0:11

Hello, everybody, and welcome

0:13

to the Shutup and Sit Down Podcast. A

0:15

podcast all about board games, board

0:18

games and the people who love them. My

0:20

name is Quintin Smith, and I've been thinking

0:22

and talking about board games for ten years.

0:24

That's a kind of weird prison sentence if you're not

0:26

into board games. Fortunately, I

0:28

love them. And joining me on today's

0:31

podcast is none other than Tom Brewster.

0:33

A guy we hired a couple

0:35

of years

0:35

ago. How's it going, Tom? Really,

0:37

that's a really good, you know, just say it

0:39

like it is, isn't it really? A guy

0:42

who we hired to do a job. And

0:44

I've been doing it for, like, three

0:47

years maybe. Three years. I got that wrong. I was gonna

0:49

call myself a truth teller. It turns out I couldn't even get

0:51

that basic truth right. Fortunately,

0:54

truth is not gonna be a big part of this podcast.

0:56

In this special edition of the Shut up and

0:58

Sit down Podcast, Tom and I are going

1:00

to be slapping down five

1:03

apiece predictions of

1:05

what is gonna happen in twenty twenty three.

1:07

And I'll I'll flag this now. Some of my predictions

1:10

stretch off into twenty twenty four. That's

1:12

fine. That's for that's for you and the people

1:14

at home to deal with. I I'll also stress

1:16

that their their their board game predictions,

1:18

not just like predictions more broadly.

1:21

I predict that the Don Bass will

1:23

see. You know, it's it's

1:26

going to just be predictions about

1:29

the board games and the board games industry. Now

1:32

Tom, obviously, like, the real test.

1:35

Predictions are are a a fraught thing

1:38

for a journalist to do because, you know, like

1:41

this podcast will, of course, hang around. People

1:43

can go back and listen to it, and they'll be able to see

1:45

exactly how right or wrong we were.

1:47

Mhmm. I'm gonna ask you right now of

1:49

your five predictions. If

1:51

you're really honest with how many

1:53

do you think are gonna come true? One, but

1:55

not specific. One. Right. Really? I

1:58

think that you got other other

2:00

remaining four just like jokes or are they long

2:02

shots? No. They're just I mean, it's

2:04

just it's gonna be very difficult to

2:07

you know, it's it's gonna be hard to predict the ballgame

2:10

industry, and we don't actually have. I'll I'll sort of

2:12

lay down some of the ground rules here. I guess we're

2:14

not allowed to use any insider information

2:16

or anything like that. So all

2:18

of my predictions are of things that I

2:20

have literally no idea whether they'll come

2:22

true or not. And also

2:24

I've tried to avoid any of them being like subjective

2:27

they're all just like things that will happen.

2:29

So I think a lot of them are long shots

2:31

and rely on, you know, a better

2:33

or more in-depth knowledge of the board game industry

2:35

than I actually have. Oh, interesting.

2:38

Several of mine are subjective along the

2:40

lines of this I don't think

2:42

will be good. Okay. Interesting. I'm

2:44

just mega opinionated. Let's

2:48

I'm too tense. I'm nervous. I'm starting to get sweaty.

2:51

Let's slap us ding in and get started.

2:55

Before we get started though, actually, I

2:58

wanna I wanna sort of raise the

3:00

stakes here a little bit. So the reason that I

3:02

pitched us doing this podcast because I've been listening

3:04

to lots of twenty twenty three

3:06

video game predictions podcasts. And

3:08

normally the hosts on these podcast ones,

3:11

they'll stake something. They'll put something

3:13

on the line. They turn it into

3:15

a competition. Okay. So

3:18

there's a there's a video game podcast called Triple

3:20

Click. Their victory condition, the

3:22

thing that happens if someone wins, is that everyone

3:24

else has to play a game of their choice. Okay.

3:27

So they force them to play, you know, a

3:29

game from their childhood or something. For us

3:31

though, I wonder if we should be a bit

3:33

meaner. And I think we have

3:35

the benefit here of board games

3:37

being physical objects that

3:40

one person can have. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.

