We made it! The big one-oh-oh. That's a thing people say, right? We're starting a five episodes series, working our way down each of our top fifty games of all time. We'll discuss what might make a game move up or down our list, celebrate the highs that the hobby has to offer, and talk about a heck of a lot of amazing board games. Buckle up! 08:17 – Neilan #50 – Twice As Clever 09:32 – Kellen #50 – Maskmen 11:28 – Mark #50 – Codenames 12:56 – Neilan #49 – Air, Land & Sea 16:03 – Kellen #49 – Wizard 17:50 – Mark #49 – Carson City 18:59 – Neilan #48 – Innovation 20:27 – Kellen #48 – Ingenious 21:07 – Mark #48 – Wyatt Earp 23:52 – Neilan #47 – The Oracle of Delphi 24:56 – Kellen #47 – Detective Club 27:13 – Mark #47 – City of the Big Shoulders 29:46 – Neilan #46 – Anomia 31:13 – Kellen #46 – Cursed Court 34:24 – Mark #46 – Kemet 35:50 – Neilan #45 – In the Year of the Dragon 37:19 – Kellen #45 – The Game 39:11 – Mark #45 – Panic on Wall Street! 40:51 – Neilan #44 – Dead of the Winter: The Long Night 42:24 – Kellen #44 – No Thanks! 44:42 – Mark #44 – Pax Pamir (Second Edition) 47:19 – Neilan #43 – Grand Austria Hotel 48:57 – Kellen #43 – Diamant/Incan Gold 50:52 – Mark #43 – Innovation 52:58 – Neilan #42 – Letter Jam 55:26 – Kellen #42 – Bruges 56:10 – Mark #42 – Concordia 58:03 – Neilan #41 – Sol: Last Days of a Star 1:01:01 – Kellen #41 – Piñata/Balloon Cup 1:02:19 – Mark #41 – Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant Join the discussion at https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord

It's getting close now, can you feel it? Or are you just feeling sore from the game you just lost? We're talking sore losers and sore winners: people who are hard to be around when they lose or win a game. What can you do to avoid being that person, and what games bring out the worst in us? Before we fight our feelings, we talk about Paris: New Eden, Glory to Rome, and No Swap No Pay.

03:35 - Pipeline 06:29 - Paris: New Eden 14:54 - Glory to Rome 20:36 - Mottainai 22:48 - Innovation 24:14 - No Swap No Pay 32:09 - Sore Winners and Losers 37:00 - The Resistance 41:50 - Cthulhu Wars 42:54 - Cosmic Encounter 45:46 - Detective Club 46:13 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 48:16 - Archipelago

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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We're showing our thanks with a surprise podcast about ... well, maybe we'll just let the episode speak for itself. Gobble gobble.

03:23 - ICECOOL 04:46 - Meeple Circus 06:11 - Root 06:42 - Sheriff of Nottingham 07:47 - Fauna 08:22 - Piepmatz 09:07 - Evolution: Flight 09:56 - Gulo Gulo 11:29 - Zany Penguins 12:07 - Funky Chicken 13:56 - Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn 14:51 - Rook 16:19 - Chess 17:36 - Biblios 19:53 - Scythe

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We've all got them, whether we'll care to admit it or not, quirks and and biases that might be irrational, but nevertheless affect our judgement of the games we play. This week we're looking at a few of the little things that might weigh a game in or out of our favour, even if they don't necessarily make much sense. Before we exercise extreme prejudice, we talk about Flamme Rouge, The North, and Ragusa.

02:03 - Cursed Court 02:39 - Flamme Rouge 09:28 - The North 15:43 - Ragusa 24:08 - Board Game Biases 25:51 - Vindication 26:08 - Suburbia: Collector's Edition 30:39 - Anachrony 32:15 - Scythe 33:26 - Magical Athlete 36:16 - Pipeline 41:02 - Adrenaline 41:28 - Fog of Love 43:23 - The Battle at Kemble's Cascade 45:05 - Pandemic

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Uh oh, you're not enjoying the game you're playing. Now what? Is it okay to excuse yourself? Maybe it's better that you just call it rather than continue to have a bad time. This week we're talking about scenarios where some or all of the players of a game might decide it's better to bounce than to wallow in misery. Before we make an early exit, we talk about SEAL Team Flix, Paranormal Detectives, and I'm the Boss. 01:21 - SEAL Team Flix 10:32 - Paranormal Detectives 18:53 - Mysterium 21:37 - Crokinole 22:12 - Cursed Court 23:27 - I'm the Boss! 31:50 - Bouncing off Games 33:49 - Menara 36:37 - Cosmic Encounter 38:45 - The Great Zimbabwe 39:40 - Megacity: Oceania 40:25 - Founders of Gloomhaven 43:52 - Diplomacy 45:22 - Swinging Jivecat Voodoo Lounge 46:08 - Merlin 47:00 - Heroes of Land, Air & Sea 48:54 - LLAMA 49:33 - Nemesis

