My left hand opponent dealt and bid one diamond. Partner passed. My right hand opponent bid one spade. I wanted to double one diamond, but not one spade, with the following hand: ♠KQT5 ♡K92 ♢2 ♣ KT653.
So I passed. Left hand opponent rebid two diamonds. Partner and right hand opponent passed. Now I doubled, because the last opposing bid was diamonds.
Partner’s distribution was 4-3-4-2, with xxx in hearts and Qx in clubs. She passed because she had four cards each and her remaining seven honor points in suits bid by the opponents, and she thought she was "playing defense." She didn’t want to bid one of her short "round" suits (clubs or hearts)to take out my double.
I told her, "I had four spades to support a spade bid, and a only a singleton diamond opposite your four diamonds. We were not strong enough to defend, but we were strong enough to play two spades" (RHO opponent had five little ones for his bid).
Partner thought that my double showed shortness in both the opponents suits. I say that my bidding pattern showed shortness only in diamonds and suggested strength in spades. Are either of these interpretations more nearly correct than the other? Or do some world class partnerships use one, and some the other?
Animal Upon Animal – If you want to ease your brain in gently or you’re simply in the mood for some good, old-fashioned fun, this is the game for you. Yes, it’s technically designed for small children and the components consist almost entirely of painted wooden animals, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the most delightful games on our shelves. Basically reverse Jenga, Animal Upon Animal has a similar tension curve as the game progresses but is somehow much more forgiving, perhaps because with each successful move you’re left with a bigger and more awesome-looking animal tower! All the neighbouring tables will be jealous, take our word for it.
Quarto/ Pentago – These both fall firmly into the ‘abstract strategy’ category we touched on earlier, but are straightforward enough to feel like a gentle brain teaser (or gentle-ish, depending on how seriously you’re taking it and how clever your opponent is) rather than a full-blown strategic showdown. Quarto is the more sophisticated cousin of Connect-4, whilst Pentago is noughts and crosses with a (literal) twist. The two games have approximately six rules between them, but both have enough depth to get your brain ticking over and ready for whatever comes next…
Keeping things friendly
So now you’re all warmed up and ready for something with a bit more weight behind it, but you’re here to have a nice time together and want to leave on speaking terms. Here are our top choices for whiling away a companionable hour or so if you’d prefer to keep things friendly…
Patchwork – “A game of competitive quilting”. We usually open with this when we recommend Patchwork and watch the reaction, because those five words are often enough to either win someone over or put them off completely. If the description appeals, then you’re in for a treat, because as well as being about as endearing as it’s possible to be, Patchwork has enough depth to make for some really interesting decisions. On top of that, regardless of whether or not you win, you get the satisfaction of Tetrissing (yes, new word, we made it ourselves) together pieces to make your very own quilt and seeing it grow as the game goes on. Although it is a competitive game, it’s nigh-on impossible to play Patchwork aggressively, and the theme is just so soothing, so we’re pretty sure you’ll still be talking at the end. If you’re short on time, we’ve just got our hands on a copy of the newly-released Patchwork Express, which basically offers the same great game in under 20 minutes.
Jaipur – This one is a slightly harder sell for the uninitiated: players are traders in an Arabian market place, trying to win the approval of the Sultan by accumulating more goods and (mysteriously all-important) camels than the other player in each of three rounds. It looks and sounds very dry, but Jaipur consistently appears on top 10 lists of two-player games, and hopefully once you’ve played it you’ll understand why. Again, this is very much a Euro-style game in that there’s no direct conflict (although you might spot some opportunities to scupper your opponent’s plans if you keep a careful eye out). If you give it a go, keep an eye out for the special panda camel. We have no idea why it’s there, but we’re always pleased to see it!
Pandemic – If you’d prefer to remove the competitive aspect completely and work together against the game, there’s a whole world of cooperative games out there and pretty much all of them are great for two players. Pandemic helped to kickstart the whole genre when it appeared in 2008, and it has really stood the test of time. Players take on the role of a team of specialists trying to save humanity from four deadly viruses, racing against time to find the cures whilst travelling the world treating patients and trying to prevent outbreaks. The theme is so powerful that it’s impossible not to get drawn in, and it’s tricky enough to beat the game that you get to feel like heroes if you manage it, but will always have a memorable experience either way.
Head to head
Right. The gloves are off. You’re not here to mess around – there’s a score to settle. Here are our top games for times when taking part just won’t cut it.
