition of perhaps the greatest eurogame ever made. The new Hansa Teutonica Big Box isn’t actually any bigger than the old edition, but it’s not any more expensive, either, which is a truly fantastic thing. We implore you to take a look.

Read More
Leave a comment

This week on Shut Up & Sit Down…

Needle in a Needlestack, Croc Smashing Sim 2020, I used all my beige jokes in the body text oops

Tom: It’s beige week, baby! This week on the site, we’re rattling through the Taupe of the Pops, journeying down umber, and a third beige-based joke. Hold onto your trousers, because each and every game featured this week will have some element that’s distinctly beige – be it colour, theme, or feeling.

Take this week’s Tuesday stream, for example. Red Cathedral isn’t a beige game, in many ways – just look at that lovely cover! Feast your peepers on that sweet, segmented season board! You’re practically drowning in colour! And yet, your eyes must only drift a little to spy the distinctly sepia edges of the board and stunning tagline; ‘Lead a construction team to build Saint Basil’s Cathedral under the Tsar’s reign’. Now THAT’s what I call Beige Week.

What about this week’s video review? Well, my clues so far have led you people to guess the game with worrying accuracy – so I’ll let this week’s theme do all the talking. How’s that for a clue!? It’ll be like finding hay in a haystack.

Finally, in podtown; a sienna subversion to our tripartite of tan. On Friday, we’re going to have ourselves a lovely chat about Faiyum – the most technicolour beige game ever to exist – not just in its actual colour (it’s actually quite colourful!) but also in mechanics. So it’s not really beige at all; and maybe that’s what’s so thrilling about beige week.

But one question remains. What have you been up to, everybody? 

Read More
41 Comments

Podcast #130 – The Big Reiner Lovecast

One Man Solitary... In My City, SU&SD Recommends Reiner Knizia, Thank you thank me for listen your pleasure please today!, Podcasting Troubles

In this freshly-pressed 130th episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down podcast, we’re making amends. “The Beefcast” left the team torn in two, sundered, ruined… borked beyond repair. Now? It’s time to rekindle the fire, and what better way to do so than talk about the man that broke us? That’s right, it’s time … Read more

Read More
Leave a comment

Review: Modern Art

The Economy Zone, Steady Manuel, Sweet Sweet Profits, A Scripting Surprise

For this hot HOT review, Tom went back in time to 1992 and stole the design documents for a game that he’s sure will one day be a classic. Who did he steal them from? What was the game? One can only dream.

In the second of a double-Reiner-february-feature; a review of Modern Art, just for you. It’s an absolute classic in the auction game genre, and maybe one of Tom’s favourite games of all time? Watch him squirm as he grapples with the burden of encompassing that which cannot be encompassed.

Read More
Leave a comment

This week on Shut Up & Sit Down…

don't eat yellow board games, they're probably old, and not food

Quinns: Greetings from frosty Brighton, everybody! I wish I could say “snowy Brighton”, but alas, today the sky produced about three sneezes’ worth of snow and then gave up. But while I can’t offer you snow, this week I can offer you a pile of fresh, cool, crunchy board games. On Tuesday Matt and Tom will be streaming what at least some people are calling the game of 2020, Beyond the Sun. Would you like to see what the fuss is about? Was the discussion on podcast #124 not enough for you? Or are you just monstrously impatient for our video review, which will only be published when the game is back in stock? If you answered “Yes”, “No,” and “That’s right”, you won’t want to miss this one. On Wednesday Tom will be publishing a video review of one of board gaming’s stone cold classics, a game that is, in fact, older than he is. But not much older. I can say no more. And then Friday will see the emergence of the very 130th Shut Up & Sit Down podcast. Remember how episode #119 was called “The Big Reiner Beefcast”, in which we all argued about legendary designer Reiner Knizia? We’re tentatively calling episode #130 “The Big Reiner Lovecast”. Look forward to further chat about My City, The Quest for El Dorado, and more besides.

Read More
63 Comments

Podcast #129 – Mr Carnegie’s Fun Emporium!

My Tired And Dusty Workers, Ridin' The Business Waves, Absolute Carnage, Bezos; The Board Game

In this juicy 129th episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down podcast, it’s time for business, baby! Join Matt and Tom for a conversation about Carnegie where our thoughts doth runneth over. Literally. We aimed to keep this one short and sweet but then Matt got ever so excited about history – something that we like to call ‘a nerd move’, in the biz.

Think of this one as the ‘one-two-punch’ of board game podcasts, if you will. A first half that basks in the utter joy of the thing, and a second where reality rears its ugly head at our barred doors. We just wanted to enjoy a game about a hard day’s work, reality! Why do you always spoil our fun?! I JUST WANTED TO CRUSH A WHOLE UNION IN PEACE!!!

Have a lovely weekend!

Read More
Leave a comment

Review: My City

raunchy purples, real housewives, quinns sings a song

Drop everything (unless you’re holding a baby)!

My City doesn’t look like much. It also doesn’t sound< like much. But what we've got here is master board game designer Reiner Knizia's take on the genre of legacy games. Remember how The Quest for El Dorado saw Reiner Knizia quietly mastering the genre of deckbuilding games? Well, without wanting to spoil this review entirely, he’s basically done it again. What an absolute legend.

Read More
Leave a comment

This week on Shut Up & Sit Down…

The Lawyers Are Coming, There's Also An LCDSS Song That Works, Everything's Good In CarnegieTown

Tom:  Hello! HELLO?! Is this the games news? I think I might have gotten lost somewhere on the route from Videoville to Stream-On-Thames and ended up here, of all places. The void betwixt the content. The great unknown. The endless woods of anticipation. What’s to be found in this unhinged time-limbo? I’ve just caught a glimpse of the video  from Quinns that we’ll be publishing on Wednesday, a review of an excellent game whose title can be sung to the tune of the very best ‘Track 9’ on my 3rd favourite Parquet Courts record? Have fun decoding that one, SUCKERS. We’re not sharing our video secrets THAT easily. And what’s that? In the distance? A crowd of lost souls chanting ‘RAISE’? ‘YOUR’? ‘LAWYERS’? The people have demanded it, and we must provide it  – on Tuesday we’ll have a full-length technicolour stream of legal simulation Lawyer Up. It’ll be confusing and amusing! I’m excited to play it, and equally scared that I have to teach it. Last, but not least, please feel free to take a seat inside the Podcastle this Friday for an exhaustive (exhausting?) ramble about Carnegie – a game that contains nary a trace of Union-Busting. Just like the man himself would have wanted. Whew. That’s ‘this week’ over here sorted. I’m knackered already.

Read More
94 Comments

Podcast #128 – In The Pocket Of Big Vampire

Is that twelve games in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?, Vitamin V, You Have Just Got Beansed

In the unbelievably 128th podcast we spend a surprisingly long time chatting about Vampire: The Masquerade – Vendetta, a game with as much blood as it’s got colons! This pink-hued game doesn’t take a rose-tinted view of the source material, which Quinns and Matt get deep into a big nostalgia blanket for. How sweet! Eventually … Read more

Read More
Leave a comment

Review: Oceans

The Big Blue Wet Thing, terror from the deep, poor little bobbit

Splish splosh, splish splish splosh. It’s time to get SALTY! This week’s review sees Matt diving into Oceans – sadly not in real life as he lives in central London. Wrong time of year, too – frankly. Enjoy!

Read More
Leave a comment