نویسنده: BinaAli

Cleariosity Review – One Board Family
Cleariosity is a new title that might tickle the fancy of gamers looking to add a small box word-based game to their collection. The game features dozens of small, square transparent cards that feature a few opaque letters, taking up spaces in a 3×3 grid. Each player is given a stack of these cards that they will all flip simultaneously to begin the game.

Three Letters at a Time

The goal here is to figure out a configuration of cards that can stack on top of each other and spell a three-letter word in one column, row, or diagonal. There are a few rules that apply:
- vertical words must start at the top and end at the bottom
- words cannot contain any letters that overlap letters from other cards
When a player finds a word, they shout it out and point out their word, then take the cards they used and add them to their scoring pile. Play continues until all combinations of words have been exhausted, at which points players count how many cards are in their scoring pile. Whoever has the most cards wins!

When we played this game, it brought up a lot of memories of the game SET, which I played a ton as a student and later on as a teacher. If you don’t know that one, it involves laying out cards, then trying to find three cards whose shapes meet patterns. While Cleariosity involves letters, you’re still having to use your brain in a similar way.

You have to keep certain things in mind about some cards while you look around at the others. You’re also trying to move quickly, hoping to shout out your word before any other players. It’s the kind of mental gymnastics that can get some players standing, jumping up and down, and shouting out words at the top of their lungs.

Final Thoughts

Cleariosity is quite simple, and it only takes a few minutes, so you can probably sneak it in between your “main” games. Word games don’t always hit with every audience, and there are some who will hate the real-time aspect of the game, so there may be some people who won’t really enjoy this title. For those looking for a new letter-based challenge, though, this could be a good portable game that is worth adding to your collection.

Cleariosity is available at your local game store, through the White Beetle Games webstore or online through Amazon today.

This game was provided to us by the publisher for review. Read more about our review policies at One Board Family.

Highs
- Small box makes it very portable
- Overlaying clear cards is clever
- Great filler game for players who enjoy word games
Lows
- Real-time aspect may be a turn off
Complexity

Time Commitment

Replayability
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16/04/2025
Men of Iron Historical Look – Battle of Montgisard 25 November 1177 – InsideGMT

As seen on TV, or at least in the movie Kingdom of Heaven, the Leper King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem was a striking figure in a silver mask to hide his leprosy. There is no evidence that Baldwin IV wore a mask, though he suffered from disfigurement of his face and limbs as his disease advanced. When he was young, he was considered quite handsome, though sometime after ascending the throne at around the age of thirteen his leprosy accelerated. How disfigured he was at the time of Montgisard is unclear with some sources saying he was unable to lead the army and others saying he was at the head of it. What is known is that six years later he could not walk unaided and was blind.

King Baldwin in Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

Baldwin was thirteen when he ascended the throne and a regent was appointed. When he reached the age of fifteen and was King without a regent, he planned an invasion of the Ayyubbid Kingdom of Egypt. He had some success against Saladin in 1176, but needed ships to besiege the port cities along the coast. He formed a short-lived alliance with Byzantium that fell apart before they could make headway in the invasion.

While the army of Jerusalem was engaged in the north helping Raymond of Tripoli attack Hama, Saladin planned his own invasion of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from Egypt. Learning of Saladin’s plans, Baldwin IV, a teenager with leprosy but a most able commander, left Jerusalem with, according to William of Tyre, only 375 knights to attempt a defense at Ascalon, but Baldwin was stalled there by a detachment of troops sent by Saladin, who, again according to William of Tyre, had 26,000 men. Accompanying Baldwin was Raynald of Chatillon, Lord of Oultrejordain, who had just been released from captivity in Aleppo in 1176. Raynald was a ﬁerce enemy of Saladin, and was the effective commander of the army, with King Baldwin too ill to command it personally.

The Christians, led by the King, pursued the Muslims along the coast, ﬁnally catching their enemies at Montgisard near Ramla. Saladin was taken totally by surprise. His army was in disarray, out of formation and tired from a long march. The Islamic army, in a state of panic, scrambled to make battle lines against the enemy. As Saladin’s army rushed to prepare, Baldwin began the charge across the sand.

The Jerusalem army smashed into the hurriedly arranged Muslims, inflicting huge casualties. The King, ﬁghting with bandaged hands to cover his terrible wounds and sores, was in the thick of the ﬁghting and Saladin’s men were quickly overwhelmed. They tried to flee but hardly any escaped. Saladin himself only avoided capture by escaping on a racing camel. Only one tenth of his army made it back to Egypt with him.