Cobra Paw – Any game based around grabbing is guaranteed to get the competitive juices flowing, and Cobra Paw is simple enough to let you get stuck straight in. Take turns to roll a pair of dice, then look for the domino that features the two symbols they show amongst all of those on the table and try to get to it first. If you succeed, put the domino in front of you. If you can collect six of them you’ve won, but be warned: dominoes in front of other players are still fair game. Maybe move your drinks before you start playing!
Odin’s Ravens – This one doesn’t require physical speed to win, but involves a race nonetheless. Odin’s two ravens Hugin and Munin must fly around Midgard every day gathering information, and whoever gets back first to pass on their news first will be his good books. This is predominantly a card-based game with some beautiful artwork and component quality. Players discard cards to move their raven forward on a the track in the centre of the table, but can also invoke Loki to play tricks to speed their passage or slow down their opponent. A thoroughly thematic experience which always results in a nail-biting finale.
Looking for a social activity that’s basically COVID-proof? Allow us to present… two-player board games! If you’re lucky enough to live with at least one other person of a game-playing age and inclination, this is a fun thing you can do without the leaving the house, inviting anyone round, or (once you have the game), even spending money!
Convinced? Great! Here are some of our favourite games for two to help you prepare for whatever comes along next…
Hive, aka ‘insect chess’, is a strong contender for my favourite two-player game EVER, which is maybe surprising given my complete ambivalence about actual chess. This neat strategy game packs bags of depth and replayability into a handful of tactile Bakelite pieces, and will fit in a handbag or even a (large) pocket if you buy the mini version.
The game itself has just a handful of rules, and absolutely zero set-up beyond tipping the pieces out of the bag and splitting them by colour. On a turn, either add a new piece to the playing area or move a piece you’ve placed already. Pieces feature different types of insects that move in different ways. In the basic version of the game there are just five species to get your head around: ants, grasshoppers, beetles, spiders and the all-important queen bee.
You win the game if your opponent’s queen is completely surrounded by other pieces, regardless of whether those pieces are yours or theirs. There are just a couple of additional rules relating to placement and movement, but that’s basically the whole game (check out the Shut Up and Sit Down review here for a more complete run-through if you like to dot the ‘i’s and cross the ‘t’s).
Once you’re under way, this simple set of rules magically transforms into a quick-yet-satisfying playing experience that will get those mental cogs turning just enough without causing total burn-out, and will almost certainly leave you coming back for more.
As if that wasn’t enough, sturdiness of the pieces and lack of a board make this a game you can play pretty much anywhere. We’ve played Hive in the pub, in the park, even on a picnic blanket at a festival. Admittedly some of these settings might not be immediately relevant, but a game this durable will still be going strong when they are!
Once upon a time, way back when we were taking our very first steps into modern board gaming, Andy went on a quest to find a great two-player game for us to take on holiday, and came back with a neat little box containing Jaipur. We hadn’t played that many Euro-style games by this point, and initially I confess that the Middle-Eastern marketplace theme and apparent excess of camels left me a touch sceptical. But, as soon as I got to grips with the carefully balanced back-and-forth of the gameplay, my scepticism dissolved, and even the quantity of camels began to make sense.
Jaipur is a two-player card game in which players compete for the approval of the Maharaja, which they can gain by becoming the richest merchant in two out of three rounds of trading in the city of Jaipur’s market place.
The game mainly consists of a deck of cards containing a mixture goods to be traded and a WHOLE LOT of camels. The options on a turn are simple: either take one goods card or ALL THE CAMELS from the market place for free; swap goods cards from your hand and/or camels from your herd with the same number of goods from the market place; or, sell a set of matching goods to gain victory points (the more cards sold at once the better in terms of gaining points).
It’s straightforward on the surface, but with a hand limit of seven cards there are quickly some difficult choices to be made, and the more cards you take from the market the more new ones will appear before your opponent’s next turn and the higher the chance of them being able to claim something especially nice and shiny.
Again this game is super-portable, and packs a lot of depth and replayability into a neat little box. Plus, the recently-released second edition has given it a fresh coat of paint, making it extra vibrant and appealing.
If you prefer your games to have an engaging theme, or at the very least to contain cute plastic animals, Ice Team might be right up your ice floe. The aim of this simple, two-player race game is to get your team of polar bears from one end of the board to the other as quickly as you can, acquiring as many fish as possible along the way.
The modular race course can be arranged in different ways and there’s some randomness in the set-up, so the obstacles you’re tackling will be different each time. The rules for movement are simple: pick a bear and hop it to an adjacent ice berg tile or swim in a straight line across open water. Bears can leap-frog over each other should the opportunity arise, and some of the ice berg tiles do different things, from providing you with fish to letting you satisfyingly surf to the next spot.
