Shut Up & Sit Down

The stakes have never been higher! In this, the one and only 56th episode of the SU&SD podcast, renowned street warriors Matt, Paul and Quinns take a break from their usual areas of discussion (inner-city brawls, knife fights, how to stare down a local tough from sixty yards) to chat about board games, of all things!

Quinns has played new Days of Wonder beautypiece Yamatai, the group chat some more about the excellent Flamme Rouge, and inspired by Paul's Mythos Tales review there's a discussion on the future of mystery-solving games. We also answer the question on everyone's lips: Is Lego crap? Finally, we answer a reader mail about how to get the most out of a convention. Basically just make sure you have a friend to drag you out of the fight if you get knocked unconscious.

In other words, we're going mad. How many more episodes of this can we possibly do?

The answer: AS MANY AS IT TAKES.

Yamatai, flamme rouge, Mythos Tales, Lego

You guys love podcasts! We literally know how to do them! With episode #55 of the SU&SD podcast we're committing to getting these bad babies out twice a month. If you like what you hear please do share it among your friends!

So what's in this one? Ooh, only Quinns discussing the electrifying yet accessible escape rooms of Unlock! (which has a free demo available online), the insanity of Magic Maze (which also has a free print-n-play version) and the challenging slumbers of When I Dream, while Paul outlines his pathetic enjoyment of Kingdomino and his struggling TV station in The Networks.

We close with Quinns talking about Snakes & Ladders after discovering an astonishing article on its history, and finish with a Christian folk game that leaves the pair even more speechless than usual. Let's just say that teenagers should never be given power, but especially not iron age judicial power. Enjoy, everybody!

Kingdomino, The Networks, Unlock!, Magic Maze, When I Dream

In this temporarily-educated instalment of the SU&SD podcast, Matt, Pip and Paul gathered at a hotel during the 2017 Game Developer's Conference. Their mission? To discuss the hot questions of the day.

Should liches be banned? Are humans secretly terrible at games? Why can't I have my raven back? When is an asteroid frustrating? Should SU&SD be on Pinterest? And most importantly, why do the world's best board game designers think the future is great for players?

We also reach into the mailbag to answer a question on trivia games, and discuss some deeply unprofessional games that are played by actors, on stage.

Commenters, what do you think? Should trivia games continue their slow death, or should we be huffing and puffing into their lungs like someone who kind of remembers CPR (but not really)?

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition), Dungeons & Dragons, Trivial Pursuit, butt tag

Like the plot of every time-travel movie ever, Matt and Quinns have officially gone too far into the past and may never be the same again.

In this unusually raunchy edition of the acclaimed SU&SD podcast the pair discuss/complain about some titans of the 80's and 90's- Space Hulk, Blood Bowl and Magic: The Gathering. Meanwhile, Paul offers much more sedate comments on Scythe and Santorini.

Finally, the group discuss some folk games sent in by an anthropologist... which are played by monkeys. Join us for the critical analysis of Magic, but stick around for our description "Hair In Mouth Game".

Have you played any games from your childhood recently? And were they rubbish?

Scythe, Santorini, Magic: The Gathering, Blood Bowl, Space Hulk

Get your pod-plates ready! We're serving up another steaming hot pot of chat.

Matt, Paul and Quinns discuss deck-building burgle box that is Clank!, they return once again to the irritatingly more-ish Black Stories, Quinns chats a bit about Deception: Murder in Hong Kong and they discuss the standalone expansion for Welcome to the Dungeon.

We hope you left room for seconds, because there's also a reader mail that asks what games Matt and Quinns organised at their respective weddings last year, and we unseal the Pandora's Box of folk games played by school teachers. Maybe don't eat that last bit, it's profoundly poisonous.

Clank!, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, Welcome to the Dungeon, Black Stories

We don't want to tell you how to live your life but you might want to put on a tie or a string of pearls or BOTH before listening to this very classy podcast.

The results of the inaugural Pearple's Choice Awards are in and noteworthy hosts Paul Dean and Quintin Smith discuss the games that won Best Expansion of 2016, Best Reprint and (of course) Best Game. They chat about some old classics they've played over the festive season, like City of Remnants and Galaxy Trucker. Finally, they want to tell you about a folk game that's come all the way from Peru.

2016 has been a spectacular year for board games and once again, next year looks even more exciting. This can't be sustainable. Or can it?