The historical text above was lifted from the Infidel Battle Book’s Historical Background for the Battle of Montgisard. In the game, the Army of Jerusalem is only 10 units arrayed against 65 Ayyubid units. That sounds like it should be a one-side loss for Jerusalem, but the Ayyubid army begins in complete disarray and within Charge range of the Knights!

(Note that the stream and hill in the image is ignored for the Battle of Montgisard)

You can learn more or pre-order the Men of Iron Tri-Pack 2nd Printing here.

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16/04/2025
magic the gathering – Does Maddening Imp affect creatures cast after combat?

Maddening Imp does destroy creatures that enter after its ability has resolved.

The main relevant rule is rule 611.2c:

If a continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability modifies the characteristics or changes the controller of any objects, the set of objects it affects is determined when that continuous effect begins. After that point, the set won’t change. (Note that this works differently than a continuous effect from a static ability.) A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability that doesn’t modify the characteristics or change the controller of any objects modifies the rules of the game, so it can affect objects that weren’t affected when that continuous effect began. If a single continuous effect has parts that modify the characteristics or changes the controller of any objects and other parts that don’t, the set of objects each part applies to is determined independently.

The first part of Maddening Imp’s ability is a continuous effect that does not change any objects’ characteristics or controller, so it can affect objects that weren’t affected when the ability resolved. The delayed triggered ability is then not associated with any particular set of creatures when it is created, so it determines the set of creatures to destroy as it resolves in the end step.

This is confirmed by the rulings in this Reddit thread.

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16/04/2025
Top Tier Review – One Board Family
Tier lists are everywhere, because everyone needs to know our opinion. Top Tier is a party game from Indie Boards & Cards where players build rankings in some ridiculous categories.

In this video review, I share how to play Top Tier and talk about the best setting for this tier-making party experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WMDPncGfmo

Top Tier is available at your local game store or online through Amazon today.

This game was provided to us by the publisher for review. Read more about our review policies at One Board Family.

Highs
- 100 category cards with lots of variety
- Lots of laughs as players discuss the ranking
- Players can jump in and jump out of games
Lows
- Game is very dependent on players at the table
- Typos and misspellings in the game
Complexity

Time Commitment

Replayability
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15/04/2025
On Designing a Game About an Ongoing Conflict – InsideGMT

In today’s article, I wish to discuss the context around designing A Fading Star as an ongoing conflict. The game covers a pivotal period of the Somali Civil War (2007-2014), which one could term “the golden age of Al-Shabaab.” But since I started working on the game and researching this topic, the situation that stemmed from this timeframe evolved. As the designer of a game about an ongoing topic, how do I position myself with those developments? What are some of the themes approached in the game that are still relevant today?

Let’s look at a timeline of the Civil War.

A timeline of the Somali Civil War, as covered by various different games

About a decade will have elapsed between the end of the timeframe depicted in AFS and when the game should hopefully hit the player’s table. Within that decade, the latest documentation I used to establish the model was from 2021. Simply put, there will be a 5-year “information void” where the latest expert studies and journalist investigations on the civil war will be unaccounted for in my model. And…that is all right! The first challenge in designing a modern ongoing conflict is to accept that we have to set hard bounds if we want to achieve a cohesive result, and to learn to not look back on this decision.

A less easy task is to contemplate the war’s latest developments and avoid seeing validation bias! In AFS, we ask open questions, some biased, some open-ended. How about checking some of those developments and how they relate to these game statements? Rather than a faction-per-faction analysis, let us focus on the Federal Government and how the institution operated over the years.

A “fixed” Somalia?

The Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) is comprised of six federal member states (FMS), each with its own degree of autonomy (or independence in the case of Somaliland). The biggest challenge for the internationally recognized government back in 2007 was to earn legitimacy and the trust of the FMS through state-building and interclan diplomacy. Not quite the easy fit when your seat of power is besieged by an all-mighty Islamist insurgency and your only military support at the time came in the form of an unpopular foreign occupation from eternal rival Ethiopia.

Through combined efforts with African Union forces, Al-Shaabab was ousted from all major urban centers in the country by 2012, allowing the FGS to achieve the minimal degree of legitimacy it needed for the country to start recovering from its status of failed state. The same year, delegates from most FMS would gather to approve a Provisional Constitution, setting another important milestone. A Fading Star’s timeframe closes around this period, with Al-Shabaab on the backfoot and still a looming number of tasks for the government to settle now that the country is back on track.