There’s a bit of chance involved in winning, with the number of fish you acquire being partly determined by dice rolls, but there’s plenty of strategy too, especially when it comes to making your adorable team work together effectively.
This is a great choice if you’re looking for a game to engage a younger audience (the publishers recommend it for ages 8+), but we’re confident most adults will find it irresistible and more-ish too, and the theme feels just festive enough to make it ideal for Christmas but playable all year round!
Sometimes the premise of a game is so awesome that it’s enough to convince you to give it a try all by itself. We’ve persuaded a whole lot of people to try out Raptor at The Treehouse pretty much on the basis of theme alone, but the good news is that the gameplay is excellent too!
Raptor is an asymmetric game where one player takes on the role of a mother raptor, quietly minding her own business in the jungle/ desert (the board is double-sided) while tending her brood of babies. The other player takes control of a team of scientists, whose aim is to steal at least three of those babies away before the mother can get them safely off the board.
If you’re anything like us you already want to give this a go, but before you dive in let’s talk about how it works. Each player controls their pieces using a small deck of cards numbered one to nine. On each turn, both players draw three cards to choose from, and place the one they want to play face down. The chosen cards are revealed simultaneously (a mechanic we always love, incidentally), and determine who can do what. Each card has a particular power (adding new scientists to the board, say, or letting the mother raptor call some of her babies closer to her), but in order to activate that power the card must have a lower number than the other player. Whoever played the higher number instead gets to perform a number of actions (again, character-specific) equal to the difference in the numbers on the two cards chosen.
Every game of Raptor is guaranteed to be packed with narrative and drama. If the game has a flaw it’s that it seems to be harder to win as the raptors than the scientists, but that only makes victory all the sweeter when you do manage to get your brood to safety!
We know that for some people, competitiveness is a real barrier to enjoyment when it comes to board gaming, and probably never more so than when you’re stuck in a house together with no variety of opponents. Cooperative games offer a neat solution to this: all players work together to defeat the game, so you’re all on the same side and can rage or gloat as a team. The absolute classic of this genre is arguably 2008 release Pandemic in which players race to save the world from viruses, but although this saw a surge in popularity at The Treehouse back in March, we suspect the novelty of this particular theme has probably worn a little thin by this point!
Forbidden Desert was created by the same designer (Matt Leacock, in case you’re interested) and sees players stranded in the desert, racing to assemble a magical air ship from parts which have been scattered across the sand dunes, in order to escape to safety before their water supply runs out. So a bit like going on holiday somewhere hot, if you focus on the right bits!
Players take turns performing actions to bring everyone closer to their goal, moving around the board and excavating spaces to search for airship components. All the while, the sun beats down and a raging sandstorm roams the board, burying everything deeper and deeper under a layer of sand.
This game involves a bunch of really neat mechanics not to mention some great components, and can be played by up to five people if you have them available, although (like most cooperative games) it works beautifully with just two.
If all the options above sound a little too strategic, or if you’re up against some extreme board game scepticism, Tokyo Highway might be the answer. Ever since we added this to our library, we’ve been getting questions along the lines of “what’s that game they’re playing with the tiny cars? It looks so cool!”, and we can only agree: yes, it really does.
To be good at Tokyo Highway, you’ll need spatial awareness, a little bit of strategy, and perhaps most importantly, fine motor skills (don’t be fooled by the plastic tweezers that come with the game – they don’t help as much as you think!). The aim of the game is to place all of your tiny wooden vehicles on sections of your very own highway system, but in order to do this you’ll have to make it cross over and under your opponent’s roads in very specific ways, guaranteeing the creation of an urban planner’s nightmare!
This game is truly unlike any other we’ve come across, and has been known to lure in even the most doubtful gamers. Just make sure your table doesn’t wobble before you begin!
The period covered by Baltic Empires saw the Ottoman Empire at the absolute height of its power. The steppes of southern Ukraine and Russia were controlled by the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate, who were vassals of the Ottoman Empire, while the southern border of the Poland-Lithuania was inhabited by semi-independent Cossacks federations. Tartar raids to capture loot and slaves were a common problem along this border. Most of the time the Tatars served as a buffer between the Ottoman Empire and Poland-Lithuania. The Ottomans generally had no direct interest in this region, as their attention was primarily focused on the Habsburg and Polish lands to the south and west of the Baltic Empires map, but Polish and Russian reactions to Tatar raids at times forced the Ottomans to come to the aid of their vassals which resulted in large scale wars between Ottoman and Russian or Polish forces in the region.