Galaxy Trucker, Galaxy Trucker: Anniversary Edition, City of Remnants, Ra, Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space, Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan, Evolution, Colt Express, Colt Express: Horses & Stagecoach, Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition), Inis, Captain Sonar, Scythe

Hold onto your listicles, Paul and Quinns are celebrating the 50th ever Shut Up & Sit Down podcast (by recording a podcast (they are unimaginative)) and we want you to join us!

In this tawdry tornado of numerology the site's aged founders discuss Spyfall 2, Tyrants of the Underdark and the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game (which has numbers in it) before dropping their respective top 5 board games of 2016. We'll warn you now, make sure you're sitting down when you hear Quinns' number one.

If anyone can't bear the wait until podcast #51, here are the winners of the Pearple's Choice Awards.

Enjoy, everybody!

Spyfall, Spyfall 2, tyrants of the underdark, Final Fantasy Trading Card Game, Inis, Mechs Vs. Minions, Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Captain Sonar, Go Cuckoo, Junk Art, Conan, Food Chain Magnate, A Feast for Odin

In what's surely our most mathematically pleasing podcast ever, today Paul and Quinns discuss 6 games (2 of which they'd recommend) before answering 4 emails and examining 2 folk games. What's next in this sequence? Why, your enjoyment of course!

Games discussed in this cast include the bucolic visions of Dream Home and Cottage Garden. We've got two spritely deck-building games, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle and Aeon's End. We've also got two interesting spins on existing classics, 4 Gods being a wild interpretation of Carcassonne, and Mythos Tales as a Lovecraftian sequel to Consulting Detective.

Enjoy, everybody. And credit to Peter Dringautzki for the podcast image, with his beautiful photo of Cottage Garden!

Dream Home, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, Cottage Garden, Aeon’s End, Mythos Tales, 4 Gods

Like a domestic Sisyphus, Paul and Quinns continue on their quest to play all of the things! Quick, listen to this podcast before their boulder of relevancy rolls back down the side of Mount Internet.

This month games discussed include Pax Pamir! Conan! Game of Thrones: Hand of the King! A Touch of Evil! And litttle Schotten Totten! Of course we've got our usual special features in the form of listener mail and the Folk Game of the Month, but there's even more besides. Always keen to go the extra mile for the podcast, Quinns visited a real-life Crystal Maze and Paul had sex with a beast.

What new game have you been enjoying recently? It doesn't have to be a new release, just new to you. Let us know!

The Beast, Conan, A Game of Thrones: Hand of the King, Pax Pamir, Schotten Totten, A Touch of Evil: The Supernatural Game

Like a Jaguar (the car) or a jaguar (the cat), our 47th ever podcast is an absolute classic.

Paul and Quinns discuss board games ranging from Vast: The Crystal Caverns, to Twilight Struggle, to Aquarium and The Dragon & Flagon. They answer reader mails! They review three idiotic folk games. They discuss their love of vegetables and their problems with jam. It's everything you want in a single, mid-sized audio file.

Do you agree with Paul and Quinns on these folk games? Do you own a real-life Aquarium? Have you eaten World War 2 jam? Let us know in the comments!

Vast: The Crystal Caverns, Twilight Struggle, Aquarium, crossing, The Dragon & Flagon

Oh dear! After a metaphorical explosion of our recording equipment at Gen Con '16, this is all we could salvage from our two live shows. Please don your protective masks and take turns passing the blasted husk around.

The first 30 minutes of this ash-smelling podcast feature Paul, Quinns and our miniatures columnist Eric Tonjes discussing some highlights from the show, including the Runewars Miniatures Game, Pandemic: Reign of Cthulu, Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Conan and the real-time tile laying game of 4 Gods. Exciting, right? Not as exciting as the second half, friends! Paul and Quinns were able to snag an interview with a little designer by the name of Vlaada Chvátil.

But this doesn't have to be a disaster-cast. Did you go to Gen Con, or have some otherwise transcendant board gaming in the last few weeks? Why not leave us a comment telling us all about it!

Runewars: The Miniatures Game, Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Conan, Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu, Codenames, 4 Gods

Oh god, it's too much. Asmodee has announced a new edition of Citadels - the first game SU&SD ever reviewed - and Quinns has a hangover that's lasted all day. Is our end near?!

