What are your prized games that SU&SD has NOT covered?

Boardgames
21

I don’t know what to make of Pax Pamir. I got it for the same reason I got Keyflower, usually listed as “like Tigris & Euphrates.”

I’ve played two rounds against Wakhan, the automated opponent. Wakhan is a complete mess. The manual was messy to start with, the game is fiddly, and Wakhan then triples the rules overhead and fiddliness. Additionally, I found Wakhan a poor simulation for an opponent (basically, button mashing) and easily exploitable. I won easily both times despite barely knowing the game.

But stepping back, I think my frustration was mainly with Wakhan, not with Pax Pamir itself? I’m hoping to get a good play in at 4 players.

My lasting concern is that the cards felt like just the illusion of variety, actually very same-y throughout. And the market seemed to limit what you could do. Frequently I was thinking, “oh, this would be a great plan!” only to find that the market was devoid of any suit-changing cards. What I’m saying is that the game constrains strategy too much?

That said, I really don’t know. I know I don’t like Wakhan.

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22

Architects is such a fantastic game. I’m hard pressed to think of anything like it. I found Raiders of the North Sea to be flat and lifeless, but Architects is an instant classic.

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23

I agree. But I don’t think we’ll get one at this point.
I know it has been mentioned on the podcast a couple of times.

It’s a bit weird to me because I have such a high opinion of the game myself. It doesn’t even get mentioned much in comparison/context of other games.

I am still waiting to get another game in. I have only played a couple Wakhan games and yes the bot is difficult to understand but I still lost against it. However, I had a great 3 player game a year ago on Vassal with others here on the forums and that particular game was one of my highlights last year. Such an immersive game. The solo doesn’t even come close to that. I am looking forward so much to getting that on the table at a boardgame night.

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24

Quinns played Pax Pamir v1 and hated it. You can hear about it here: Podcast #48: Complaining in the Crystal Maze - Shut Up & Sit Down

He also objected to Phil Eklund/Sierra Madre in general I think. Maybe that takes the edge off v2, even though it has a different publisher.

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25

So glad to hear it that the solo doesn’t touch the real experience. Pax was not cheap! I may break it out and play two-hands instead of using Wakhan to get a better feel for it. I’m halfway decent at simulating a split personality and earnestly pursuing two strategies :stuck_out_tongue: Not sure what that says about my brain.

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26

I think it says you are a passionate boardgame player who doesn’t want to wait to try out a game until enough others are present. I am reasonably sure that a lot of people here on the forums have done the same.

My very best attempts were 3 handing Terra Mystica and our recent foray into duo 2-handing Sidereal.

I would say that the game really needs 3 players. Wakhan is still recommended to be added for a two player to make the board a bit tighter. But two handing is definitely going to give you a better feel for the actual game than using the bot.

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27

I’ve yet to play it solo because I’ve heard similar to what you’ve said. I’ve got a handful of games at 3, and it is TENSE. You can also get so embroiled in a 1v1 that you lose sight of the third and suffer badly. I think there are definite opportunities for strategy in a people vs. people game.

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28

Pax Pamir has a good (official?) TTS mod

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29

I remember wanting SU&SD to review one of my favourite games for ages, but after seeing what they did with it, “wanting SU&SD to review one of my favourite games” is no longer a thing I do.

Much better for them to continue reviewing games I wouldn’t otherwise notice.

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30

There actually isn’t very much overlap between my game collection and stuff SU&SD has covered, and a lot of what they have they weren’t especially into. E.g. Sentinels of the Multiverse remains one of my favorite games of all time. They hated it. Etherfields? Love it. They didn’t cover Tainted Grail but I suspect they’d not end up liking it either. Not infrequently it’s been after I bought whatever, too. Like Matt at least loves Gloomhaven…but I’d had it for months at that point.

One thing that SU&SD did turn me on to was Fog of Love, which I haven’t played very much but was a big fixture of the first time my girlfriend visited. Lovely game.

I am curious what they’d have to say about some of my Level 99 favorites, though, most particularly BattleCON (after being so fond of things like Combo Fighter), but I wouldn’t mind coverage of Argent or Empyreal. I think they might like BattleCON. I suspect Argent and Empyreal are too sprawling and messy to rate highly.

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31

I remember an old podcast where Paul had played it. Paul was trying to describe it and it sounded like he rather liked it, but Quinns kept interrupting and finishing Paul’s sentences with negative critiques, which Paul then had to correct. I sometimes wonder if those exchanges are why Paul moved on. Or maybe it was part of the schtick.

BattleCON or Exceed? BattleCON is much more cost effective to collect, but Exceed has some goodness going for it.

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32

I haven’t played Exceed, but for me they occupy the same role in a collection and I can’t see why I’d opt for the one where you’re shuffling and drawing randomly. Especially since most of Exceed’s seasons are licensed and mostly not licenses I care about, whereas BattleCON’s got a rich and weird world that they’ve elaborated on beautifully in many other games.

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33

I think sometimes is key to be able to learn a game and teach it. If I don’t have the board in front of me, the rulebook gives me an idea, but without the visuals and the dynamics on the board, I don’t quite get it.