Navigating through several crises between institutions in the following years (2021 and 2024), the FGS would also see several political figures from various horizons being voted in by clan representatives, alternating between rival sides without blood being shed. After two traumatizing decades of warlord conflicts, Somali political apparel finally reached a minimum level of maturity, despite an endemic level of corruption at all levels of the state. This new state of affairs led to other important developments for the country: the lift of the weapon embargo in 2023, Somalia joining the Pan-African EAC economic alliance in 2024, and a victory at the International Court of Justice on a maritime dispute with Kenya. Without a doubt, the Somali State was back. However, this would be seeing the glass as half-full.’

With Great Power…

One important obstacle for the FGS has consistently been achieving authority and legitimacy among all member states. With foreign aid and weapons pouring into the hands of the new country’s military, a new temptation was born: bypassing interclan talks and instead coercing or corrupting the weaker states into submission.

Credit : Siyad Arts

Under President Mohamed Abdullahi “Farmaajo” Mohamed’s presidency (2017-2022), the FGS focused on large centralization efforts, using all tools available to bolster the government’s reach to the FMS, at the expense of the more autonomous Puntland and Jubaland.

In a more recent example set in 2024, an attempt by elements of the Somali National Army acting on behalf of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to oust Jubaland State President Ahmed Madobe was thwarted, ending with dozens of federal soldiers captured.

They were already prominent personalities in the” Al-Shabaab Golden Age” era portrayed in A Fading Star, and faces of the decentralization vs. federal consolidation efforts.

The same president has also been accused of focusing the counter-offensives against Al-Shabaab in his home region rather than in more militarily relevant areas. This temptation is nothing new, and interfaction violence has always been a large obstacle towards stabilizing the country and unifying the war effort against Al-Shabaab. In A Fading Star, this uneasy relation is reflected through the ability of the federal government to attack any Somali elements (unlike African Union forces), regardless of their affiliation, or to redirect foreign aid towards subjugating FMS elders (as a reminder the Pirates faction also include minor clans):

With friends like that…

Somalia’s relationship with its neighbors Ethiopia and Kenya is another important factor in the fight against Al-Shabaab and in stabilizing the state. Both countries have contributed an important number of troops that helped retake large parts of South-Central Somalia from the Islamist group, especially in the mid 2010s. Until recently they manned many of the Forward Operating Bases established to maintain a military presence in the areas reclaimed by Al-Shabaab.

It is an understatement to say that without those states, the situation would be most certainly different today. However, this assistance did not come out of pity, and it is no mystery that both Addis Ababa and Nairobi have a vested interest in stabilizing the country … up to a point, solong as it serves their national interests.

For example, with the FGS’ reach and potential increasing over the years, the relationship between Somalia and Ethiopia has been rocked from places like presidential bromance to Somaliland-related tensions, nearly bringing the countries to the brink of war.

While Mogadishu accepted the presence of Ethiopian troops in the peace-keeping process to make up for the small size of its forces, Addis Ababa was primarily seeking to secure its borders and did not hesitate to undermine any process that could have led to a strong, centralized Somalia. That is the adversity of these two actors, who need each other to achieve their short-term goals but whose long-term policies will inevitably clash and result in heightened tensions, threatening the whole region in the process.

An example of major development in this aspect came with the de facto dismantling of Ethiopian-backed Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a (ASW) after clashes with federal forces in 2015. ASW is a Suffi militia that was instrumental in fighting against the Islamist militants but also an entry tool in Somali affairs for Addis Ababa in the earlier years of the war.

This agitated relationship is nothing new in the Horn of Africa’s political landscape. In A Fading Star, it is reflected through the tumultuous link between the federal government player (TFG) and the AMISOM (African Union) faction, which includes forces from both Kenya and Ethiopia, and their respective goals.

The former tries to achieve a greater centralization of power through territorial control and the establishment of allegiances with local clans and embezzlement of FMS funds. The latter pursues the decentralization of Somalia through the ”4.5 formula” seeking more autonomous (some would say easy to manipulate) member states.

This political rift and manipulation of the Somali civil canvas are modeled through game elements such as the Support level in an area, the Patronage accumulated by the government, and the inescapable Clan Trouble that will appear when those factions try to contain one another (sometimes at the expense of the minor clans).