Not yet, it's not. In this episode Quinns proves he's young by playing the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Happy Pigs and Via Nebula, while Paul proves he's not by playing Meuterer, Mission: Red Planet and the profoundly apt Great Dinosaur Rush. We receive correspondence from our Antarctic SU&SD fan, and end with an interview with a proper board game veteran: Dr. Reiner Knizia. Also there is this vine of a man eating a banana.

Thanks to BGG user Hexanauta for our podcast image of Via Nebula!

Pokémon Trading Card Game, Happy Pigs, Via Nebula, Meuterer, Mission: Red Planet, The Great Dinosaur Rush

Hot diggity and a lack of dignity! It's the second podcast we recorded live at the 2016 UK Games Expo. This time we offer definitive feels on Spiel des Jahres-nominated games Karuba and Imhotep, as well as chatting about Beyond Baker Street, Yeti, Coup: Rebellion G54 and a game jam winner called Lantern. We also ask an important question: Have you started building your mausoleum?

Beyond Baker Street, Karuba, Imhotep, Coup: Rebellion G54, Yeti, Lantern

Long and spicy like a hot dog, the 43rd EVER SU&SD podcast is HERE! Quickly, consume the whole thing before it starts disintegrating and leaking board game mustard into your lap.

In this cast Matt, Paul, Pip and Quinns met up with 300 fans in a sweaty room at the UK Games Expo to discuss what they'd been playing. That meant The Ravens of Thri Sahashri, Ice Cool, Treasure Hunter, the Horses & Stagecoach expansion for Colt Express, Codenames: Pictures, Czech Games' new game Adrenaline and more besides! Finally, we end with an electrifying game of Question Wood Toy Folds High. Can Matt fix his losing streak?

If you'd prefer to watch this podcast as a video (and to be fair, the bit where the audience boos Quinns is priceless), you can do so right here. But the comments are separate on each post, so CHOOSE WISELY. Are you team podcast, or team video?

The Ravens of Thri Sahashri, Ice Cool, Treasure Hunter, Deep Sea Adventure, Colt Express, Codenames: Pictures, Adrenaline

Strap on your jackboots! It's time for a veritable military parade of a podcast, impressive and pacy but nonetheless going on for slightly too long.

Games covered include A Feast to Die For, Quadropolis, Fairy Tale, Pandemic: Contagion and Dear Leader, as well as the long-awaited second half of our spoiler-filled Pandemic Legacy chat! Don't worry about that particular minefield. It's very clearly signposted at the end of the podcast. Following a startlingly unprofessional link from Paul, we eventually manage to produce a folk game and some fan mail, too.

Enjoy, everybody!

(This podcast image comes courtesy of BGG user Punkin312!)

Quadropolis, Fairytale, Pandemic: Contagion, Dear Leader, Pandemic Legacy

Psst! Down here! Climb into this cramped cave of chat with us. There's room for one more person.

In what could well be our most feature-filled podcast ever, Matt, Paul and Quinns discuss Torchbearer, Merchant of Venus, Dragon Farkle, The Red Dragon Inn and the concept of playing board games in virtual reality, before getting down to (yet another) peculiarly erotic folk game.

But wait! There's more! Quinns snagged video game designer Soren Johnson of Offworld Trading Company to discuss civilisation-building and trading board games. Enjoy, everybody.

Torchbearer, Merchant of Venus (2nd Edition), Drinking at the Red Dragon Inn, Dragon Farkle

Matt, Paul and Quinns have met once again to create a board gaming Voltron! Albeit one with three hearts and no brain.

Games discussed in this prestigious 40th episode include And Then We Held Hands, Ra,Through the Ages, FUSE and A Fake Artist Goes to New York. If you're looking for the Tuesday Knight Games podcast featuring Matt, you'll find it right here.

We also chat about board game boxes and sustainability and end with a lovely interview with Plaid Hat's lead designer and lead art director Isaac Vega, who wants to tell us all about the new standalone expansion for Dead of Winter: The Long Night. In case you missed our review of Dead of Winter, you'll find that here!

…and then we held hands., Ra, Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization, FUSE, A Fake Artist Goes to New York, Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game

Paul, Matt and guest star Jonathan Ying come to us LIVE from GDC 2016 discuss the hottest new board games! And by "hottest" we mean "weirdest" (and by "new" we mean "old").

