Videos Category: Specials

How to Win Games and Manipulate People

October 25, 2019
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Those of you with functional memories may recall that at the very first SHUX in 2017, myself and Alan Gerding sat down in cosy room and had a chat about psychology. It was pegged as a talk about the psychology of games, but being both exhausted and faintly ill-prepared, we decided instead to enjoy a rambling introduction to some of the magic behind this unfairly-maligned strain of science.

And the people in the room at the time loved it! The people online afterwards? Not so much. A chunk of those who watched it were understandably annoyed that we didn’t tackle the topic as intended, and were more than woolly with our citations. And wow! Look what you made us do.

This year myself and Alan returned with an actual powerpoint presentation on the fascinating topic of manipulation, with a lens particularly focused on how you might use this information during games with elements of persuasion. It’s meaty, it’s interesting, it’s surprisingly fun. If you want the slides for this lecture-in-sheep’s-clothing, you can find them here.

We hope you enjoy it – have a great weekend!

More Fun Stuff for SHUX 2019 announced!

Quinns: Have you got your ticket for SHUX 2019 yet? Because the big show is just six weeks away, and our team is up to our elbows in SHUX prep, stuffing it full of games, shows and special features.

Matt’s packed our very best announcements into the above 2 minute video, but here are some high points…

  • Pandemic designer Matt Leacock and Gloomhaven designer Isaac Childres are going to be on our stage, talking about their games!
  • I’ve signed up to do a terrifying, high-octane stage show compressing the history of board games in 60 minutes!
  • You’ll be able to play one of the intense social games from hit Korean show The Genius!
  • Our free library now has in excess of 1,000 games!
  • You get a free game and a limited-edition pin upon arrival!
  • Kids under 10 get in free!
  • Fully wheelchair accessible!
  • Exclamation marks!!!

My anticipation for SHUX ’19 is reaching boiling point. How much more excited can a man get? I intend to find out.

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Behind the Scenes at SHUX, by No Pun Included!

Quinns: Here’s a fun little extra for you folks! The 2019 SU&SD Convention is just around the corner, but did you know that last year, fabulous board game review show No Pun Included came to SHUX and filmed a whole lot of it? Today, we’re thrilled to present their behind the scenes look at our con.

That also means that this is a No Pun Included video that we’re hosting on our channel. I know! We’re crossing the streams! Will anything be the same again?! It probably will, yes.

If you haven’t watched NPI recently, they’ve been on an absolute tear. Be sure to check out their review of the be-hyped Pax Pamir 2nd Edition, heavyweight roll’n’write Welcome to Dino World, or their favourite game of 2018, Now Boarding. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again- Efka and Elaine are treasures.

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Announcing our Summer Donation Drive!

Quinns: Hello, everybody. It’s that time again!

Twice a year, our team here at Shut Up & Sit Down requests donations for all of the heartfelt stuff that we’ve made over the last six months. You can donate using this very link.

We don’t like to bother our audience about it, but the fact is, Shut Up & Sit Down runs almost entirely on donations. It sounds improbable, but it does work. If you’ve not gotten involved yet, and you can afford it, perhaps this could be the Summer that you make a pledge?

If you’ve supported us at some point over the last eight years(!), I can’t tell you what a difference it’s made to us. This is the best job that any of us have ever made, and we hope that we’ve shown our dedication to paying it forward.

Have a great weekend, everybody. And thank you.

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Announcing the second SU&SD Monikers Kickstarter!

June 11, 2019
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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!

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

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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Quinns Walks You Through His Game Collection!

In 2015, we posted our Top 50 Games Ever. In 2017, we lost our minds examining every game in the Board Game Geek Top 100.

This year, we’re doing something a little more personal: A series of videos on the team’s board game collections, starting with Quinns. After working on SU&SD for seven years, games slipping between his fingers like grains of sand, these are the 136 (plus) games that he’s chosen to keep (and a few that are in his flat despite his best efforts).

Enjoy, everybody!

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15 Great Games to Fill Your Table This Christmas

What are the very best card and board games to play with coworkers and family this holiday? Games that are actually FUN – that you could bring to a party as a great gift for cheap, or tuck in the stocking for Christmas Eve?

Quinns will be writing a piece next week about games more suited to those who already love the hobby, but as part of our ongoing mission to convince the world that board games are great, we wanted to put together an easy resource for the question we seem to get almost all the time: “What game should I buy to play with my family?”

If you’ve been linked to this by someone else who loves board games, hello! We’ve put this list together as both a video and a written list. Enjoy!

Matt: Greetings Holiday Humans, it’s time to mildly panic as you realise that family will soon descend upon you like a flock of seagulls to a discarded ice-cream. Rather than trying to explain your job to relatives to the point that you might have a mental breakdown, we’d recommend playing board games instead.

These are the 15 best big-family games: all play with at least 6 people, and most can handle 8. In no particular order, let’s go!

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Quinns Talks to Schoolkids About Being a YouTuber!

Quinns: Paul and I are working on yet another B I G  V I D E O for this Friday, but today we’ve got a little video featuring some very little people.

Recently I was invited by SU&SD fan Annie Langley to give a presentation to her school kids aged 10-11 about being a YouTuber, since it’s the job that most kids dream about. With a lot of help from my wife (who I can’t thank enough for telling me to remove all the bar charts from my talk), I put together this 20 minute rundown of what my work is actually like.

I know that a lot of SU&SD fans are parents, so I thought I’d chuck the talk online in case it’s of interest. Honestly, I worry that very few YouTubers or Streamers talk about the technical or psychological stresses of this job, and I feel like the world would be a healthier place if there was a bit more of a conversation around it.

Timestamps…

00:00 – Intro about my job and board games

06:49 – Me talking about the mental health problems with producing content (without using those exact words)

12:46 – Me talking about the technical bit of the job: scripting, lighting, microphones and editing

18:21 – Me telling kids to go and make things, but do so safely. Also, a poorly-chosen Hunger Games analogy

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Oh baby: SHUX ’18 tickets are now on sale!

April 3, 2018
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Quinns: Oh my goodness, here we go! Tickets are now on sale for SHUX 2018, Shut Up & Sit Down’s second annual convention in October this year.

Would you like to meet team SU&SD at a fabulous, warm, profoundly silly three day gaming party? Well, now you can! Last year tickets sold out in just over a week, so this year we’re moving to a substantially bigger venue that can contain even more SU&SD fans. Still, we’d recommend you book early to avoid disappointment.

For an idea of what there is to do at SHUX, you can either watch the above video or click on that link. But most importantly, if you’ve never been to a board game convention before, that’s perfect. SHUX will be designed with you foremost in mind.

As a glimpse of the madness of last year’s SHUX, below we’ve uploaded this late-nite Q&A with myself, Paul, Matt and RPG reviewer Cynthia Hornbeck. I’m not sure I’ve laughed that hard since!

Gosh, watching that video makes me so happy.

For more information, check out the SHUX 18 site. Any further questions? Email [email protected]. Would you like to join our fabulous team of con volunteers? Amazing! Email [email protected] with a couple of hundred words of why you’d make a great volunteer.

Finally, do you represent a business who’d like to inquire about sponsorship or getting a booth in front of 2,000 SU&SD fans? That’s [email protected].

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