Some of the Events that reflect Nairobi and Addis Ababa’s long-standing policy of containing the influence of Mogadishu in its own country

A problem: Al-Shabaab is still (very) relevant today

I would like to clos0e this article with an important statement: as mentioned in the timeline above, the military situation on the ground to this day was close to a stalemate with none of the factions involved making breaking progress. The Somali National Army was being retroceded by many of the countryside FOBs as African Union peacekeeping troops were rolling out of the country. The Somali were now in charge of their own security, with the backing of many countries such as Kenya, Turkey, Egypt or the US still contributing essential logistics, troops, or trainers.

ATMIS is the transition mission that succeeded to AMISOM, with a role focused on support rather than kinetic operations against Al-Shabaab. Source : ACLED

However, at the time I am writing these lines, the situation in South Somalia is degrading as Al-Shabaab is making important progress towards the capital, Mogadishu, in a trend not far akin to the existential threat they posed back in 2007-2011. This situation could be the very consequence of the interclan fighting and political instability that the federal government has been navigating in recent years and described in this article.

This is a good reminder that modeling an ongoing conflict is about providing the tools to understand its underlying trends and dynamics, rather than “forecasting” an outcome. I hope the game will help you understand why past and future events transpire a certain way and what we can learn about matters such as small-state diplomacy, terrorism, state-building, and counter-piracy. But ultimately, when A Fading Star hits your table, please take this product as a modest take on the Horn’s affairs, during a precise time frame of the Somali civil war (2007-2014). Nothing else.

Despite the signs of progress made in securing Somalia’s future, the White Star is still not safe from fading away. As the country is especially sensitive to humanitarian crises amid conflict and climate-related disasters, please consider donating to NGOs that help on the ground, such as Action Against Hunger or the Danish Refugee Council.

Previous Articles:

A Fading Star #1: The Somali Civil War

A Fading Star #2: Harakat Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahideen

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15/04/2025
magic the gathering – Trick Bind for end game

You can use Trickbind with Flubs or Song of Creation to make it very difficult for your opponent to stop you from winning with Laboratory Maniac.

Once Laboratory Maniac resolves, any card draw instruction allows you to win the game. If you have Flubs, the Fool or Song of Creation and you cast Trickbind or another spell with Split Second, the card draw triggered ability will trigger from casting that spell, and go on top of the stack over the Trickbind. That means that it will resolve while Trickbind is still on the stack, so it will be protected from all of the types of interaction that Trickbind prevents.

Depending on what exactly you cast the Trickbind in response to, the opponent may have the chance to cast a spell before you cast the Trickbind. But that doesn’t help your opponent, because you can just cast the Trickbind in response to their spell and win while their spell is still on the stack. If they have their own Split Second
removal spell and a chance to cast it, you would have a problem.

I said this makes it “difficult” for your opponent to stop you, not “impossible”, because Split Second does allow for some interaction. Split Second does not prevent players from activating mana abilities or taking special actions, and doing that can in turn trigger abilities that may be able to interfere with the combo. For example, your opponent could sacrifice Perilous Myr to activate Ashnod’s Altar‘s abiltiy, and have Perilous Myr’s triggered ability deal 2 damage to Laboratory Maniac.

I also want to address a common misconception with using Split Second to protect combos like this: you cannot use Split Second to protect spells and abilities that are already on the stack. Spells and abilities on the stack resolve one at a time. After the top spell or ability on the stack resolves, each player has an opportunity to play spells or activate abilities before the next object on the stack resolves. This means that if you try to use Trickbind to stop an opponent from interacting with a spell or ability that would win the game that is already on the stack, the opponent can simply wait for Trickbind to resolve before using their interaction.

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15/04/2025
Shut Up & Sit Down, Quinns Quest, and The Year Ahead

February 1, 2024SU&SD News

Tom: Hey folks! We wanted to kick off the year with an update that goes over what Shut Up & Sit Down is going to be up to in 2024. This is the kind of thing we normally reserve for the newsletter, but we wanted this to be broadly accessible so that everyone’s in the loop!

First off, Quinns is going to share an exciting new project he’s been cooking up! Then, afterwards, I’ll take you behind the scenes on what to expect from the site going forward! It’s a long one, so let’s get into it…

Introducing: Quinns Quest!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c29Ecut4K_E

Quinns: So! My news, here goes….

I think the TTRPG scene is in a similar place to the board game scene in 2011. When we launched Shut Up & Sit Down it was with a sense of frothing confusion that board games were so good, they weren’t getting the attention they deserved, and at least part of that was because the kind of coverage we wanted to see just didn’t exist. So, we decided to try and make it.

