Shut Up & Sit Down

Listen, usually I edit the SU&SD podcast with a spring in my step and glee in my heart. But this week, I’m textbook “Lurgied”. Merriam Webster “Grotty”. The very definition of a “Nasty Wee Man”. I’m not bothering with a proper description this week. See, this pod was not edited with a step of spring and heart of glee, no no. It was edited with ducts of snot and larynx of mucus. A head full of plague. Listen to these words and imagine my shuddering form snipping away at them; slowly saturating my ‘Logitech G840 Gaming Mouse Pad™’ with sticky-sweet mansweat. Mmm. Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 01:20 - Kingdom Crossing 15:19 - Totally Human 22:46 - Emblems

On this pocket-sized episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down podcast, Tom and Matt have been shrunk down to miniscule versions of themselves, and are crawling around inside the box for Hansa Teutonica. They’re having the time of their lives in there. But there’s still work to be done, and games to be reviewed! This episode tackles a clutch of tiny titles and small-scale surprises. Otter is a shedding game about piling up sea creatures on the bellies of the nation's favourite semi-weasel, and Zombie Princess is a trick-taker jam-packed with the freshly undead. There’s also time to talk Tally Up; a game that’s somewhat lovingly and somewhat scathingly referred to as ‘just gambling’. It kind of is ? Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 01:02 - Otter 09:26 - Tally Up! 21:02 - Zombie Princess

On this morally bankrupt episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down podcast, Tom and Matt are once again doing what they do best; playing at board games and going “:-)” First up is Emberheart! It’s got dragons, it’s got bidding, it’s got scales and wings and another attribute that we can’t quite recall. And it’s goooooood! Following that, our podboys sit at the cardstock conveyor belt that is Sushi Go Party: Chef’s Special! Listen as they they pluck onigiri, california rolls, and strawberry deserts directly from the waiting palm of the chef - cramming them all at once into eachothers’ mouths! Now that’s a Sushi Go Party. And finally, a spot of Eternal Sevens - a spiritual-sequel to the underground hit of 2025, Eternal Decks. It’s got Tom feeling complicated thoughts about cards, about sequels, about lightning, and about bottles.... Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 04:13 - Emberheart 12:18 - Sushi Go Party: Chef’s Special 21:27 - Eternal Sevens

On this mildly cooked episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down podcast, Tom and Matt are fresh out the “BGD Mines”! Wiping the sweat from their collective brow, they pop a gnarly squat and spin a cardboard tale… Both have been playing a spot of The Queen’s Dilemma - the long-awaited follow-up to the King’s Dilemma that somehow contains even more dilemmas . As well as that particular hot scoop, Tom’s been playing some Railway Porters - another ‘20s themed Saashi Special where you try your utmost not to drop a suitcase on top of the waiting station master. And finally, there’s a recap of the not-previously-podded games featured in our last video review. As a little experiment, we uploaded that last video to the podcast feed. It didn’t quite sit right, so we’ve binned it off and replaced it with TRUE, NOVEL PODTHOUGHTS. Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 7:06 - The Queen’s Dilemma 24:29 - Railway Porters 30:23 - Yonder, HERD, No Loose Ends

On this glittering and golden episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Matt and Tom are sitting atop a dragon’s hoard of card board! Wahey! That’s what we in the business like to call “Rhyme Style”, and you can find many examples of it in the youthmusic of today :) Right atop the pile is the latest from frivolity enjoyers Weast Coast - Loners! It’s a card game that has an entire clown car of variably ripped dudes. Proceed with caution! Hachi Machi!!! We follow that up with the latest game from the Reiner Knizia Cardboard Industrial Complex: Gold Country! It’s camel speculation. You’ll see what we mean. Last but by no means least, Matt chats about some strange dream he had about a kind of figure-of-eight draconic salad spinner - completely unrelated to our discussion of 8 Dragons. Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 2:47 - Loners 12:57 - Gold Country 23:24 - 8 Dragons

On this delicately preserved episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Matt and Tom are venturing through a rolling landscape of cardboard and canned fish. Moytura and Azure are the latest double-bill of mythological titles from Bitewing Games, and have gotten Tom and Matt all excited about abstraction . We follow these beasties with the briny offerings of Conservas - a solo game about making sure you’ve got juuust enough fish to turn into canned delicacies to be consumed en masse by TikTokers (we presume). And finally, Matt enters his happy place: putting numbers into boxes. Daydream is a roll-and-write with a charming presentation that, like the very best games, hides a crunchy core… Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 02:34 - Moytura 13:00 - Azure 23:08 - Conservas 29:57 - Daydream

