Podcast #179 - Small Game City

2022-04-29T15:07:18Z

In this meagre episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down podcast, Tom and Matt are talking about three whole boxes with games inside of them!! First up is MAGIC BINGO, also known as Via Magica - a game of wizards and crystals that your (imaginary) family might enjoy. We then talk about the disastrous urban planning of Next Station: London, before getting thoroughly confused by Cryptid: Urban Legends.

Finally, we take a trip to the forbidden zone to chat about Square Valley - a delightful little mobile game that is… ‘Quite Boardgames’.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Timestamps:

02:46 - Via Magica

11:52 - Next Station: London

22:34 - Cryptid: Urban Legends

33:39 - Square Valley

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I played Via Magica in its previous iteration (Rise of) Augustus, and I’ve played this new version a few times on BGA. I’ll readily grant that (Ro)A doen’t have a whole lot to do with Rome, but I still find the theme more interesting than VM’s generic magic. Interesting that this is done by Tom and Matt, rather than Quinns, who might have drawn a connection to his review of Augustus from 2013. I realise that that’s no longer available new, but it’s floating around second-hand at least on eBay UK and the BGG GeekMarket. And perhaps I care more about retaining the history of this hobby, about comparing the new thing with the older thing rather than evaluating it in a vacuum, than other people do.

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I was also very surprised that no connection was made at all to Quinns and Paul’s review of Augustus. Especially considering they came to some vastly different conclusions. I’d have liked to have had some sort of insight as to whether that was due to different tastes at different times or if it was down to actual differences between the two games.

My feeling was they didn’t even realise they were playing a new version of an old game reviewed by the show.

I think the only difference is the majority in wheat and gold scoring is missing (and the Roman theme) so on a gameplay level the core is the same in the sense that 90 percent of the fun is retained. I quite liked the majority scoring element.

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