Now I want to tackle that for tabletop roleplaying games, with an entirely seperate new programme I’m calling Quinns Quest. It’s me once again deciding to try and get a whole host of underreported, extraordinarily designers the attention they deserve, and helping everybody to have a bit more fun along the way. Shut Up & Sit Down is of course where I’ll cover board games whenever I feel the itch – and you can expect to see more of me on the new Top 100 Board Games feature – but Quinns Quest is where I’m putting my immediate focus.

This is a bit of a new chapter for me – and so I wanted to take a second to say thank you to the SU&SD community. You folks have been so generous with your attention over the years, especially in the earliest days of SU&SD when I had literally no idea how to be a presenter. I remember my loved ones giving me suggestions in 2012 along the lines of “What if you smiled when you were on camera?” and “What if you talked slower, so people could understand you?”. The fact that you folks stuck with me while I learned the trade, video by awkward video, has been life-changing, and I can’t wait to put all that learning into a new project that I’m more excited about than anything else right now.

But whilst I’m scaling down my role with SU&SD, I wanted to say how happy I am that the site has been in such capable hands!

Tom is editor-in-chief of Shut Up & Sit Down, but that’s been true for a while now. The guy’s a f***ing marvel, and – troublingly – he only seems to be getting better? Have you seen his video on John Company?? Apparently he plans to focus on making equally ambitious videos in the future??? The world isn’t ready.

Tom, you’re an extraordinarily rare talent. You’re hilarious, insightful, and technically-minded in a way I’ve never been (don’t know if you noticed this). But more importantly, you’re hungrier and more passionate about board games than my decrepit ass. Part of knowing when to step back a little is knowing when it’s time to make room for the next generation, and it’s past time I do that.

Matt- my time spent making 2-person videos with you is what I consider my most creatively fulfilling time with SU&SD. I have so, so many happy memories with you, not just of workshopping jokes in your living room, but just playing games with you.

In fact, if I had to name my favourite single instance of a game I’ve played, it would be the afternoon we spent playing head-to-head Tigris & Euphrates in advance of our marvellously unhinged review. London was caught in a sweltering headwave and sweat was literally beading on my forehead as we were locked in a near-silent, utterly intense battle, punctuated only by each of us complimenting the other’s move. You are the kind of collaborator a creative can only dream of, but you’re an even better opponent. You’ve made me so much sharper, in comedy, in editing, and in strategy. I have no choice but to be my best around you. I think you’ve even beaten me at a game once or twice.

And Emily! Holy kittens. Hiring Emily feels like going for a walk and finding a ruby on the ground. Her reviews are so good that it makes me ashamed of myself. It took me the better part of a decade to become as good a video reviewer as Emily was instantly. Emily, your future is inconceivably bright. I also understand you’ll be seeing more of the inimitable Pip Warr in the future of Shut Up & Sit Down, and nothing could make me happier. I also know nothing will make fans of the show happier, since one of the only pieces of feedback SU&SD fans were ever brave enough to give me in person – over and over again – was “More Pip”.

What a team. What an unbelievable, beautiful, side-splittingly funny clutch of folks.

Tom: Wahoo! Anyone who watched Quinns’ fantastic Get into RPGs video, or Alice is Missing coverage has probably felt this shift coming for a while now, and Quinns making a dedicated space for RPG fans is fabulous! We’re excited to keep working with him on the brand new Top 100 Series and any other board game shenanigans that take his fancy, and of course we can’t wait to see all the… roles he…. plays? Is that how it works?

Quinns: You’re sort of making it sound like a sex thing. It’s not a sex thing.

Matt: It’s definitely a sex thing.

Quinns: Shut UP!

Tom: And… sit……?

RIGHT! So! With Quinns taking on this new project, what’s happening with the rest of SU&SD? Let’s talk about the cracking year of board games ahead!

The First Ever Top 100

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ojqjk5k9sA

Tom’s New Hat

Tom: With Quinns formally changing his position within the site to ‘contributor’, I am taking up the mantle of SU&SD’s editorial lead, a hat you’ve already seen me sporting for the last year or two!

To address an obvious question about this change in role, though – “Why not Matt, apparent heir to the cardboard throne”? There’s one reason! It’s because he’s an incredibly talented creative with years of experience making brilliant work who, with all the love in the world, has the organisational talents of a level one goblin.

Matt: It’s true! I once accidentally put my passport in the bin. My wife rescued it for me.