Designer Tim Fowers stopped by our lounge to demo his games to us, the sneaktacular co-op Burgle Bros and deck-building word-builder Paperback. Fantasy Flight designer and friend of the show Mr. Ying showed us Brawl, a real-time card game that just this month enjoyed a reprint. There's also Dancing Eggs, which we inflicted on GDC like a horrible rubber virus.

Burgle Bros., Paperback, Brawl, Dancing Eggs

Welcome back to the podcastle! Not to be outdone after listener Alex Cannon contributed a jingle for last episode, Matt's made yet another jingle. Ready your body! Lube up your ears. It's got a harmony. You've been warned.

As for games, we chat about Liar’s Dice, Arboretum, the new editions of Archaeology, and Elevenses: The Card Game of Morning Tea AND new releases 504 and Power Grid: The Stock Companies. Plus our folk game of the month, of course. It's not just Friedemann Friese who can pack a whole lot of nonsense into a small package.

Liar’s Dice, Arboretum, Archaeology: The New Expedition, Elevenses, 504, Power Grid: The Stock Companies, Power Grid

Matt, Quinns and Paul return for 2016! New games discussed include Billionaire Banshee, Flick 'em Up and Marrying Mr. Darcy. Old games discussed include Tikal andPictomania. Million year-old games discussed include The Fun Stick Game.

Most importantly of all, our jingle roster has grown! Huge thanks to SU&SD fan Alex Cannon for sending in a folksy sting for Folk Game of the Month.

Perhaps we should make a quick round of Billionaire Banshee a regular feature too... ?

Billionaire Banshee, Flick ’em Up!, Marrying Mr. Darcy, Tikal, Pictomania

Hey kids! It's the SU&SD podcast, the perfect background noise when polishing, sharpening or simply admiring a knife.

Paul's back from BoardGameGeek Con with stories to tell! Quinns joins him for a discussion of the pleasing heft of The Gallerist, the 2nd edition of Stronghold, the mixed-up genres of Above and Below, and the gentle joy of Porta Nigra. There's also Walk the Dogs, which sounds rubbish.

Finally, the two discuss an email they received all about classic knife games. Is there anything cooler than a knife trick? You decide!

This podcast brought to you by the United Kingdom Knife Lobby.

The Gallerist, Stronghold, Above and Below, Porta Nigra, Walk the Dogs

Oh god. Sit down. The new podcast is out, and we've peaked. We'll never have a lineup like this again.

Last week we enjoyed exclusive access to scalding-hot 2016 Fantasy Flight epic Star Wars: Rebellion, and on this podcast we want to tell you all about the fun we had with it. But that's not all! We also discuss our time with the wonderful new edition of Fury of Dracula, return to Star Wars: Armada and Quinns has sat down with Jeff Cannata of the DLC Podcast for a (well signposted) spoiler-ridden chat about Pandemic Legacy.

That's more amazing board games than is wholly decent. But you deserve it.

Star Wars: Rebellion, Fury of Dracula (Third Edition), Star Wars: Armada, Pandemic Legacy

In what could be our most exciting reader mail ever, Quinns has helped a marine biologist pick some board games to take to the above Antarctic research station for 18 months. Tune in next year to hear how those games fared against penguins, boredom and the deadliest winters on planet Earth.

But that's not all! Join Paul and Quinns as they walk the tightrope of talking about Pandemic Legacy without spoiling a darn thing. Listen as they discuss other Game of the Year candidates Codenames and Mysterium. Laugh as they chat about the most dangerous games they played as kids, and moan with delight as they describe yet another perversely erotic folk game.

Pandemic Legacy, Codenames, Mysterium

Market research tells us that the median SU&SD reader is, at a given moment, most likely to be thatching their mead hall. How boring! You'd best pop our 33rd ever podcast on in the background.

Matt and Quinns are desperate to talk about their crippling Infinity habit, while Paul's been playing the beloved game of Battlecon. We've got a quick interview with Fantasy Flight CEO Christian Petersen where he answers such lovely questions as "What happens to board games that don't sell" and "What is the most stressful thing about your job". And we receive an email from Brooklyn-based SU&SD fan Nate Kushner titled The Sad Room.

The fun never stops! The thatching shouldn't either, though. Chop chop.

Infinity, BattleCON

My god! 32 podcasts in and we're finally approaching "professional".