Where has the year gone?! It's almost time to start packing our bags for various family gatherings, and inevitably the most important question becomes ... what games are we taking? Whether it's specific games for specific people, or games that work in large inexperienced groups, we're here to make your holidays merry and bright. Before we head on home, we talk about Ethnos, Street Masters, Templari, and Carnival of Monsters. 03:02 - Ethnos 08:12 - Street Masters 11:39 - Sentinels of the Multiverse 14:08 - Templari 17:14 - Carnival of Monsters 25:21 - Top Five Games for the Holidays 29:16 - Werewords 30:20 - Letter Jam 30:20 - SHH 31:21 - Ingenious 32:53 - Sushi Go! 34:39 - Fast Forward: FORTRESS 36:01 - Cartographers 37:14 - Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 38:14 - Cryptid 39:36 - Cursed Court 40:43 - One Night Ultimate Werewolf 42:16 - Coloretto 43:54 - Hanabi Deluxe II 44:56 - Just One 46:46 - Air, Land & Sea 47:51 - Res Arcana 49:13 - Codenames 51:05 - WINK 52:16 - Medium

It took us almost a hundred episodes, but we finally reveal how to have fun with your friends even when you're losing. Specifically, we're talking about games and mechanisms that help us enjoy our losses, because let's face it, we can't all be winners. Before we celebrate our setbacks, we talk about Sierra West, Mansions of Madness: Second Edition, and Black Angel.

01:37 - Sierra West 11:17 - Mansions of Madness: Second Edition 20:17 - Black Angel 24:02 - Troyes 27:18 - Solenia 35:30 - Q.E. 35:43 - Ponzi Scheme 35:59 - Biblios 38:52 - Aeon's End: War Eternal 40:59 - Ghost Stories 43:56 - Agricola 44:37 - Terraforming Mars 46:31 - Lords of Vegas 47:00 - Diamant/Incan Gold 48:20 - Twice as Clever

Blue Tank's back to talk take-backs, so take that to the bank. It's bound to happen, someone makes a mistake on their turn and desperately wants a do-over - but how do you handle it? It's a delicate balance of making sure everyone at the table is having a good time, and not slowing the game down. So what's fair? Before we undo, we talk about Air, Land & Sea, Menara, and Seasons of Inis. 02:57 - Air, Land & Sea 03:03 - Heroes of Land, Air & Sea 08:43 - Hanamikoji 10:59 - Menara 22:09 - Riff Raff 23:08 - Inis 23:08 - Seasons of Inis 53:31 - Dominant Species

We're joined by the Blue Tank for a quick look back at SHUX, before we dive into a discussion on games that are better than their mechanics suggest. These are games that we might describe as not very good, but somehow still give us incredible experiences that we find distinct and unique. But that makes them good, right? Before we lose all credibility, we talk about Kingdomino Duel, Panic on Wall Street!, and Blood on the Clocktower. 02:22 - SHUX 06:27 - Kingdomino Duel 11:29 - Panic on Wall Street! 18:52 - Blood on the Clocktower 23:48 - The Resistance: Avalon 36:57 - Experiences that transcend mechanics 38:02 - Fuji Flush 38:58 - Happy Salmon 39:40 - True Colors 39:40 - A Question of Scruples 40:32 - Zombicide: Black Plague 41:26 - Hundreds of Horses 49:30 - Loopin' Louie

Shut Up & Sit Down's very own Quintin Smith joins us live on stage at SHUX 2019! We play a rousing game of Hundreds of Horses, discuss some games from the convention, and lay out the unspoken truths of board games - opinions about the hobby we vehemently hold, even if everyone else is too afraid to say it. Before we speak truth to power, we talk about Deep Blue, Curios, Obscurio, and Vast: The Mysterious Manor.