Tom: He’s doing just fine, and we’re very proud. Me, on the other hand? I’m an organisation freak! I’m a dweeb! I like lists and bullet points and sorting my socks by colour! I’m the guy who likes packing away my board games into custom labelled bags. This one’s for me, gang!

Realistically, this expanded role does little to actually affect our creative output one iota – like I say, you’ve been watching this restructured SU&SD for the past two years! Matt and I are creative partners on most everything we put out – we’ve got workflows to help each other with edits, we love filming together, and we’re very much aligned on what we want the site to be.The studio is finally a place where we can easily film (don’t worry, it’s not replacing our classic “reviews from the living room”), and we’re going to get stuck right in, and bring our growing roster of contributors right along with us! It’ll be a treat, and I’m so excited!

Videos and Podcasts

We’ve got one main goal for this year, and it’s sustainability. We’re really proud of this website, and we want it to exist… forever? That might sound crazy, but we truly want the spirit of things to continue on even if the faces might vary. To that end, we’re pushing our resources in 2024 towards creating a dependable and stable slate of videos to gently branch out from.

The precedent set when SU&SD was growing the most was to upload a video every single week, no matter what. This (sometimes!) worked, but simply does not scale with the production values and ambition we’re looking for in videos these days. Attempting this approach in this more modern, less ‘handheld and poorly white-balanced’ era of SU&SD? It led to a whole lot of trying to make more elaborate and high production videos within a schedule that didn’t fit – and subsequently getting said videos delayed, pushed back, completely canned… or otherwise just completely knackering us.

We want everything we put out to be of exceptional quality, and we want to be energised by every project! So, in 2024, we’re shedding that old and often-missed schedule to instead focus on three videos per month, one of which will consistently be an entry in our Top 100 series. It’s not a huge change, but it’s a meaningful one.

Already this simple, semantic shift is making me feel better, more creative, and more in control of my work. I think this is an excellent baseline to work from, and I’m certain you’ll agree that the ‘fewer and better’ approach to video is going to result in some of the best work we’ve done in recent memory. I’m not going to spoil some of the chunkier projects we’ve got planned, but I think they’ll be exceptional.

What about the podcast? Exactly the same deal here. We never truly managed to sort out one a week, so we’ll take a week out for every three podcasts released from now on. I want to make sure those podcasts are of dependable quality – so nailing down our format to three games per podcast discussed by two hosts will be the norm. However, I do want to pursue more ‘topic’ episodes where we have wider conversations with more people involved – but I want to get a dependable offering running first!

What’s Going on with SHUX?

Goodness, deposits are just so expensive. We love it as much as you do, and we really want it to come back… it just might be a bit of a wait. When it does return, we want it to be as good as ever and to be in a position to run it in a healthy way that doesn’t obliterate the team completely! We’re going to be quiet on this front for a good while, but you’ll know about the future of SHUX as soon as we do.

Bonus Bits?

Everything with our bonus bits and donations will stay exactly the same. We’re going to shoot for monthly newsletters with a couple fun extra videos to go along with them. This month, we’ve got a video where I ramble about Shadow Gambit, and a Bonus Podcast! I’m also really excited about some potential weirder directions for this – we’ve heard you loud and clear that early access isn’t as exciting as odd exclusives, so I want to focus on making exactly that.

A Personal Note

Finally, I wanted to take a second to share something from the heart. Shut Up & Sit Down has been around for about thirteen trips around the sun, which is about eighty seven in ‘Internet Years’. Managing the trajectory of this creaky old ship is a real challenge – one that I feel in a uniquely odd position to tackle. I was a fan of the site before I started working here, watching videos whilst I was still in secondary school! I want to make sure I protect the soul of the thing that got me into board games, but I also want to make sure I’ve got my own voice within it. I want this site to be run in a way that’s healthy and exciting for everyone involved, without losing the spark that got me hooked.

But it’s often tricky to achieve that. Foundational to my role as the ‘new face’ on the site is a constant background radiation of comparison. That comparison starts in my own brain, and then takes up more and more room as the internet-at-large pumps air into it until it dominates my headspace and paralyses me to continue. I’ve always felt like there’s another pair of shoes to fill, that I’ll never quite satisfy people’s desire for something they can no longer have.

I’m pretty done with that thinking. 2024 marks a subtle new chapter for SU&SD, where we’re going to play to our tempo and make great work for the people who like what we do for what it is now.

I truly hope you’re as excited for that as we are!