Paul, Matt and Quinns discuss the bold new Game of Thrones card game and think back on classic lie-athon Battlestar Galactica, before clearing the floor for an interview with veteran designer Eric Lang (Quarriors, XCOM: The Board Game, Chaos in the Old World). We close with a quick trip to the SU&SD mailbag and an impromptu game show(!).

We've done it, ladies and gents. It's all downhill from here.

A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, Battlestar Galactica, Quarriors!, XCOM: The Board Game, Chaos in the Old World

(This podcast is also available as a video.)

Last year team SU&SD hustled 300 people into a dingy Gen Con annex to record a live podcast. It was incredible. So this year we did it again!

After a shaky start where Matt, Quinns and Pip realise their audience is only there to hear about their hotel, the board game chat begins in earnest. We discuss the croquet mallets of T.I.M.E. Stories, the wandering chicken nuggets of Evolution and waste disposal in The Bloody Inn. Then it's time for QUESTION STACK 'N FALL! Which is different from Question Jenga by about £8.

T.I.M.E Stories, Evolution, The Bloody Inn

You ever eat Nerd Rope? Just an endlessly long, glutinous tongue, speckled with sour little gobbets?

That's basically the 30th ever SU&SD podcast. On this lengthy journey of no less than one hour and one minute, we discuss the absence of bitterness in the magnificent Forbidden Stars. We chat about the sheer joy of Funemployed (alas, we're still waiting on the European release), and the sweet coloured pebbles of Trajan. The Saturday morning cartoon-looking reimagining of Catacombs has reached us, too, complete with a wooden jelly cube! And of course, Spyfall snuck into the mix.

WARNING: Your RDA of SU&SD podcasts is 0.2 a day.

Forbidden Stars, Funemployed, Trajan, Catacombs, Spyfall

Now Quinns is back from the UK Games Expo, we slid a microphone under the door of the con-tamination chamber to record a new podcast!

Paul's got questions about the sublime Welcome to the Dungeon, the prototype of Vlaada's Codenames and Quinns' performance at the UK Netrunner Nationals. But that's not all! Quinns is starved for company and wants to know about the games Paul's been playing: For the Crown and 7 Ronin, which both sound great. There's also some discussion of Knightmare Chess, mostly along the lines of "Why haven't we reviewed it yet?"

For curious international listeners, here's a clip of the UK's Knightmare game show. Enjoy that one.

Now if you'll excuse us, we're off to burn the mic.

Welcome to the Dungeon, Codenames, Android: Netrunner, For the Crown, 7 Ronin, Knightmare Chess

Sometimes Team SU&SD can be compared to a marching band, except instead of playing musical instruments we make awful mistakes, and instead of moving forward we stay in the same place forever.

Not today, though! Today, in podcast #28, we prove our competence. Paul discusses overcoming Panamax's awful manual to discover the fabulous game within, while Matt and Quinns discuss the great time they had leading civilizations in both Nations and Imperial Settlers. Finally, we discuss Paul's new, potent sex power in the game of Apocalypse World.

Don't worry. This can't last... can it?

Panamax, Nations, Imperial Settlers, Apocalypse World

STOP! This is the police. You're under arrest for being in possession of 27th Shut up & Sit Down podcast. I'm afraid it's very illegal indeed.

First there was that scaremongering at the beginning about ghosts in Mysterium. Then they openly discussed how they were underqualified for their work as politicians in the recent Megagame, detectives in Consulting Detective and alchemists in Alchemists.

Then there was Quinns' segment on the most morally questionable games in all of the board game geek database, and they finished the whole affair with a folk game about pre-teen nudity!

Oi! Come back! Don't make me run!

Mysterium, Megagame, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, Alchemists

Matt, Quinns and Paul re-unite in a stuffy room to discuss all the marvelous games they've seen on their travels around North America, the forgotten continent.

We get off to a civilized start with Bring Your Own Book and the delicate negotiation of Dragon's Gold, followed by total regression into childhood and the beautiful miniatures and deadly turbolasers of Imperial Assault.

Finally, Matt's heard rumours of a folk game that's all about ruining things. But that's all they are... rumours...

Bring Your Own Book, Dragon’s Gold, Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Paul: Here's the story of how I bunked off school to play a board game and how that board game changed my life.

Saying that immediately makes me excited to tell it.