Sultan Mehmed IV(1642-1693)
Mehmed came to the throne of the Ottoman Empire at the age of only 6 after his father was overthrown in a coup. He would become the longest reigning sultan in Ottoman history after Suleiman the Magnificent and was known by contemporaries to be a particularly pious ruler. In a Baltic context he is mostly known for his wars against Poland and Russia in the 1670s. The greatest of these was the War of the Holy League or Great Turkish War of 1683-99, which saw the legendary siege of Vienna in 1683 and the equally legendary relief of the city by allied forces led by the Polish king Sobieski with his winged hussars. Mehmed would be overthrown in 1687 by soldiers disenchanted with the course of that war.
Getting the Mehmed IV card into your court in Baltic Empires represent your Power securing an alliance with the Tatars and/or the Ottoman Empire. He thus represents not only himself but also the Ottoman Empire and other associated peoples more generally. By later discarding the card, you are calling on the Ottomans to intervene in the region with a major army. Placing three Independent units at once and allying with them all for one turn (as well as with any other units that might already be in the Ottoman & Tartar Lands) can be truly devastating for the unfortunate target. But once the blow has been struck the effect is over and the region might then be filled with Independent units that anyone can ally with, which can cause of lots of problems for both the Poles and the Russians. This card is obviously of major value for both the Russian and Polish players, but can be just as valuable for any power fighting against Russia and/or Poland as it allows them to devastate their enemies or at least force them to spend scarce resources to defend against Mehmed. Indeed historically the Swedes allied with the Tatars on several occasions and Charles XII even sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire after his disastrous defeat at Poltava in 1708.
As the card is lost when used it is worth considering the timing of its play, as there can be many circumstances where the continued threat of unleashing Mehmed can be at least as useful as actually using the card.
The Habsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire
Compared to the Maritime Powers and the Ottomans the interests of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg dynasty that controlled them were mostly defensive in nature when it came to Baltic matters. The religious divide across Europe in general, and Germany in particular, caused by the Reformation just prior to the start of the game was however a cause for conflict, as the Catholic Habsburgs wanted to restore the true faith throughout the Holy Roman Empire (as well as centralizing Habsburg power in the process). These religious conflicts culminated in the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648, which became intertwined with Baltic affairs as first Denmark and then Sweden saw an opportunity to expand their realms into the wealthy German lands by intervening into the war on the Protestant side. As Sweden was simultaneously fighting a war with Poland, who was allied with their fellow-Catholic Habsburgs, and Prussia-Brandenburg was being steamrolled by the armies of both sides, Northern Germany had suddenly become the focal point for most Baltic rulers.
The period from the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648 to 1721 (the end of the period covered by Baltic Empires) saw Sweden entrenched as a major power in Europe with holdings in Germany, and with a firm alliance with France – the Habsburg’s main rivals. This situation naturally led to more Habsburg involvement in Baltic matters, such as when an Imperial contingent was sent to Denmark to fight against Sweden. In Baltic Empires the Independent provinces in Northern Germany are very attractive. They mostly start the game with their full complement of Cities and Workshops and several of them produce rare Goods or even, as is the case for Hamburg, contain one of the three super valuable Trade Centers. Compared to the similarly rich, but completely undefended, Independent provinces in the Livonian region (the modern day Baltic states) the provinces of Northern Germany are not easy pickings, however, as most of them start out with enough Fortresses and other Independent units to rival the starting strength of most of the player’s armies.
Emperor Leopold I(1640-1705)
Elected in 1658, Leopold became the longest ruling Habsburg emperor, and the first to understand that the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 meant a marked decrease in importance of the role of Holy Roman Emperor. To compensate he sought to strengthen Habsburg authority within their own lands along absolutist lines. His reign saw many large wars against both France and the Ottomans, but in the Baltic context he is mainly known for the direct Imperial intervention against Sweden in the Northern War of 1655-60, which saw Imperial troops campaigning as far as Denmark as part of a Danish-Polish-Imperial coalition army. The infamous “Habsburg jaw” was most prominent in Leopold, and after his jaw was depicted unusually large on a 1670 silver coin, he was nicknamed “the Hogmouth”.