Questions?

Of course there will be! What do you want to know? For a couple of weeks or so we’ll be keeping an eye on this page and will reply to queries to build up something of an FAQ for people to take a peek at when one of those ‘What Happened to SU&SD?’ Reddit posts inevitably crops up within the next… week? Day? Those things are maddening, aren’t they. Thanks to everyone who engages in those in good faith and can accept that we are only human, and that in 13 years, things do change. We’ll do our best to build and maintain a site you can love, and if you don’t? A reminder that we’re out there on the internet as well, and we’re human beings too!

Be gentle, folks, it’s been a mad few years but we’ve still got our whole hearts in this wonderful thing. If you do too, then everything we do is for you, and we hope you’re able to enjoy it with us in the years to come!

Big Love,
Team SU&SD

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15/04/2025
HUTAN: Life in the Rainforest Review
I’m a big fan of games that have a nice table presence, so I was excited when we received HUTAN: Life in the Rainforest from The Op and Sidekick Games. This puzzley, nature themed game is for 1 to 4 players and plays in around 45 minutes. HUTAN was created by the design team of Asger Granerud and Daniel Pedersen who are known for Heat, Flamme Rouge, and Copenhagen. Let’s dig in and see what this game is all about.

Flora and Fauna

Players will have a board made up of four rainforest segments. The first player will decide the board layout that each player has to follow. In each of the nine rounds of the game, players will take two turns as they build up their unique rainforest board.

Your turn starts by drafting a flower card from the market. There are five different flower types/colors represented on the cards. Once you draft one of these cards, you’ll add the new flowers onto your board, obeying a couple of rules:
- The first new flower has to be placed next to a previously placed flower (except for the first round).
- The flower(s) on the card have to be placed adjacent to one another (not diagonal).
- Flowers can be placed on top of flowers of the same color.
Your rainforest board is broken into areas of two to five blocks that are separated by waterways. Ideally, players want to fill these sections with a single flower color to score the points listed on the area. Players want to pay attention to the three water spaces on their rainforest board since flowers cannot be placed in these locations.

After adding the flowers from the card you drafted, you’ll move onto checking for the growth of trees. When you place a second identical flower color on a place, a tree grows on that space. HUTAN comes with four unique tree types which are different sizes and shapes to give player boards some variety. Each tree on a player board will be worth two victory points at the end of the game.

A Perfect Habitat

The final phase of your turn is checking to see if you’ve created the perfect habitat. Players earn big points by filling an area with a single flower color and having trees on each block in the area. When you place the last tree in an area, you can attract an animal of the same color on the space. Having a wildlife token in an area will earn you the points shown on that space at the end of the game.

The wildlife tokens in HUTAN are limited to only three in each flower color. Once a token is exhausted from the supply, they’re unavailable for the rest of the game. Even though you earned a wildlife token, you don’t have to place one. On occasion, players will create two perfect habitats in a single turn. You’re limited to earning one token per turn, so players have to decide on which area receives this token.

Another perk of earning a wildlife token is that they can fertilize the spaces orthogonally adjacent to their location. You can place any color flower in the spaces around the wildlife token. This is an optional perk but is almost always worth taking.

One player will take the start player token during the round which comes with a single flower of your chose. HUTAN is a game where being the start player can be incredibly useful.

Advanced Gameplay

In the early rounds of HUTAN, gameplay is pretty simple and the options are plentiful. It’s in the later rounds where players will start to feel the complexity of optimizing points and trying not to earn negative points.

At the end of the game, areas that have a mixture of flower colors are called mixed areas. Players score negative points for each mixed area and each incomplete areas. Strategically keeping away from some areas can be helpful. An area that doesn’t have any flowers will be zero points, keeping players from incurring negative effects.

Once players get the basics down, players can introduce Ecosystem cards into the game. Pull five Ecosystem goal cards that will award points to each player who completes these goals by the end of the game.

Final Thoughts

HUTAN is a beautiful and puzzley game that draws you in with its table presence. The game has a nice flow to it and keeping your negative points to a minimum is a challenge. After your first game, adding in the advanced scoring of the Ecosystem cards is a must for most gamers.

This game has the same publishing duo as Aqua, a 2024 release that we really enjoy. Not only did Vincent Dutrait do the artwork, but it also includes a couple extras that I love. There’s a family variant that adjusts a couple rules and removes the negative scoring.

