2022-11-18T17:49:51Z
In this 200th episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, the team sit down for a frankly unwieldy chat about the top 10 games we collectively reckon you should play.
I'll let the episode speak for itself here - nearly two hours of absolute nonsense from all four of us. Thank you so much for listening to 200 episodes, here's to 200 more! x
Have a great weekend, everybody!
The final list:
I’ve played all of the top 5, and only A Feast for Odin in the bottom 5.
Pandemic Legacy S1 is a must-play in my opinion and well deserves the top spot. The Mind we always found pretty boring. I’m not really a dudes-on-a-map game (I’m aware that’s reductive in this case) so Twilight Imperium just didn’t land for me. Crokinole was fun the time I played it at PAX Unplugged. Bohnanza is one of my favorites and I don’t think I’ve ever had anything less than an amazing time all of the many plays of it I’ve done. AFfO is also popular at my house although obviously in much different circumstances.
The other four I’d definitely all give a try to but I’m not burning up to go and play. We really wanted to move on to The King’s Dilemma after we finished PanLeg S2 but one of our PanLeg quartet moved away, so we never ended up getting into that.
Their take is exactly how I feel about War of the Ring (2nd ed).
I really want to play it, but it’s huge and takes hours, so it’s high on my wishlist but I’m not actually going to spend money on it right now. I’m very intrigued though, there’s doesn’t seem to be much that gives the same experience.
And when I got back into modern games a few years ago A Feast For Odin was the biggest deal, so it’s definitely out there as one to try soon.
I’ve played: PanLeg1, Bohnanza, Skull.
Strange. I own 3 of these and have played 2 of them (still haven’t played Crokinole)
Roads & Boats is a cool design but probably a bit too protracted compared to modern game design idioms; it does some interesting things, but you can tell it’s a design from 1999.
The Mind was a fun time waster; I don’t feel bad about doing terrible at it.
EDIT: I own 4. I completely forgot that I own Tigers & Pots
That was my initial feeling on it when it first came out and I saw reviews. My wife picked it up for my birthday years ago since it was in the (relative) bargain bin at our local store and it really surprised me how much I liked it.
I’m not complaining, because I had a lot of fun listening to these guys riff about board games for 2 hours, but I feel like they really needed to establish what they were trying to accomplish with this list before getting into it. The end result is all over the place.
Some alternatives that I was shouting in my head while listening:
My City - The finished product isn’t the best polyomino game, but the campaign itself might be.
The Resistance - They kept dancing around it, but it really deserved to make the list
Hansa Teutonica -I’d put this over T&E personally
Welcome To… - Defined a genre, and still maybe the best of the bunch
Skull King - best party game
Decrypto - best word game
Castles of Burgundy - for a euro-ass euro
Brass: Birmingham/Food Chain Magnate - Instead of Roads & Boats
Hanabi & The Quest for El Dorado would be good shouts as well…
I don’t have any problem with a list like this being a crash course in lots of different experiences, which aren’t for everyone, but will introduce a different new Thing They Love to different people.
Fair.
Edit: I’m still listening to this in chunks. Currently at Tigers & Pots. Fascinated to learn that, like myself, Matt simply does not like auction games (partly because Matt’s tastes have always seemed the least similar to my own). I look forward to finding out if the one auction game he likes is the same as mine. I see they nixed Cosmic Encounter…
Edit 2: Well I now know more about Roads & Boats. It sounds unexpectedly bizarre. Probably difficult to get to grips with too, but I’m more than a little intrigued, so I would definitely try this, if someone who knew the game was offering and teaching.
I think I’ve played four of those? (Bohnanza, PanLeg, Tigers and Pots, and King’s Dilemma). PanLeg and King’s Dilemma were great! The other two are not my sort of game. Nor have I much interest in playing most of the others. TI I’d never own but…maybe play? AFFO I’m not sure I’d prefer over Agricola but Uwe I’m willing to try. That’s about it.
The personal bonus picks at the end were:
Tom: Undaunted: Normandy
Quinns: Monikers
Ava: The Crew
Matt: Brass Birmingham
If you get a chance you should try it. I don’t get what the hard sell is? It’s a ten minute game and you can learn the rules in two. Even if it’s the most disappointing experiences of your life you’ve wasted 12 minutes and even fewer pounds.
It’s a phenomenal experience but I think it needs to be played so everyone is on the same experience arc.
So, only two games that I’m really on board with, but I think I see what they were going for: a lot of experiences of different types.
We played a forum teaching game of this once, and I am in an ongoing async game. I’d be happy to run another one, if there is interest, or play a simple 2-player teaching game on Vassal.
It’s probably my favourite on the list.
I regret selling my T & E…(although I do have Yellow and Yangtze)
Played about half of these (6/10). We did enjoy The Mind. Got halfway thru Pandemic Legacy, it was ok, don’t really enjoy base Pandemic (although I do have the Rome one). Bohnanza, did not enjoy at all - I’ve learned that we don’t like negotiation, which makes it easy to ignore some games. Skull is probably my favourite of these, and would definitely recommend it for a quick bluffing game. Although I tried to introduce it to some non-gamer friends, and it just didn’t work (I don’t think they tried hard enough…). Thought I might try again with In Vino Morte,
Interested in the forum game.
Also banging heads together on our twilight struggle turn
And less than that, I gather, if you already have a 6 Nimmt deck. 
I’m halfway through the podcast, the only one of these I’ve not played, including forum games is Bohnanza.
Part of the issue with their conversation is that the SUSD are very outgoing, sociable gamers who are willing to role play, table talk and make games an experience and they play with similar people. I don’t think that’s a true reflection of what a lot of the rest of the hobby is like.
Having not heard the reasoning for anything after TI4…
A Feast for Odin - I really enjoy this, but I’m not sure what the rationale is. It’s not a classic worker placement game with lots of blocking. It’s good but, should everyone play it?
Crokinole - excellent game. Lucky I own it, but it’s very expensive and that’s a high barrier. Carrom is a very similar beast and (in the UK at least) a fraction of the price.
King’s Dilemma is fantastic, but could die a death with the wrong group.
Roads & Boats - sorry @pillbox but this is madness. 6 hours of opaque decision making? It’s hardly universal
The Crew beats The Mind
T&E - fair enough, massively OOP but it’s on BGA.
Pandemic Legacy - excellent, but there is a barrier to a lot of people to play legacy games.
TI4 - probably fair enough. I’d like to give it a go irl.
Skull is excellent
If we’re doing alternatives. Top of my head…
El Grande OOP, but on BGA
Hansa Teutonica the euro’s euro
Azul
Dominion best deck builder imo
Decrypto this is for gamers, so this trumps Codenames
Carrom as above, cheaper than (and better than?) Crokinole
Tichu brilliant card game with a team game wrinkle
Tigris and Euphrates I prefer Yellow and Yangtze, but this is a classic
Spirit Island if SUSD can go complicated, this is the best co op
Agricola I don’t like this one very much, but I think it’s the quintessential worker placement game
11 - Times Up the best party game bar none
I haven’t listened to the podcast yet, but from the list I have played: PanLeg S1, TI4, T&E, and King’s Dilemma, and I own the Mind though have not played it yet.
I am very easygoing, so I would be willing to try any game on this list, though R&B would likely be on the bottom of the list. I remember looking at the forum game a bit and just getting a vibe of complexity that I wasn’t comprehending. Would be better in person, I am sure.
I haven’t finished listening yet but I have Opinions regarding the social deduction game slot.
As far as I’m concerned, specifically as an introduction to the genre:
I think this is a really fair observation.