In Baltic Empires Emperor Leopold I represents the advantages of securing a firm alliance with the Habsburgs and their network of vassals and/or rulers within the Holy Roman Empire. You get to produce Independent units in Independent Provinces each Production Phase, an ability otherwise restricted to the Prussian player. You also get to ally with a unit in the Habsburg Lands for free during the War Phase, so by using the ability to place in the Habsburg Lands you in effect get a free unit you can throw after the other Powers each turn if they cause trouble for you. This is obviously very powerful if you are involved in securing Provinces for yourself in the area, but can also be used by Powers such as Russia, who are normally far removed from the Habsburg Lands, as constant attacks from the Habsburgs can be a great way of distracting other players who would otherwise cause trouble in your lands.
Albrecht von Wallenstein(1583-1634)
A Bohemian military entrepreneur, Wallenstein was Born into a poor Protestant noble family but converted to Catholicism in 1606 and married a rich widow. Wallenstein made an enormous fortune and a name for himself as a mercenary captain in the service of the emperor in the early part of the Thirty Years War, where he was awarded confiscated estates for his services. His massive armies were instrumental in first defeating the Danish, and then slowing the Swedish, during their interventions in the war. His meteoric rise to power and growing independence from the emperor would prove to be his undoing as he was assassinated in 1634 by army officials with the emperor’s approval.
Technically speaking Wallenstein didn’t intervene directly into Baltic affairs but only fought against Danish and Swedish intervention into German affairs. As this happened within the area covered by the map of Baltic Empires, he is however included in this article and the game. In the game, as in history, the coming of Wallenstein will pose great problems for whoever is trying to take control of the independent areas in Germany. The player who gets Wallenstein into their Court gets to place a total of five Independent units within the German lands (as defined by being adjacent to Hannover). As befits Wallenstein’s historical conquering army these units can be placed in any of these areas and not only in friendly or Independent-controlled areas, and can therefore really set back an opponent who has spent lots of effort and expense to carve out an empire in Germany. As in history Wallenstein only works for the Emperor (and himself) and not for the player who got him in their Court, so he won’t directly help the player gain a foothold in Germany. On the contrary, the second part of Wallenstein’s card text even specifies that no Protestant powers may ally with Independent units for the rest of the Round, as well as the next, so the arrival of Wallenstein often shuts down players’ ambitions in Germany for some time.
Ava: Happy new Monday everybody! Welcome to another new week on Shut Up & Sit Down, but also, sorry, it might be a quiet one. The whole team is already absolutely piled up with preparation for AwSHUX, the incredible free online convention that we’re running from the 22-24 October. A whole host of previews, panels, games and joy is just around the corner, but we’ve got to assemble the whole lot of it. Matt’s reverted to tech-goblin mode, Tom is figuring out how to film previews in a whole new place and Quinns has a pile of games bigger than I’ve ever seen. They’re even making ME do some actual work. Unfair.
But it’ll all be worth it, because AwSHUX is, frankly, amazing. Loads of streaming with a huge range of special guests, a digital convention hall with more streams, previews and general showing-off, a discord server full of people playing and demoing games, and our live podcast and late night Q&A. It’s just so much stuff, all celebrating games and supporting the publishers that have struggled through a hugely challenging time.
So while we’re doing that, we’re pausing our video and podcast production. Does that mean you won’t get anything to watch and listen to? No! We’re going to be uploading some of our favourite panels and shows from the last AwSHUX to keep you company.
Right. I’ve got a puzzle to solve and some editing to do. Have a lovely week and I hope we see you at AwSHUX!
We have a sponsor for this episode! We are eternally grateful for Tursiops Studios, who you may remember as the creators of the awesome “wreck ’em up” The Day We Fought Space a few years ago, for sponsoring our podcast this week. Their new game is called Primrows, it’s one we’ve talked about before, and it’s available now on mobile and desktop. I give some of my early impressions about the game about halfway through this week’s show, but the game is free to play with a one-time premium unlock so there’s really no reason not to just go try it out for yourself. Head over to the game’s website using this link here to learn more and find links to all platforms. Oh, and here’s the trailer. Primrows is such a lovely little game, thanks again Tursiops Studios!
As for this week’s show, well, it was a hectic one. Internet issues caused us to split the recording into two parts with the first half recorded yesterday and the second half recorded today. It all worked out in the end, though. Topics include the Nintendo Switch 2, the Mario Kart Direct from yesterday, the PlayDate Season 2 announcement, retro handheld stuff, and much more. Oh, and we finally catch up on listener emails going all the way back to January.
Don’t forget to shoot us emails with any questions, feedback, or anything else relevant or irrelevant to [email protected]. We read ’em all, and love decoding messages written entirely in emoji. As always, you can listen to us with the links below… And if you like what you hear, please subscribe and/or drop us a review in iTunes. Much appreciated!
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