Review: Crokinole

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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SU&SD Play… Space Alert!

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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Announcing the second SU&SD Monikers Kickstarter!

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!

Review – Batman: Gotham City Chronicles

It’s time for the second review of Chronicles month, and oh boy, have we got a chronicle for you.

With a price point of $130, Batman: Gotham City Chronicles is the second most expensive game we’ve ever reviewed. If there’s a bat-thing you love, you’re bound to find it sequestered in one (one!) of this game’s many, many boxes.

But could some boxes of fictitious bats ever be worth that much money? Click play, let us tell you what we think.

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Review: Chronicles of Crime & the Noir Expansion

Oh boy, have we got an exciting announcement! Today marks the start of Chronicles Month on Shut Up & Sit Down, where we’ll be celebrating all things chronicled (as well as the general art of chronicling).

To kick off proceedings, we’re reviewing Chronicles of Crime together with the brand-new Noir expansion. Is it a better crime-busting game than Consulting Detective? Or a better disposable game than Unlock? Did Matt write this whole review just to play with noir grading? Click play, and follow the money.

Have a lovely weekend, everybody.

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SU&SD Play… Fireball Island!

We’re back with another gem from our Twitch channel! This week we want to show you have to have responsible fun with Restoration Games’ Fireball Island.

Warning: This game contains choking hazards, fireballs, bees, snakes, rockfalls and a vengeful god. Do not operate while under the influence. Or was that “Only operate while under the influence”? We can’t remember.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

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Review: Gùgōng

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

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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SU&SD Play… Chinatown!

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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