On this starchy episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Tom and Matt have been playing a clutch of GREAT LIL’ GAMES! First up is Yotei - a tableau builder centered around everyone’s favourite not-quite-a-vegetable: “The Potato”. We’re following that up with a double dip of Operation Barclay and Evenfall - a podcasting first! Never before have military officials and covens of witches been so closely intertwined. Finally, we’re locking, stocking, and smoking all of our various barrels in Rattlesnake - a contender for one of our very favourite card games this year. Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 00:43 - Yotei 10:17 - Operation Barclay 24:02 - Evenfall 36:05 - Rattlesnake

On this constantly revolving episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Tom and Matt are perusing a gargantuan grocery store of games. This one stocks four whole games ! Can you believe it? First up is Market Fresh - a Kramer and Kiesling reimplementation that Matt’s played, and Tom is chomping to. We follow that with a quick spritz of Echoes of Emperors - a game that crunches the computer strategy genre into cardboard form, and close out the podcast with a double bill of flippers; Fliptoons and Flip Pick Towers. Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 01:03 - Market Fresh 11:20 - Echoes of Emperors 17:46 - Fliptoons 26:39 - Flip Pick Towers

On this adjective-riddled* episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Tom and Matt are sorting through approximately one standard carry-on worth of cardboard luggage! Matt brings The Great Sea to the table - the latest Garphill excursion into ancient history . What’s in this bit of history? Mostly water, it seems. With boats on it! They’re like houses that float? You’ll get the hang of it. Dark Pact is our second game, and feels like a deckbuilder broke free of containment, and has been growing all manner of new limbs whilst we’re not looking. Essentially a race to break the game as fast as humanly possible, it’s gotten Tom rather perplexed . And finally - Typeset - a game designed by the monstrously talented folks at DVC Games. Just when you think you’ve seen everything in a word game, one comes along and gets you spelling ‘TOGWOF’. Have a great week, everybody! *Only some adjectives are present in this episode - and indeed all episodes - of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast. Timestamps: 02:01 - The Great Sea 17:35 - Dark Pact 28:24 - Typeset

On this VIOLENT episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Matt and Tom engage in gladiatorial combat to finally decide who is the ULTIMATE BOARD-BOY! We begin our gauntlet with a bout of ‘Neko Syndicate’ - a BLOODY game of cats making sushi deliveries in a sort of tableau-building pyramid! It’s nasty stuff . Round 2 threatens an EXPLOSIVE END in ‘Bombusters’ - a co-operative family game where various anthropomorphised rabbits deal with increasingly complicated explosives. Red wire? Yellow wire? Either way? Prepare for an absolutely brutal listening experience. Then, the knockout punch! ‘Off With Their Heads!’ is our grand finale, and has you rolling* (punches), writing (wills)... and playing (cards)? Sounds peaceful, yeah? Well it’s only got a flippin’ GUILLOTINE in the title!! It’s going to be an utter casserole. Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 02:06 - Neko Syndicate 14:34 - Bombusters 24:12 - Off With Their Heads! *There’s no actual rolling, but that can be our little secret.

On this Edenic episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Matt and Tom strip down to their bare cheeks to chat about games wot are all about “Outside, like birds and that”. First up is Nature; a game that takes 2014’s Evolution and 2020’s Oceans, and hydraulically compacts them into one biodegradable box. Not just one box, mind, but a whole ecosystem of modules and traits that’ll get your neighbourhood zoologist all hot under the collar. That’s then followed by a slice of Perch - a surprisingly lethal “ pigeon control game” in which you stack birds atop a vicious fountain. I’d imagine it’s what those pesky sky rats would be doing with their spare time too, if they weren’t so busy defecating Finally we hitch a ride on the great grey car of the savanna in Tembo - an elephant road trip that’s way more cruel than it has any right to be. Tom’s taken great pains to crack this one open, and feast on all the delicious game-goo contained therein. Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 01:46 - Nature 16:58 - Perch 24:41 - TEMBO: Survival on the Savanna

On this absolutely soaked episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Tom and Matt are getting drenched in two positively sopping releases.First up, our intrepid explorers plunge into the depths of Thesauros! It’s got scubas, it’s got sharks, it’s got sunken treasures! All wrapped up in a slate-grey layer of project management and fund allocation. And following the adventurous land of ‘The Ocean(s)’, our lads point at a few seagulls, bins, and plant pots in the cosy Welsh town and game: Tenby! Who will have the most porches?! Who will find the most relevant landmarks? It’s all to play for in the quaintest Tenby-builder on the market today. Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 01:16 - Thesauros 17:30 - Tenby

