Oho! What's this? Board gaming's most excitable hour of chatter is back, and live in our podcast section!

Matt and Quinns begin by discussing everything they played and saw over the New Year, including a visit to London's first board game cafe. After that, this one's all about crap houses. The boys discuss the terrible property investments they made in Last Will and the Getting Sacked expansion, Matt makes fun of Quintin's horrible estate in Castles of Mad King Ludwig, before finally the boys discuss how being tall makes it harder to build pagodas in Pagoda.

Finally the boys talk about Dead Body, a game sent in by reader Joe Faustine that would work best in a real-life spooky house.

Do you have a folk game you'd like us to discuss on the next podcast? Please, drop it to the email address at the bottom of the site!

Quinns: Some things are just better together! Chocolate and peanut butter. Head injuries and medical care. Tigris & Euphrates.

This week, board games' dignified finishing school of Fantasy Flight announced a new version of the European classic. For the uninitiated, Tigris & Euphrates sees 2-4 players each in control of a civilization in ancientest Mesopotamia, and accurately depicts how these factions would conquer one another by covering the desert in big square tiles and sometimes an intimidatingly chunky pyramid.

I've actually played Tigris & Euphrates. The short version of that story is that, like a lot of Reiner Knizia games, it made me wish I was outside climbing a tree. The even shorter version is that it is pretty good, if you like that kind of thing (read: tiles, Mesopotamians).

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Quinns: Last year we floated the idea of "Expansion January" or "Expansionanuary", where we'd start the year by revisiting old favourites and seeing how they've been updated. Since you guys weren't entirely repelled by the concept, welcome to the FIRST EVER Shut Up & Sit Down Expansionanuary.

We're kicking it off with what's being called the "first" expansion for Space Cadets, Resistance is Mostly Futile. Remember how we first covered Space Cadets with an itemised guide as to why your friends are going to do a terrible job of flying a spaceship together (and then later demonstrated it in a Let's Play)?

Let's give you a guide to the new terrors in the expansion! Starting with a new job that nobody's going to want to do: the Science Station.

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Quinns: GOOOOD MORNING TABLE GAMERS!

Welcome to the official start of SU&SD's year! We've been up to all kinds of unofficial business while you've been away, of course. Yesterday I had some friends over to try the print'n'play version of Spyfall, and the week before Matt experienced Fluxx for the first time. He didn't have to tell us. When we saw him he had tears streaking his face, and kept asking "Why?" over and over, looking for meaning in his shattered life. It was Pirate Fluxx, too. Do leave him some kind words in the comments.

But you're not here for news about us, are you? About us and our lives and the inescapable entropy afflicting our corporeal forms? You're here for the hottest scoops in board gaming news and I, for one, wouldn't dare to waste your time.

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Quinns: And so, like the sun disappearing over the horizon or a Christmas pudding slipping down your uncle's gullet, Shut Up & Sit Down enters it's holiday hibernation. I'll abandon the Christmas pudding analogy when I say that we'll be returning to the world on January 5th. Eat some fibre, Uncle.

It's been a fantastic year, thanks entirely to the donors who've allowed us not just to survive, but grow and plan for the future. Don't just take my word for it. Behold! A list of the content in 2014 that we're proudest of, some of which may have slipped you by.

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We sent Paul off to Firaxicon and then to BGG Con, to conduct insightful interviews with games designers and to test the water in these foreign lands. He was fine. He's fine. It's okay. He came back with lots of info about the upcoming XCOM board game, Kanban: Automotive Revolution and Geek Chic's fine tables.

Admittedly we haven't seen him since he uploaded this video. We're also analysing this video frame-by-frame to figure out who that slender figure is we keep seeing in the background. But we're positive that he's fine, and also if you've seen his body then please let us know!

Quinns: I want to play Doomtown: Reloaded a little more before I'm ready for our official review, but I also want to write about it before SU&SD wraps up for the year. Greedy boy that I am, I intend to have my cowboy cake and eat it by writin’ up some impressions.

Silas: Yeeee-hawww! Let’s get to it.

Quinns: ...Who are you?

Silas: Ah’m Silas McCoy, a fictional character invented by that dirty Brendan fella fer his Colt Express review. Yeeee-hawww!

Quinns: Yeah, I don’t think so.

[BANG]

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Quinns: Morning everybody! Our cover photo today is of L'Auberge Rouge ("the Red Inn"), a gorgeous-looking game coming next year from venerable Belgian publisher Pearl Games. It looks like you'll all be running incredibly creepy pubs.

Brendan: oh god what day is it

Quinns: Brendan?! What are you doing under the desk? The Top 25 wrap party is over. You should be at home.

Brendan: i had the worst dream. i reviewed board games for a living

Quinns: Hey, I've got a great idea. You can help me do the weekly Games News! Here, pull up a chair.

Brendan: oh no

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