3:42

Whoa. Hang on. You you sent me a

3:44

message yesterday saying, hey, do you wanna do

3:46

a predictions point last time? I said, yes, sure.

3:49

I bashed some nonsense out in

3:51

the last hour And now,

3:53

like, bloody high

3:55

wingman showing up. And I

3:57

feel like I'm in the process of being

3:59

mugged or scam. It's theatrics. It's

4:02

theatrics. So are you telling me that we get

4:04

to remove we get to go

4:06

over to one another's house whoever gets more predictions

4:08

right and just straight up take

4:10

a game from the other Correct.

4:12

Yes. Wow. You know what? I'm

4:14

not gonna overthink this I'm all

4:17

here because, Tom, I've been

4:19

envious of your copy of Beyond the Sun

4:21

for for pretty

4:23

much since you did the review. But, like,

4:25

can we can we say it's not, like, not too expensive?

4:27

Like, just be honest on that, RRP forty

4:30

quid. Yes. Is there a game in my collection

4:32

that he would just have? Yeah.

4:34

I mean, like, the thing my my one would

4:36

be, like, I've always been slightly jealous

4:38

of your massively expensive copy of

4:40

food chain magnet. But that's been at

4:42

my house for the past like Yeah. If

4:44

we lend that you. Okay. Like,

4:46

there are I'm looking at my board game collection now.

4:48

There's too many games that if you took it would be

4:50

like like removing a bone

4:52

from my ribcage. I feel like you get, like,

4:54

you know, maybe a veto on

4:57

on games. Like, for example,

4:59

you probably don't want my copy of both. But you

5:01

could take it just to hurt me.

5:03

And Yeah. I would take it

5:05

as a use it, like, as a plate. Just

5:09

send you pictures of the food getting over.

5:11

Okay. Okay. Fine. We'll sit, like, we'll

5:13

just have to if because there's some minor

5:15

kind of fuzzy, we're just gonna have to, like, We're

5:17

gonna have to revisit this next year basically. Yes.

5:19

That's the plan. We'll go one another. Okay.

5:21

Well, let's just got more juicy.

5:23

Alright. Let's put another sting in and

5:26

go, but now I'm you've really

5:28

changed the tenure of this of this podcast.

5:34

Okay. Do you want to go first or should I?

5:36

You can go first. My first

5:38

one isn't that exciting. Mine

5:40

isn't that exciting. Mine get weird

5:42

as I as I as I suspect

5:44

what's I'm thinking about this. Okay. This is gonna

5:46

be a tricky one to prove, but This

5:48

also might be something similar that you've got down.

5:51

Quinn's prediction number one. I think

5:54

the You know how when shot up a sit

5:56

down plays a kickstarter game, you can tell

5:58

it's a kickstart again. Yes. Like, generally,

6:00

you notice that the components are a bit big.

6:02

Uh-huh. A bit flashy. There's a weird sort of

6:04

unnecessary, leak gaudy.

6:06

Or a maximalist approach to the design. It comes

6:08

in multiple discrete boxes and you're

6:10

not quite sure which ones you should blend together

6:12

at any given time. Oh my goodness.

6:14

I can't believe that the point in

6:16

which Kickstarters started arriving in

6:18

multiple separate boxes because one box physically

6:20

could not hold everything -- Yeah. -- should have been a

6:22

wake up call. But

6:24

so my prediction for twenty twenty three, first

6:26

one is I think the gap

6:28

between crowdfunded board games

6:31

and non crowdfunded board games is

6:33

going to grow. Okay. I think that

6:35

gulf is only gonna become wider. I

6:37

think ordinary publishers are gonna be

6:39

tightening their belts as manufacturing in China gets

6:41

more expensive. Meanwhile, I

6:44

think crowdfunded games, which

6:46

is like an industry that that just has not

6:48

shrank at all. It's still absolutely enormous

6:50

and now it's not even restricted

6:52

to Kickstarter. We now have multiple successful crowdfunding

6:54

sites. I think to stand out

6:56

from one another and from regular published

6:58

games, Kickstarter games are only

7:00

gonna get bigger and more gourdy at

7:02

the same time as regular publishers make their games

7:04

smaller, simpler and more

7:07

spelt. I like this

7:09

prediction and I think it will probably

7:11

come true, but I think it's

7:13

too subjective. I think that it's gonna

7:15

be very hard to measure. So if you can

7:17

clap some kind of number on this one,

7:19

I'll allow it. Oh, okay.