02:51 - Hundreds of Horses 08:05 - Deep Blue 11:44 - Curios 16:03 - Obscurio 20:55 - Vast: The Mysterious Manor 28:07 - Unspoken Truths of Board Games 29:05 - Neilan: Theme and storytelling 32:22 - Flamme Rouge 33:40 - Too Many Bones 34:16 - Kellen: The decline of interactivity 36:40 - Troyes 37:47 - Hansa Teutonica 38:26 - Agricola 38:26 - A Feast for Odin 39:10 - Mark: Playing to win 41:48 - Inis 45:20 - Twilight Imperium 47:55 - Quinns: Reading flavor text 50:03 - Pax Pamir (Second Edition) 50:58 - Scythe

Mark Rosewater, head designer for Magic: The Gathering, defined three player archetypes back in 2002, and we figured it'd be fun to see how we can apply them to, not just board games, but your three beloved hosts. We look into what makes a Timmy, Tammy, Johnny, Jenny, or Spike tick, and try to find some board games each might like. Before we profile ourselves, we talk about FlickFleet, Québec, and Ra.

02:13 - FlickFleet06:19 - Québec09:10 - El Grande10:29 - Tapestry15:00 - Ra21:56 - Magic: the Gathering Player Archetypes31:08 - Gùgōng40:27 - The Voyages of Marco Polo40:55 - Rising Sun41:19 - Crokinole41:47 - Dominion42:47 - Terraforming Mars43:15 - Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar43:50 - Cosmic Encounter44:47 - Dune45:31 - Glory to Rome

Inspired by BoardGameGeek's new system for classifying board game mechanisms, we give our thoughts on the changes, as well as talk about classification in general. Somehow it always leads to heated discussions, whether it's arguing what a Civilization game even is, or why we need classification at all. I'm sure we'll all agree in the end. Before we taxi into taxonomy, we talk about Piepmatz, Era: Medieval Age, and Cursed Court. 02:45 - Piepmatz 05:05 - Arboretum 08:42 - Irish Gauge 10:38 - Era: Medieval Age 19:00 - Cursed Court 29:43 - Board Game Classification 36:53 - Codenames 51:35 - Tapestry 52:12 - Civilization 53:10 - Scythe 56:55 - Great Western Trail 58:30 - 18Lilliput

Hello, again, Germany! Well, we don't actually ever go to Essen, but boy do we wish we could. There are always so many games that debut at Essen SPIEL that we wish we could play or buy ... and this year is no exception! We're counting down the games we would most anticipate getting our hands on if it weren't so goshdarn far. Before we cross the Atlantic, we also talk about Irish Gauge, Heroes of Terrinoth, and Tapestry. 01:00 - Irish Gauge 08:33 - Heroes of Terrinoth 16:21 - Tapestry 37:50 - The games we want from Essen SPIEL 2019 38:15 - Trismegistus: The Ultimate Formula 39:27 - The Magnificent 40:22 - Welkin 41:46 - Terramara 43:10 - Rush M.D. 44:09 - Deep Blue 44:54 - Paranormal Detectives 46:04 - Rome & Roll 47:07 - Offshore 48:42 - Glen More II: Chronicles 49:38 - Maracaibo 50:33 - Kakerlaken Sushi 51:52 - Crystal Palace 53:29 - Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles 55:12 - Babylonia

No, not that game. We're talking about the life cycles of games, how we acquire them, how we end up moving on from them. Where do we generally get our games from, and how do we typically get rid of them? Things get a little bit existential before the end. Before we, blinking, step into the sun, we also talk about Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne, 18Lilliput, and Tonari. 01:38 - Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne 10:06 - 18Lilliput 15:25 - City of the Big Shoulders 19:56 - Tonari 28:11 - The life cycle of games 29:05 - Exit: The Game 29:30 - Charterstone 35:06 - Piepmatz 35:50 - Nyctophobia 40:40 - Rising Sun 42:52 - Irish Gauge 44:17 - The Resistance: Avalon 45:07 - Pandemic Legacy: Season 1

Look, there's only so much time in the day, so we don't get to play every game we ought to. But some of those missed games hurt more than others, in fact, some of them are downright shameful. This week we're counting down the top five games we're ashamed that we haven't played. Before we atone, we also talk about Kobayakawa, Taj Mahal, and Twilight Imperium (Fourth Edition). 02:07 - Nine Tiles Panic 03:36 - Kobayakawa 07:38 - Taj Mahal 17:47 - Twilight Imperium (Fourth Edition) 33:53 - Games we're ashamed we haven't played 34:29 - Modern Art 36:18 - Kremlin 37:44 - Nothing Personal 38:12 - Ra 39:32 - Caverna: The Cave Farmers 40:50 - Macao 41:57 - Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game 43:37 - Terraforming Mars 45:04 - Indonesia 46:26 - Dungeon Lords 46:26 - Dungeon Petz 47:43 - Seafarers of Catan 47:43 - Catan: Cities & Knights 49:16 - Antike II 49:51 - Trickerion: Masters of Illusion 51:48 - Cyclades 53:37 - Amun Re