In the back of the rulebook, you’ll find scenarios that have preset board layouts and Ecosystem cards. You are working toward hitting a specific score to accomplish the goal. There are also challenges and game modifications that you can tackle at any player count. Having these achievements adds a lot to the replayability of the game.

HUTAN: Life in the Rainforest is a great addition to our game library. If you enjoy games like Life of the Amazonia and Harmonies, two of our absolute favorites, HUTAN is a game that you have to check out.

HUTAN: Life in the Rainforest is available at your local game store, from The Op webstore, or online through Amazon today.

This game was provided to us by the publisher for review. Read more about our review policies at One Board Family.

Highs
- Excellent table presence and box organization
- Puzzley gameplay that gets more challenging each round
- Achievements and scenarios adds to the replayability
- Drafting the first player token in the late game is key
Lows
- Negative points can be a turn off to some (family variant removes this)
- Trees can come apart easily after a couple plays
Complexity

Time Commitment

Replayability
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14/04/2025
“Shut Up & Sit Down Presents” Incredible New Games with Play to Z

November 27, 2024SU&SD Special Features

Shut Up & Sit Down is delighted to announce a partnership with Play to Z to hunt down the board game treasures that we think belong in every collection.

“SU&SD Presents” is a brand new line of titles that places a spotlight on some of the very best titles in modern board games. We’ve hand selected a fresh crop of exciting designs, helped to polish them to perfection, and P2Z will publish these incredible games for worldwide distribution.

It’s our goal that every game in the line could be your new favourite game.

We’ve got our first two games arriving next year, with a new title releasing annually thereafter!

First up is a brand new design from the king of co-op himself, Matt Leacock (Pandemic, Pandemic: Legacy, Daybreak, Forbidden Island). Matt has teamed up with Lisa Towell – a real world animal rescuer – to create Animal Rescue Team. You and your friends will puzzle out the perfect rescues of creatures big and small. One game might have you arriving just in time to save a coop of distressed chickens, and another may have you fruitlessly trying to rescue a cow with a motorcycle, or cursing yourselves for ‘unfortunate horse logistics’. The game will be crowdfunded in early 2025, and should find its way to your local game shop by October 2025.

The second in the “SU&SD Presents” line is a remastering of one of our all-time favourites, Dogs of War, from legendary designer Paolo Mori (Ethnos, Libertalia, Blitzkrieg!). This game has been out of print for far too long, so it is not only exciting to see it back, but also with a SU&SD spin on it, packing more punch in a smaller box, at a lower price. This will be the definitive version of a certified classic with a sumptuous new lick of paint by Edu Valls (Bitoku, Redwood, 3 Ring Circus). Dogs of War will be coming to retail in late 2025.

About Play To Z:
Play To Z was founded in 2023 by a group of hobby game industry veterans. Zev Shlasinger, a 27 year game industry veteran who founded Z-Man Games in 1999, is President of Play To Z. Zev has published nearly 400 games in his career for Z-Man Games and WizKids, including huge hits such as Pandemic, Agricola, Fantasy Realms, Tales of the Arabian Nights, Merchants & Marauders, Super Skill Pinball, and many more. With its slogan “Games For All Gamers”, Play To Z publishes a wide spectrum of games, including Ascending Empires, YRO, Lynx, King’s Coalition, and more coming soon.

About Shut Up & Sit Down:
Shut Up & Sit Down has been talking about board games since 2011. With our trademark blend of comedy and critical analysis, we have become one of the largest board game YouTube channels and podcasts. Find all of our work on ShutUpAndSitDown.com.

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14/04/2025
King of Toyko 5-6 players Tokyo Bay Attacker

We played a game of King of Tokyo last night with 6 players. Here’s the scenario:

5 players remain.

The player in Tokyo Bay rolls 5 attack claws and a power charge.

All 3 players outside of Tokyo die.

TC player believes the player from TB now has to leave Tokyo because Tokyo Bay is now closed.

TB player believes he should remain because he killed everyone else, and logically he shouldn’t be punished for success.

The rule examples only depict scenarios where the player in TC is the attacker.when the player count drops under4, (or a player in Tokyo is dying, so the issue resolves itself.)
I’m torn because logically Tokyo Bay and Tokyo city are really just super positions, representing both players being in the attack position. Logically, I’d interpret that as whomever has the dice is in the Tokyo alpha position.

But the rules just say “Tokyo bay closes” so I understand why the Tokyo city player thinks the the TB player has screwed himself and is now kicked out.

What’s the ruling?

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14/04/2025