7:21

Oh, what what how am I gonna do

7:23

that? Okay. I'm gonna say regular

7:26

published board games are going to be on

7:28

average ten percent smaller.

7:30

And and

7:32

and crowdfunded games are going to be

7:34

on average fifteen percent

7:37

flashier and bigger. Chiefs. Also, I

7:39

I just had a note here that, like, This

7:41

kind of puts Shut up and sit down in a weird spot because

7:43

obviously anyone who's been listening to the podcast

7:45

or watching the reviews for a long time will know that

7:47

we tend to be quite like critical and quite arch

7:50

when it comes to crowdfunded games, we sort of

7:52

like say, you know, well, you know, with the, you

7:54

know, the climate crisis being what it is

7:56

and with, you know, like, space

7:58

in houses being what they are. Kids does the games are

8:00

just too big. And I've got a

8:02

note here that, like, but if being unnecessarily

8:05

flashy starts being how crowd funded games

8:07

define themselves. Are we even right to complain

8:09

anymore? It would be like reviewing a noisy

8:11

lime green colored sports car and then complaining

8:13

that it's flashy. No. I mean,

8:15

is it time for shutups to down to just accept

8:17

crowded fun games are gonna be

8:19

stupidly big and

8:22

we should just accept that because I

8:24

don't want to accept it. I want to rail against

8:26

the dying of Yeah. No. I I

8:28

wanna rally against it. Like, I I agree

8:30

with you that, like, you know, we we kinda have to

8:32

accept that those games are gonna be massive. That's what

8:34

they are, but we can still kind of resent them

8:36

for it. It's like, you know, Marvel

8:38

movies being the predominant thing that is in the

8:40

cinema at the moment. Right? Like, you

8:42

know, I'm not

8:44

into a mall movie full stop. But, like, I'm not

8:46

going into my movie expecting,

8:48

you know, it to be some sort of beautiful

8:50

ode to to the craft, the cinema. But

8:52

I can still be annoyed that they are shunting

8:55

out beautiful odes to the craft of cinema

8:57

from theaters on Max. Right? But

8:59

if your job was to review Marvel

9:01

movies -- Oh, because it still may I know.

9:03

But does it still make sense to

9:05

start every Marvel movie review with?

9:07

Of course, I don't like this because

9:09

it's a Marvel movie. Like, you

9:11

know, it's you know, should the should the

9:13

job of the critic be to just meet creators

9:15

where they are if creators are just trying to make a

9:17

lot of money off the back of, you know,

9:19

doctor Strange. I feel like you're building sort

9:21

of this like, you know, beautiful

9:23

house around your core prediction, which

9:25

is going to be, like, impossible to

9:27

prove. Okay. Look. Well, let's let's move on.

9:29

Let's move on. We can leave it for the for up for

9:32

our listeners to decide whether I whether

9:34

I got that right or wrong. What's your number

9:36

one? My number one is that Zeman

9:38

Games will create a

9:40

Pandemic Marvel Edition.

9:45

You will all will announce it.

9:48

Yeah. Yes. Okay. Hang

9:50

on. Alright. Because, okay,

9:52

FantasyFly own the Marvel license now,

9:54

don't they? Which and so

9:56

that's all under the umbrella of Asper Day.

9:58

So I don't know, you know, I don't know

10:00

how that works. Like, you know, neither

10:02

do I. At the beginning of this podcast,

10:04

you were like, now we're not gonna use our

10:06

insider knowledge to make this

10:08

project. We have no insider knowledge.

10:10

Chipset has always been like unbelievably

10:13

ignorant of how the board came to a degree worse.