First things first, huge thanks to Vitaliy Zavadskyy for gifting our podcast with some magical intro and outro themes. The UK finally has a second radio show to be proud of after the BBC World Service.

In this episode Paul's been hard at work testing Spyfall, Panamax and The Witcher Adventure Game as well as continuing to plumb the depths of the new edition of D&D.

Meanwhile, Matt and Quinns do their best to get in his way. Quinns wants everybody to play his new on-air banana game and Matt needs to talk about corpses, churches and bushes.

This episode's folk game is Pretty Darn Quick.

Spyfall, Panamax, The Witcher Adventure Game, Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Oho! What's this? Board gaming's most excitable hour of chatter is back, as Matt and Quinns discuss everything they played and saw over the New Year, including a visit to London's first board game cafe. After that, this one's all about crap houses.

The boys discuss the terrible property investments they made in Last Will and the Getting Sacked expansion, Matt makes fun of Quintin's horrible estate in
Castles of Mad King Ludwig, before finally the boys discuss how being tall makes it harder to build pagodas in Pagoda.

Finally the boys talk about Dead Body, a game sent in by reader Joe Faustine that would work best in a real-life spooky house.

Last Will, Last Will: Getting Sacked, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Pagoda, Dead Body

Quinns spent his youth as a "Keeper of Drinking Games". Whenever him and his friends were boozing as kids, in those empty kitchens or under trees, he'd lay the games out. He wants to share a few with the world now, before he dies.

A written transcript is available here, and Brendan's essay on craic is here.

For our 23rd podcast Paul and Quinns discuss board games past, present and future.

That sounds more hifalutin than it probably is. We begin by discussing the consenting tentacle sex of Consentacle, and how our next live podcast will be an excuse to review Cat on Yer Head. We fret about Prophecy, chat about Tammany Hall, ponder Istanbul and gossip about Warhammer 40,000: Conquest, a game of war, war and more war. And don't forget Shadows in the Woods! It almost slipped us by.

Post-podcast we played Iron & Ale, by the way, and had a fantastic time. There are just 6 days left on that Kickstarter, so look sharp!

Consentacle, Cat On Yer Head, Prophecy, Tammany Hall, Istanbul, Warhammer 40000: Conquest, Shadows in the Woods, Iron & Ale

Last month Grant Howitt Kickstarted a silly RPG called Goblin Quest. A game where players take the role of a steady stream of goblins trying to compete banal tasks, but mostly just dying along the way.

This week Grant sent us a preview of one of the variants in the back of the book, titled "Sean Bean Quest". The less you know about this the better. Just hit play and enjoy Matt, Paul and Quinns approaching never-before-seen levels of silliness.

Halloween is upon us! That wonderful time of the year where bumps are forcibly inserted into the night, and we can bookend our podcast with creaky door sound effects.

In this horrifying installment we discuss the gore-flecked teenagers of Zombie 15', the forbidden pouches of Sheriff of Nottingham, the... uh... terrifying suburbs and sidewalks of Subdivision, before finally giving up and chatting about the new edition of D&D, indie RPG Dog Eat Dog and Paul's trip to FiraxiCon.

Listen... IF YOU DARE.

Zombie 15′, Sheriff of Nottingham, Subdivision, Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition), Dog Eat Dog

Our very 21st podcast is a magical journey into the realm of card games. We start in our Lifeboat, fall into Bruno Cathala's undersea Abyss, and wash up in the exotic Eastern home of Samurai Spirit, Panda Poker and Seiji Kanai's Say Bye to the Villains.

Matt, Quinns and Paul have played all of these games, but that's not the best part. It turns out we can't agree about a single one of them.

Abyss, Samurai Spirit, Lifeboat, Say Bye to the Villains, Pandánte

At Gen Con 2014 we hosted a special, live podcast for 300 of our closest fans. It was unbelievable. If you were there, thank you.

If you weren't there, contained within is us yammering about the new XCOM board game, Ca$h 'n Guns and one huge game of Two Rooms and a Boom, before running two games of our own! True (or False) Dungeon and Question Jenga. It's more madness than you can shake a sedative at.

Yes, we're still playing the Star Wars: Edge of Empire roleplaying game! No, our intrepid gang of sob stories and space-wastrels hasn't been arrested yet.

In session #3 the gang stretch their luck to the very limits by attempting a heist at the height of a terrible electric storm. And... oh, no. Are they really pretending to be musicians as a cover story? With no knowledge of music, and no musical paraphernalia at all?

