Shut Up & Sit Down

Review: Gùgōng

that gets my scrote, a greasy bribey baby, we don't eat pears here

Oof! When was the last time a game let you get jade, AND sail boat, AND great wall?

Gùgōng is the new game from venerable designer Andreas Steding, and we think it may well be worth your time. This game is a teasing web of tricky economies and corrupt cardplay, and we absolutely can’t wait for the expansion to be revealed later this year.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

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Card Games That Don’t Suck: Skull

not to be confused with krull, krill, cull, or ska

Quinns: For as long as SU&SD has been around, Skull has been our constant companion.

Do we need something to play at 1am at a board game convention? It’s Skull. Do we need to improvise a game out of almost no components at all? It’s Skull. Do we need to show off to people how great this hobby is with a minimum of rules overhead? It’s Skull.

Of course we had to do it for Cards Games That Don’t Suck. Thanks so much for supporting this series, everybody! I’m having an incredible time with it. And oh boy, do I have an amazing find for you next episode…

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GAMES NEWS! 06/05/19

incautious moles, vicar amelia, dripping with side-eye, tickle my ballot

Quinns: Good morning, Ava! I understand that you just mainlined the latest episode of Game of Thrones before coming to work.

Ava (they/them): I’m definitely trying to squeeze so much into to today that I’m genuinely offended they tagged on an extra twenty minutes to this episode. I’ve got a game of Twilight Imperium set up downstairs, and by the end of the day someone is going to rule the galaxy.

But more important than the galactic throne, the iron throne, or even just the throne throne? It’s the news throne, baby, and someone’s got to sit in it.

Quinns: Let’s take turns? So nobody has to die?

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SU&SD Play… Chinatown!

prawn town, non-sexual photos of prawns, a nice park, full of prawns

Fab negotiation game Chinatown has finally received a new print run! To celebrate, Quinns dusted off the copy he used in his 2014 review for a playthrough on our Twitch page. Can Chinatown newcomers Matt and Kylie make a fool of him in his own streets? Yes, of course they can.

Ooh, and while you’re watching, don’t forget to quote the famous movie line! “Forget it, Jake. It’s prawns.”

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GAMES NEWS! 29/04/19

warp and weft, wigs and cogs, wonks and cubes

Ava (they/them): Oh dear. The bosses took a break to get rotten in the state of Denmark. Specifically, they’re attending the Fastaval gaming convention, and only dropping the occasional cryptic photo (see above) into the company Slack.

That means I’m on my own for this week’s games news. They shouldn’t have left me alone. I don’t know enough of the news-ropes to not pick a random sentence, append the word news to random bits of it and pretend it’s an intro.

I guess it must be time to news-sail the news-seas and news-harpoon some news-whales.

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Review: Tiny Towns

in the pockets of big stone, fighting with rainbows, a katsu sambo

Quinns: Tiny Towns is a cute little 30 minute city-building game that arrives in U.S. stores tomorrow. The box is full of winsome wooden buildings, players erect farms and homes, and on the cards you can see animals living peaceful lives.

All of which is a little misleading. The best bit of Tiny Towns is hearing one of your neighbours – having carefully examined their own tiny town – mutter “Oh, sh**.”

Intentionally or not, designer Peter McPherson has captured the reality of living in a tiny town. Friendly interactions, with a pungent undercurrent of jealousy.

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Podcast #94: Seven Players, Exchanging Bananas

clomping in circles, desperate for citrus, almost eating the intern

Recently, Quinns was tasked with hosting a 7 player game night, and rose to the challenge with Herculean vigour. In this episode, Matt, Quinns and intern Kylie discuss his breathtaking efforts. That means talking about Watson & Holmes (03:00), Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space (12:14), and a little card game called Bourré (19:55). Incidentally, Bourré is probably the only time that SU&SD will ever crossover with the NBA. Afterwards, the group slims down for a chat about some 3 player games, namely Gùgōng (27:34) and Chinatown (38:30). Finally, the team answers a quick reader mail asking what table is best for board gaming. Big or small? Square or circle? That’s right! We are beyond parody.

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Oh Baby: SHUX’19 tickets are now on sale!

a smoking clock, embiggened decrypting, game tea

Quinns: Are you interested in coming to the third Shut Up & Sit Down convention this October? Because tickets are now on sale on the official event page!

If you’re one of our amazing attendees from previous years, you’ll know what to expect- a world-class buffet of published and experimental games, plenty of goofy stage shows, and all sorts of opportunities to make new friends.

It’s a huge privilege for us to be able to throw this party for the best community in board gaming. If you want to see what all the SHUX is about, we’d love to see you there!

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SU&SD Play… The Estates!

Get out the ice packs! It’s time for board gaming’s most bruising real-estate showdown.

But then, to simply call The Estates “bruising” is probably unfair. This game isn’t just cruel, it’s beautiful, and beautifully simple, and very funny indeed.

Take a look at our Let’s Play and see what we’re talking about. Could this be the greatest auction game ever made? Is it better than Ra and Cyclades? Maybe, maybe…

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GAMES NEWS! 15/04/19

haunt your bones, slay the story, travel a worm hole, make a sex tape

Quinns: Good morning. Our top story this week? Shut Up & Sit Down has a new staff writer! Everybody, please give the warmest of welcomes to Ava Foxfort. Ava, will you please step in front of the class and introduce yourself?

Ava Foxfort (they/them): Hi everybody! You may have seen me in the comments or the forums, and I have to say I’m utterly thrilled to be here. Shut Up & Sit Down has been one of my favourite imaginary places for a very long time, and I’m delighted to be part of it.

Quinns: Ava, please kneel. I dub thee… a News Knight of the Realm.

Ava: I guess I’d better go slay some news.

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