10:16

So I meant insider

10:18

knowledge as in, like, we can't be, I couldn't have

10:20

said, right, that Zeman Games will create a

10:22

pandemic Marvel Edition if I knew

10:24

that was already in development. Right? Right.

10:26

Right. I don't know if that's in development

10:28

or not. I don't even know if they have the

10:30

ability to license it. Very

10:32

peculiar that it came just after our discussion

10:34

of of Marvel things as well. We could have sort of double

10:36

bill here. We could. Yeah. That's

10:38

just that's just a really strong prediction. That's

10:40

good. I mean, I feel like we're we're over to you

10:42

a Marvel just board game because obviously we

10:44

have Marvel Champions, you know, that's making a lot money

10:46

for Fantasy flight. Fantasy flight

10:48

games and Aspartame. Yeah. But, yeah, we

10:50

haven't yet seen our, like, powerful worker

10:52

placement game. Well, there's

10:55

There I I you know, this is maybe tip of

10:57

my hat here, but there's also, you

10:59

know, in my in my research for this

11:01

prediction. You can buy Thanos

11:03

themed love letter. And

11:05

you can also buy I think a viable

11:08

splendor, if I'm correct,

11:10

I think this is such a good prediction. I

11:12

think it's gonna get announced and you're gonna WhatsApp

11:14

me on the day. I don't know.

11:16

I've been that much closer to losing my

11:18

copy of I know what my it's realistically.

11:21

I I get yeah. I I can't even

11:23

focus on this podcast because I've already looked at my book in

11:25

collection instead of, like, psychologically saying

11:27

goodbye to my copy of a stand I can literally

11:29

hear you nervously peeking. You

11:31

can hear me turning my my microphone.

11:34

Yeah. Okay. Alright. Damn. Well,

11:36

my second can well,

11:38

my second and third predictions

11:40

are both both subjective. So, like, you

11:42

because she's gonna have to suck it up. Oh, no.

11:44

My second prediction for twenty

11:47

twenty three is more

11:49

video game adaptations of board

11:51

games will be announced than ever before.

11:53

Joining big ones that are arriving to backers like this year,

11:55

like the Witcher: Old World, the elder scrolls but

11:57

tried out the second era, found by the masked great

12:00

chapters and cyberpunk twenty 7C7

12:02

gangs of Night City. So

12:05

video game adaptations will be announced

12:07

and will appear on Kickstarter. And

12:09

here's my prediction. None

12:11

of them will be very good. Absolutely

12:13

none of them. Not a one.

12:16

This brought you by the knowledge that shut up to Dan

12:18

has not once recommended a video

12:20

game time in doing this job for ten

12:22

years. But the the other reason that I

12:24

feel pretty confident saying that like video game

12:26

adaptations are done are done is

12:28

that video

12:30

games do appear in board games all the

12:32

time. Right? Like Kingdom Death Monster and the

12:34

upcoming beast are both great

12:36

monster hunter board games. You know not a particularly

12:38

great monster hunter board game. Monster hunter

12:40

world, the board game. Right. Right. Like so

12:43

anyway, look, that's that's that's just sort

12:45

of some my ranting, but I

12:47

think video game adaptations are clearly

12:49

making money for a lot of publishers. Clearly,

12:52

no one is being put off by the fact that, you

12:54

know, regularly you receive your copy of, you know,

12:56

a dark souls game or whatever, and it's just not very

12:58

good. So this trend

13:00

is this trend will continue until,

13:02

you know, morale improves or money

13:05

runs out. I, again, I'm gonna

13:07

ask you to make this less subjective

13:09

by saying like putting ABGG

13:11

score on it. No.

13:13

No. BGC scores is you can't do

13:15

BGC scores because Kickstarter

13:17

values higher. Just just just rate.

13:19

You get your game on Kickstarter and you rank it a on

13:21

BGG before you Right.