Kellen's back, which some might say is too many hosts - apt, because we're an episode of extremes today. We're talking about games that are too simple, too complicated, too short, or too long, that might otherwise have been among our favourites. Before we venture outside the Goldilocks zone, we talk about Q.E., Cartographers, and City of the Big Shoulders. 02:58 - Q.E. 11:52 - Cartographers 19:36 - City of the Big Shoulders 37:25 - Games that are too long 38:36 - Citadels 38:51 - Alien Frontiers 39:04 - Cubist 40:41 - Dead of Winter 41:18 - Robo Rally 41:52 - Skull 43:19 - Mage Knight 43:52 - Forbidden Stars 45:17 - Twilight Imperium 45:51 - Las Vegas 46:17 - Time's Up! Title Recall! 46:55 - Games that are too short 46:59 - Above and Below 47:53 - Clank! 48:15 - Oink Games 49:37 - Agricola 50:15 - The Voyages of Marco Polo 51:05 - Games that are too complicated 51:19 - Burano 53:12 - Keyflower 53:39 - Nemesis 54:03 - Altiplano 54:37 - Escape Plan 55:07 - Skull King 56:36 - Games that are too simple 56:42 - Kingdomino 58:00 - Ethnos 1:02:41 - Bärenpark 1:03:30 - Betrayal at House on the Hill 1:04:56 - 3 Wishes 1:05:30 - Mint Works

Kellen graces us with his absence, which means it's time for Mark and Neilan to start talking numbers. Specifically, player numbers. We're talking about optimal player counts for games, whether games ever mean what they recommend on the box, and how well they scale. Before we count to ten, we talk about Vindication, Royal Palace, Throw Throw Burrito, and Pipeline. 05:40 – Vindication 12:05 – Royal Palace 17:28 – Throw Throw Burrito 21:37 – Pipeline 29:48 – Optimal Player Counts 31:51 – Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne 32:50 – Caverna: The Cave Farmers 33:13 – Alien Frontiers 34:19 – Dead of Winter 37:13 – Throw Throw Burrito 38:20 – The Resistance 39:17 – Inis 39:45 – Rising Sun 40:09 – Maria 43:48 – Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant

We're running components through our fingers this week, because we're ranking our favourite games that require dexterity. Whether it's flicking, stacking, or balancing, dexterity games tend to offer a respite from brain burning crunchiness, and a chance to exercise actual muscles. Before our hands tremble, we talk about The Wizard Always Wins, Genoa, and Paku Paku.

01:29 - The Wizard Always Wins 06:36 - Genoa 13:55 - Paku Paku 17:53 - Listener Mail 21:59 - Our Favourite Dexterity Games 22:53 - Riff Raff 25:14 - Flick 'em Up!: Dead of Winter 27:25 - Bugs in the Kitchen 29:31 - Junk Art 31:46 - KLASK 35:44 - Hamsterrolle 37:28 - Animal Upon Animal 38:56 - Meeple Circus 42:18 - Drop It 44:57 - PitchCar 46:42 - Safranito 51:47 - Puzzle Dungeon Fighter 56:08 - Crokinole

We just flew in from Indianapolis, and boy are our arms tired! From carrying all these games. But, more than the games, it's the people you meet that make the memories, so we're recovering from a very long weekend at Gen Con by telling some of our favourite little stories from the floor. Before we revisit our weekend, we talk about Tuki, God of War: The Card Game, and Wits & Wagers Vegas. 01:03 - Tuki 05:41 - God of War: The Card Game 16:34 - Wits & Wagers Vegas 24:08 - Letter Jam 25:09 - Catch the Moon 27:17 - Wooly Whammoth 31:02 - Click Clack Lumberjack 32:14 - Foodies 42:26 - Seasons of Inis 42:48 - City of the Big Shoulders 43:20 - Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne

Our trilogy of Gen Con podcasts concludes with one final foray between the sheets! Join us on the floor of room [redacted] for the last time, with our thoughts from day three. We talk about Sanctum, Potemkin Empire, MegaCity: Oceania, and Aegean Sea.