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, Role-Playing Games

For the month of June 2014, Leigh played a deadly femme fatale in a month long watergun assassination game. This is her story of stalking her prey, shivering in bushes and battling the most dangerous enemy of all. GUILT.

A companion podcast where Leigh, Paul and Quinns review the game itself is just over here, and a written transcript is available here.

In June, Paul, Leigh and Quinns took part in a month-long, city-wide, entirely ludicrous watergun assassination game. In podcast #19 they cast off their disguises, holster their leaky weapons and assemble for the official SU&SD review.

A downloadable .pdf of Killer by Steve Jackson is available right here, the official Streetwars site is here and Leigh's AMAZING story of her time as a murderess is just over here.

It's part 2 of our entirely amazing Star Wars adventures! In this session our team of heroes arrive at a space station, kill an orc (kind of), succeed at crime (mostly) and (almost) begin working as a team. I'm calling it now. There is no way this ends well.

If you missed part 1 we should stress that we haven't retreated into a child-like fantasy world and are in fact playing the new Star Wars RPG. Newcomers will definitely want to check out part 1 where our story begins.

The dramatic caper of the Crap Plastic Artifact will conclude next week!

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, Role-Playing Games

Podcast #18, "The Turbocast", has been sighted in the Earth's atmosphere!

Not to be confused with podcast #17, the Megacast, the Turbocast sees Team SU&SD compressing 60 minutes of board game chatter into a super-dense 30 minutes. We recommended you pop your ears before listening so the change in pressure doesn't cause your head to collapse like an egg.

The games that underwent this revolutionary treatment were Trains and Stations, Lords of Vegas, Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective and Valley of the Kings. Finally, we provide the world's fastest, worst and most decisive Agony Aunt service. Enjoy, everybody!

Trains and Stations, Lords of Vegas, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, Valley of the Kings

Have you ever considered the humble scratchcard? Brendan would like you to. There's a ceremony involved, you see. Like a papery King Canute, you must take joy in coaxing a tide of wealth forward, and agonise in watching it retreat. Within the scratchcard, perhaps, is all of life.

A written transcript is available here.

And now for something a little different.

We want to provide an exhaustive review of the new Star Wars: Edge of Empire Roleplaying Game, which means we're going to have to spend lots of evenings being crap in space. So why not let you guys in on it? Presenting... SU&SD's Amazing Star Wars Adventures!

Starring Leigh Alexander as Beetle, wannabe bounty hunter! Quinns as ZB-33, her jury-rigged protocol droid! And Matt Lees as Fuse, a grumpy fish with lots of bombs. Our first session was mostly character creation and puzzling over rules so we're calling this instalment a "prologue", but it features a very dramatic moment where we successfully open a door. Enjoy, everybody!

Hopefully by now you've all enjoyed the majestic clusterbump that is our video report of Watch the Skies. This was a "Megagame" that featured dozens of players posing as world leaders, scientists and dastardly aliens, in something like a model U.N. turned up to 11 until the tables start exploding.

While videos of Matt accidentally declaring war on outer space are all well and good, we also promised a podcast where we'd discuss the design of the thing. And here it is! More than an hour of anecdotes, observations and creative disagreements, and one enormous shout out to Anne, who kept the nation of Japan supplied with tea and sandwiches for fifteen years, which is quite a feat. Enjoy, everybody!

Fwssh-pop! A new Shut Up & Sit Down podcast has dropped out of hyperspace, its hull slick with enthusiasm, and its bulbous cargo bays heaving with games. In this episode Paul and Quinns are joined by Mike, Reference Pear's personal assistant, to discuss the ludicrous architecture of Ugg-Tect, shapely card game Pairs, the somewhat astonishing Monikers, as well as a sneak preview of this week's Lewis & Clark review.

From there, the podcast slingshots along the Kessel run to arrive at a lengthy discussion of Fantasy Flight's new Star Wars RPG, answers a few of your questions, and leaves as quickly as it came, accompanied by the musical stylings of Mr. Jesse James.

But your memories... they'll last a lifetime. They'll also need to be disinfected, so please mail them to us in a self-addressed envelope.

Ugg-Tect, Pairs, Monikers, Lewis & Clark, Star Wars: Edge of the Empire