13:23

That's that's what happens. But I will say

13:25

shut up and sit down will not

13:27

stuck at this as it starts to feel really no

13:29

racking that. Genre sit down in

13:31

the year twenty twenty three will not

13:33

tell anybody to

13:35

buy a board game adaptation of

13:37

a video game that we have reviewed. I love

13:39

that this is like the way that you've said

13:41

that makes it now sort of turned into.

13:43

It does complicate us reviewing these games

13:46

because it's exactly really. You you've now

13:48

basically, like, if there is a really great video

13:50

game adaptation and you do pan

13:52

it, everyone in the collets is gonna

13:54

be like, he just wants that double yet. He wants that

13:56

championship be on the sun. He wants, like yeah.

13:58

Because there's no way that I, like, you

14:00

know, one of YouTube's largest book inquiry could

14:02

possibly get my hands on a copy of the answer.

14:04

There's no way. I I'm

14:06

that I'm that desperate. You

14:08

know, to clarify, just to

14:10

just Tom and I are having a bit of fun

14:12

here. All the people at home need to

14:14

know that if someone did a

14:16

kid's video game adaptation, game

14:18

adaptation of a video game, getting this gracious.

14:20

I would be delighted. I would feel like

14:23

that's breaking the curse. I would want to give the

14:25

designer an artist behind that game. You know,

14:27

like, just huge

14:29

praise and kudos and never mind the stupid

14:31

competition that Tom and I are having. Thank

14:33

you. But it's good. It's good. You cleared

14:35

that up. Like, it's just it's just a

14:37

really big ask, I think. You know?

14:39

Like, if you're a designer or an artist who has, you

14:41

know, a team working to do a

14:43

body of meditation of a video, it's just

14:45

hard. You have to work to a really tight timeline.

14:47

You probably have all kind of considerations from

14:49

the publishers that need to be in place. You

14:51

it needs to feel right to

14:53

people who play the video game. And that

14:55

means that you're already like you're working with

14:58

three hands tied behind your back before you're

15:00

even, you know, such work. It's not a coincidence.

15:02

That that generally speaking, all of these games

15:04

haven't yet been great. I like that prediction. I

15:06

like it. And I hope you get it wrong.

15:09

We'll see. I hope I get it wrong. I hope I get that

15:11

one wrong. What about you? My next

15:13

prediction is the Pandavonian

15:15

Institute, the creators of Blood and

15:17

McLaughlin Tower, will announce a new

15:19

set for blood in the clock tower and

15:21

I it almost had those.

15:23

I have a caveat because I think it's I

15:25

think it's very likely to come true.

15:28

Like Javier's We know that oh, to

15:30

clarify, we know they've been working on it. In fact,

15:32

we know people have been playing additional

15:34

character sets for blood on the clock tower for

15:36

years. It's just whether they announce it.

15:38

They have to announce it and it has to be

15:40

playable by Halloween. Oh,

15:43

there's no way. There's actually no way.

15:45

Tom, you are crazy person and you should be chained

15:47

up in a dungeon. That's that's

15:49

just a loss. You've just lost. There's no way.

15:51

What are they gonna do? Announce it and

15:53

Oh, okay. Okay. They

15:56

could announce it and it could

15:58

be a preview of it. It could be playable at board

16:00

game conventions by Halloween. Or it could be a

16:02

print and play. There's

16:05

lots of ways I can finagle my way out of

16:07

it. So if you do wanna add more

16:09

caveats Well,

16:12

playable. Someone could

16:14

if people can play the tell you what, people can

16:16

play the full finished version by

16:18

Halloween in some way? By finished

16:21

Rules but not production. Rules not rules

16:23

but not production correct. Yeah. Okay. I'll

16:25

I'll take that. I'll shake your digital hand on that

16:27

one. I mean, I just you and I have

16:29

both played, like, because blood on the clock

16:31

tower of the base game comes with threesets, one of which

16:33

that's beginner, one of which is intermediate, and one of which

16:35

that's absolutely insane.

