Ava: Quinns, Quinns? I’ve been wondering…
Quinns: Oh no.
Ava: No it’s fine. I’m just wondering, where does news come from?
Quinns: Well, Ava, when two people love news very much, they get together and…
Ava: I’ve heard enough. Let’s make like Cole Porter and do it. Let’s fall in news.
Quinns: Here we go.
Today, we’re proud to present the finale of Chronicles Month, as we poke our flag into a most elusive game in the BoardGameGeek Top 100.
Crokinole is big, it’s bold, it’s 150 years old, and a good board will cost you $300. Those are some very frightening numbers. Could this ever be a reasonable consumer purchase? Click play, and find out.
Huge thanks to the fine people at Woodestic Crokinole for providing us with a discount on our board. If you live in Europe and were interested in a Crokinole board of your very own, make them your first port of call.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
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Header image courtesy of Steph Hodge photography.
Ava: Oooh, it’s officially summer (happy solstice everyone) and I’ve had two sunburn near-misses already. I reckon it’s a perfect time to cosy up with a tasty brew, pop my feet up and lean into a cosy warm bed of news.
No time to sleep though. The news waits for no-one. We’ve got gods, gardens, angels, sharks, sails, aliens, objects and finances.
Let’s have a look.
This weekend, please enjoy a video plucked daintily from our Twitch channel.
For as long as SU&SD has been around, we’ve been fans of Space Alert. Even today, it might well be the most ridiculous, challenging and inventive co-operative game ever… erm, invented.
For anyone who missed it, you’ll find our review of Space Alert all the way back in this SU&SD episode from 2011, where we also reviewed Twilight Imperium and Race for the Galaxy. Classics, every one.
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Fans of our award-winning board game podcast should know that the pod-apult is armed and ready. Contained in today’s payload are impressions of the party game Stay Cool (02:45), the excellent Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid (09:01), the frighteningly intense Letter Jam (21:42), the adorable Welcome to Dino World (29:22), the heavy roll’n’write Rome and Roll (38:19) and the world’s first “boxed megagame”, Vampire: The Masquerade – Blood Feud (43:28). Finally, following on from team SU&SD having recently discovered the joy of using pencils to write on paper, we’ve just now learned about BOOKS! Specifically, the book Top 10 Games You Can Play In Your Head, By Yourself (49:35). Enjoy, everybody.
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Quinns: If you like comics, we’ve got a real treat for you today!
This month saw the release of the book collecting the first five issues of DIE, a fabulous new comic about a group of people who become trapped in their fantasy roleplaying campaign.
Written by Kieron Gillen, creator of THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, and breathtakingly illustrated by artist Stephanie Hans, DIE quickly became a series where I’d devour each new issue on the day of release. In two words, Kieron describes it as “Goth Jumanji”. In three words, I’d add that it’s “Very, very good”.
What makes this even more exciting is that Kieron Gillen is a personal friend of mine, and agreed to an interview about not just about the series, but the accompanying DIE RPG, and Kieron’s thoughts on roleplaying games in general. This is SU&SD, after all.
Before we get started, the three preview pages below give a summary of what DIE’s about. Click to see them at full-size!
Ava: Boy! Boy! You there!
Quinns: Boy? I’m 33 years old.
Ava: Tell me boy, is it still Chronicles Month?
Quinns: Oh, absolutely it is.
Ava: Wonderful! Then there’s still time. Head over to Shut Up & Sit Down and fetch me the plumpest, ripest news in the window.
Ava: Let us take you on a tour of the weirdest, most beautiful objects in the world. We can show you the largest palaces and the most specific digging implements, the canniest navigation tools and the shiniest hats you’ve ever seen.
Welcome to Museum, a game of archaeology (stealing), curation (re-arranging), and prestige (letter-writing).
Quinns: With over 300 gorgeous illustrations by Vincent Dutrait, Museum is the definition of a labour of love. In fact, Ava and I approached it like a real museum, taking a leisurely tour of its exhibits across two days.
Finally, we’re ready to write our review. Ava, do you want to explain the game?
Ava: Let me be your guide through the byzantine corridors…of board game.
The Serious Nonsense Box is now available to buy online!
Fans of dumb jokes in a box, rejoice! The Monikers Serious Nonsense Box is on Kickstarter right now, offering 320 brand new cards for Monikers, each lovingly written by SU&SD and friends of the show. Even if you don’t want to buy it, it’s probably worth watching my ridiculous video to observe a man losing his sanity via greenscreen.
For those unaware, Monikers is the slick, boxed implementation of the folk party game more commonly known as fishbowl, celebrity, or the hat game. We reviewed it back in 2015, and eagle-brained readers will recall that in 2017 we created a small-box expansion titled “The Nonsense Box” (and since then, we’ve been careful not to mention Monikers in our editorial without caveating our involvement with the designers).
Back then, we had a lot of fun being deeply silly with our first foray into party game design, but this time we’ve really stepped up our game: taking onboard critical feedback, thinking carefully about the flow of the game, and squeezing in a higher density of solid jokes without getting in the way of what makes Monikers great.
If you’ll allow us a moment of heart on sleeve-ism, we honestly didn’t anticipate that so many people would have such a good time with the original Nonsense Box. Feedback we’ve had over the past two years both humbled us, and stuck a rocket to our bottom when designing the new box – it felt vital to us to reflect that love back, and ensure that this triple-sized Kickstarter sequel was the absolute *best* that it could possibly be. We love it, and we hope you do too.
Thanks everybody!
Quinns: Ava, you have to help me! Following our reviews of Chronicles of Crime and Batman: Gotham City Chronicles, SU&SD fans are desperate to know what the third and final review of Chronicles Month will be. I can’t have a moment’s peace.
You have to hide me in the games news!
Ava: Never fear, noble Quintin. Follow me, and come below the “Read More” button.
Quinns: They’ll never find me!
Ava: Quick, hide under these hats.