I also got interested in Fog of Love after seeing their review. It never took off. So much so that it is leaving my collection after 3 plays with my other half, and one more in a Games Night. I’d rather have something else to play in my collection.

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34

I think Fog of Love is a game that I would enjoy as a spectator. As a player I find it unpleasant and stressful.

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35

This is one of them for me, and the others are Aeon’s End and Yomi (though, haven’t played that one in a while, even before the pandemic). Technically they’ve covered them all. Thrower reviewed Blades, and Quinns had talked about Aeon’s End on a podcast (and it might have been mentioned in another), and also had an article about Yomi after the Combo Fighter review.

Before Tom’s Button Shy video, In Vino Morte would have been on there, but it’s been covered now.

There’s one other game I played at the second SHUX called A.E.G.I.S, but I need to get it to the table more to find out if it’s actually prized.

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36

You could always hit up Youtube and see. Looks like there’s at least three or four different people who’ve done playthrough videos, including Polygon. (Ant Lab seems like a fun bet since it’s a husband and wife doing it.)

37

To be honest, I don’t use Shut Up & Sit Down’s reviews in any format as a guide to games very often. Mostly, I find them pleasant entertainment, and I watch or read them for that reason.

I did use the Games News as a way of finding out about more unusual games that I might not have heard about as quickly. But that’s gone now.

I’ve actually found that over the last year, I’ve stopped visiting the website (no forums and now no Games News). I’ve stopped watching their videos right away, if at all—they’re less entertaining. I’ve stopped listening to the podcast regularly because I’m not going anywhere and the episodes are too uneven in terms of quality and depth.

I’m actually most likely now to watch the videos of games I’ve already played (or carefully read the rule book, examined pictures and videos of the game, and read a bunch of reviews, which right now often has to substitute). And even then, I’m most likely to enjoy a Quinns review (funny, even if the humor is mostly about him and not the game) as opposed to a Matt (trying too hard to achieve “critical balance”) or Tom (doesn’t seem to have developed a critical tone yet—too much enthusiasm and “feel” for me) review. I loved Ava’s written stuff, but I have yet to see a video review that’s all theirs (am I missing them?).

To try to bring this kind of back to the topic: I use SU&SD as entertainment. I credit them for less than 10% of my game collection, with maybe another 10% or so where I’d made up my mind, but they were the excuse I used to buy.

They didn’t help me buy Lisboa (of all the shortcomings I see in SU&SD, their allergy to Lacerda is the one that irritates me the most), Trickerion, Formosa Tea, Gloomhaven, Sleeping Gods, Guilds of London, Great Western Trail, Teotihuacan, Orleans, Brass, or Calico.

They did help me buy Arboretum, Taverns of Tiefenthal, and Mysterium.

I have many more games, some of which they helped with, but I wouldn’t call the rest of them “prized”… exactly. The ones I’ve listed here are the highlights. (I love board games, so I prize almost all the ones I have. The other day, we were discussing favorite foods. My 9yo said sushi was his favorite. My spouse said, “What about pho?” He thought for a minute and said, “It’s my top 1.” That’s me with board games. I have a favorite for every moment and mood.)

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38

This is me too.

If two different people asked me for my Top 10 board games, there would be at least 21 games mentioned.

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39

Before the conversation winds down I have to give a shout to Tichu.

Easily playable with a standard deck of cards, the game was less developed than curated by some Swiss guy. It draws on a number of East Asian games, mostly the Big 2 / Climbing games but with scoring concepts taken from the trick takers. There might be 1 or 2 original ideas in there, or they might just come from more obscure regional variants.

So I grew up playing Big 2 variants - Big 2 itself, a version called Star Wars that I desperately want to remember the rules to (Emperor at the top could make one person miss one turn, Yoda at the bottom could take cards from the discard pile, etc.), and eventually The Great Dalmuti from Wizards of the Coast. I loved these because playing the hand required both skill and luck. Experienced players could win even on a bad deal, there is always more than one way to play a hand, and the hidden information of what other players are holding creates big moments - big bets, big wins, big upsets.

I also played a lot of Bridge. I did enjoy this but never loved it. Eventually I came to realize that Bridge was really a bidding game. Trick taking is rote. Players can quickly master the process, and anyone who has mastered the process can predict how an entire hand will play out. 10 good bridge players would play the same hand the same way. And, now that bidding is codified, will likely bid the same way too. Bridge became an object for study more than play.

Enter Tichu. 2v2 climbing game. I love it from among the climbing games because of the 2v2 format, the streamlined rules of play, and the carefully chosen jokers. I like it more than Bridge because I’m excited for every deal. I’m excited to play my hand no matter what gets dealt (Bridge often puts you in a spectator seat, sometimes literally). I’m watching every card and making real decisions on every turn. It’s exciting and engaging and dare I say surprising with dependable regularity.

Really the best of both worlds.

At some point I asked myself, How much Tichu have you played? I thought back through all the Big 2 and Dalmuti as well and realized… a whole lot. A metric lot. Weeks of my life. And I can’t talk about it without wanting to play more. That’s a good game, there.

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40

Tichu is love. Tichu is life.

I heard there will be a shiny pretty new edition from TIKI so I’ll be watching it for now

EDIT:
Found it! Look at that pretty

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