On this slippy ol’ episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Tom and Matt are chatting about Emberleaf; a game of woodland creatures amassing honey and battering bandits! “Like Pooh gone all vigilante on them asses”. Our dynamic duo then seek to area control eachother in a WORTH WRESTLE! Whose critical opinion on this luminous box will come out on top? Neither, really. They’re both pretty chill about the whole thing. Everyone’s allowed opinions - even YOU! Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 01:19 - Emberleaf 16:20 - Wroth

On this post-apocalyptic episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down podcast, we’ve got the last remaining swigs of game in this here canteen - don’t gulp it all to yourself, now! Share nicely… First up is Phoenix New Horizon, a game of building post-apocalyptic power networks and trying to get a promotion. That’s followed by a slightly spoilery chat about Regicide Legacy - a game that asks the bold question; “What If Regicide, But Legacy?”. The pod’s rounded off with a quick chat about Zenith’s standard two-player mode, and spicy four player variant! Just like… never mind. Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 01:49 - Phoenix New Horizon 17:57 - Regicide Legacy 27:13 - Regicide Legacy Spoilers 33:31 - Zenith

On this gloopy episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Tom and Matt are donning their Memory Marigolds and getting elbow-deep in the past ; recalling titles played all the way back in November 2025 (imagine!). Expect rambling thoughts about a whole cluster of games played at PAXU 2025, and a few other sneaky additions to the lineup last-minute. Have a great week, everybody! Timestamps: 01:14 - Epona 10:19 - Joyride: Full Throttle 13:42 - Petiquette 17:32 - Wiggle Roulette 20:34 - Pick ‘n Packers 28:31 - This Is Not A Game About A Pipe 34:43 - No Loose Ends

On this ticked-off episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Tom and Matt are rambling about the box-ticking bonanza ‘Tend’ as well as the chronologically questionable ‘Take Time’! Have a great weekend, everybody! Timestamps: 01:19 - Tend 23:31 - Take Time

Website Copy: On this free-flowing episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Tom and Matt are chatting about competitive marble-pilfering simulator 12 Rivers, as well as a double-bill of absurd racing games in Hot Streak and Magical Athlete! You may be expecting that this podcast thumbnail would show the promised board of 12 Rivers (which you can find here ) and instead shows a picture of Hurley - the not-a-hotdog from Hot Streak. This is intentional, and important. Have a great weekend, everybody! Timestamps: 01:14 - 12 Rivers 12:43 - Hot Streak 26:41 - Magical Athlete

On this subsequent episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Matt and Tom are returning to a couple of the games they were excited about in the Essen Special, as well as covering one that was missed from the billing! Excuse the occasional odd buzzing on this one - we tried to scrub it as much as possible but there's only so much you can do to heal a dodgy microphone before you start making Matt sound like a blender. Have a great weekend, everybody! Timestamps: 02:33 - Winning Ticket 15:41 - Feya’s Swamp 37:04 - Sanctuary

On this FULL CAPS CHUNKY episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Tom and Matt are talking about all of the games they played at Essen 2025! This is an audio-only reupload of the video we just put out on the main channel - so if you’d like to enjoy a physical tier list alongside these wobbly words? Then that’s where it is, and will be, forever and ever. Excuse the mildly iffy audio on this one! Have a great weekend, everybody! <strong>Timestamps:</strong> 01:00 - Chemical Overload 07:50 - Collect! 12:45 - Tolleno 19:05 - A Carnivore Did It! 21:40 - Echoes of Time 23:55 - Pyradice 29:07 - Tax The Rich 32:09 - 3 Witches 37:53 - Agent Avenue 43:33 - Recall 46:59 - Feya’s Swamp 54:43 - Wie Die Karnikel 58:20 - Milch Mit Abführmittel 1:03:34 - Big Shot 1:08:07 - Night Soil 1:11:24 - The White Castle: Duel 1:16:58 - National Economy 1:21:05 - Railway Boom 1:23:38 - Pulitzer 1:30:28 - Sanctuary 1:34:29 - River Rats 1:39:32 - Ghost Lift

On this flexibly numerical episode of the Shut Up & Sit Down Podcast, Tom and Matt are, you guessed it, talking once again about games with CARDS, BOARDS, and DICE! In exactly that order - each game picking up a new component like a hungry Katamari. First up is Duel for Cardia - a perplexing little two-player dueller that lets you hop back in time to un-win your opponent - swiftly followed by 20 Strong, a solo-only game of clobbering a wolf. Or escaping a dream! Or becoming an alien. It’s a modular game system , you see. Finally, we’re chatting about Vantage - an open-world board game that’s one of 2025’s biggest! And Tom’s feeling all confused about it… Have a great weekend, everyone! Timestamps: 02:12 - Duel for Cardia 11:23 - 20 Strong 25:37 - Vantage