What would it be like to live in a world without words? How difficult might it be to communicate the idea of a person, an object or a work of art through nothing but a collection of slightly ambiguous icons? How would that even go?

If you think the answers to those questions, in turn, are "Pretty awkward!" "Very difficult!" and "It would be a disaster!" then you're already primed for our first playthrough video of 2016. Paul sat down with some of his friends, a copy of Concept and some very simple rules:

1. Divide into two teams of two.
2. Play to a two minute turn limit.
3. Choose the card (though not the exact concept) the other team must play.
4. Play the game on the middle of its three difficulty levels. That should be fine, right?

This is what happened.

Hilary: Ross Cowman's Fall of Magic is, indeed, magical. It's the kind of game you become immersed in, losing track of time, only to find yourself wandering out later from a rich and compelling world of your own creation. Like some wardrobe-portal to a new and fantastical land, you'll find yourself yearning to find a way back.

Luckily for all of us, continuing our journey to Umbra doesn’t require any train wrecks or magical paintings. Only one to three other players, and a few more hours of our time.

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Paul: Quinns, are you ready to do this?

Quinns: You ask that question and, immediately, I’m concerned.

Paul: It’s fine. It’s great. I have a great idea. This fortnight’s news has some big announcements but also games about POISON and STRING and CASTLES, which are three of my favourite things! I’ve decided the best thing would be if I beatboxed the news and you... sort of sang a song?

Quinns: No. No, that’s a dreadful idea.

Paul: Ah-BFFFRRRTTHHGG Ah-BFFFRRRTTHHGG Ah-BFFFRRRTTHHGG.

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Paul: Could this be the end for Shut Up & Sit Down? The year has barely started and yet it already seems that Quinns is... is leaving us? For a board game? Have any of you seen him? Please get in touch!

Face it, this was inevitable. We all knew the day would come. But why, of all games, was it Concordia? What's so special about it? And how will Matt and I cope with the news? (Clue: WE WON'T.)

That's a lot of questions, but fear not. All these and more are answered in this video. Probably. Maybe.

Hang onto your socks! It's time for a brand-new regular feature on Shut Up & Sit Down. Starting today, on every other Monday we're going to deliver a quick, entertaining rules explanation of one of our absolute favourite games in place of a news post.

Our thinking behind this was threefold. One, we've had people writing in and asking for this for years. Two, doing half as many news posts means that our news posts all become more plump with the stories that matter, you're more excited to read them, and we're more excited to write them. Three, we mentioned last year that the site's focus has been drifting more towards established board gamers in recent years, something we wanted to correct. We think teaching you how to play the very best games around is nice way to keep the site relevant and exciting, but also making it more welcoming for newcomers.

Naturally, we had to kick off with our new #1 game of all time, Pandemic Legacy. After this, though, we want to work for you guys. If you have a game you'd like to see us teach, leave a comment!

Matt and Quinns are ready to flick one another up! Won't somebody stop them? Seriously we're not insured

This week we're looking at Flick 'em Up!, a beautiful new game of flicking bullets at one another that comes in a ruddy WOODEN BOX. But could anything replace our favourite dexterity game, Catacombs? Only one thing's for sure. This town ain't big enough for both of 'em.

Matt, Quinns and Paul return for 2016! Our 37th EVER podcast is now live in our podcast section, on iTunes, on Stitcher, it's everywhere, it's completely out of our hands at this point, we're so sorry.

New games discussed include Billionaire Banshee, Flick 'em Up and Marrying Mr. Darcy. Old games discussed include Tikal and Pictomania. Million year-old games discussed include The Fun Stick Game.

Most importantly of all, our jingle roster has grown! Huge thanks to SU&SD fan Alex Cannon for sending in a folksy sting for Folk Game of the Month.

Perhaps we should make a quick round of Billionaire Banshee a regular feature too... ?

Quinns: Like bears waking up from hibernation, Team SU&SD is rousing from its slumber!

Paul’s crawling out from beneath a pile of board games and Matt’s almost finished dislodging his life-saving fecal plug made from digested Pandemic Legacy cards. We’ll be mailing it to one lucky SU&SD reader!

We’ve got a hell of a year coming up for you, ladies & gents. This month we’re planning reviews of Flick ‘em Up, Blood Rage, Food Chain Magnate and Concordia, we haven't forgotten about Expansionanuary, there’s a brand-new regular feature soon to be revealed and we already have plans for the site’s 5th birthday.

But we start, as always, with the news, and with a top story that actually reached the mainstream press. Hasbro chose not to include protagonist Rey in The Force Awakens Monopoly, instead opting for an all-dude cast of playable miniatures made up of Finn, Kylo Ren, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. In case you're unaware, one of those characters is in the film for around 10 seconds and another isn't in the film at all.

Still more amazing, though, was watching the billion dollar toymaker try and escape the media circus like a greased businessman trying to squeeze up a drainpipe.

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