16:37

Yes. Like -- Probably bonkers. --

16:39

just off the rails crazy. Like, every

16:41

time I play it, I've come away, like, punch

16:43

drunk. Yes. So I'll be

16:45

interested to see Hopefully, if they

16:47

release a new set, it'll be, you know,

16:49

another another sort of relatively beginner

16:51

or intermediate friendly or it'll do something new.

16:53

I'm interested. I know one of them steamed

16:55

around a spooky circus, which I am

16:57

very interested to do. That sounds incredible.

16:59

That sounds like that ripe for the Blood and

17:01

Clocktower group that we've played with in the

17:03

past have you know, they put on spooky music when

17:05

it's the nighttime -- custom playlist. Yes. --

17:07

I feel like spooky circus music could

17:09

truly be, you know, off

17:11

off the chain. Oh

17:14

god. Yeah. Okay.

17:16

My third prediction is one where you're

17:18

I think you're gonna go. You're gonna make

17:21

a noise when you hear. Okay. And

17:23

then you'll probably maybe think about it, and then you'll

17:25

maybe go Quinn's. You're so clever.

17:27

Oh, it's also make a subjective. Oh, boy. Here

17:29

we go. That's how I'll prove it. So this

17:31

is one of my predictions that might scooch

17:33

over into twenty twenty four, but if we're playing hardball,

17:35

then okay, I'll say twenty twenty three.

17:37

My prediction is in the year

17:39

twenty twenty three, one of the

17:41

best board game one of the best new

17:43

board games or card games that we talk about

17:45

on this podcast in a very excited manner

17:48

will be a VR game,

17:51

a virtual reality, board game

17:53

or card game. Okay. I

17:55

really like this prediction. I've this

17:58

is great. You do? Do you like it because you're that much

18:00

closer to getting my copy of Istanbul?

18:02

Yes. Do you like No. I

18:04

think it's very bold. So sorry, reiterate.

18:06

So so it's it's a

18:08

a really good card game or board game.

18:10

One of the most exciting new ideas,

18:12

like so so, yeah,

18:14

VR technology is not Yeah. Nobody

18:16

enjoys wearing their headsets. It's very uncomfortable.

18:19

It's too expensive. That

18:21

will, I think, change in the next, you know, five to

18:23

ten years. Not exactly a crazy

18:25

prediction. But people

18:27

regularly do do super

18:29

interesting stuff. Uh-huh. And I

18:31

you know, stuff where you know,

18:33

you'll tell like, you, Tom, you let me your oculus

18:36

and say, hey, play these few games that I did and

18:38

I played them each for an hour and I was like, wow, that's cool.

18:40

And then I gave it back. And I

18:42

feel no lost there. That's that's

18:44

the that's the bar that I'm talking

18:46

about. I'm just saying someone is gonna do

18:48

something cool with a board game or card game that

18:50

you play in VR kinda like inscription, if you've played

18:52

that video game, which is a video game where it's

18:54

a video game where you are looking at a table and playing a card game,

18:56

but you can stand up from the table and walk around and

18:58

look at stuff that's around you. It's

19:00

all spooky. I think you could do a

19:02

lot with a board game in

19:04

virtual reality. And I think that we are

19:06

getting quite close to card games

19:08

feeling really good in VR. People are pushing that tech.

19:10

Like Mark Zuckerberg himself

19:13

is is trying to make Poker and VR look

19:15

good. And like I'm failing. I'm

19:17

holding And failing. Correct. But

19:19

but I've got some friends who work in, like,

19:21

video academia who are really excited about how

19:23

close we are to just sitting

19:25

around a toe and playing cards, feeling good to be honest. And once

19:27

that happens, the idea of playing a

19:29

table game in a digital environment, like you

19:31

could like the sky is the limit.

19:33

Terms of, you know, what you could do, like,

19:36

in terms of, you know, just the

19:38

imagination and the possibility space of playing

19:40

a board game where anything can happen to the table,

19:42

where anything can happen to the environment outside the

19:44

table, where the cards in your hand can

19:46

change or flick or move around or have lives of

19:48

their own. I'm just this is all coming off

19:50

the top of my dome, but I think the

19:52

possibilities for tabletop in VR

19:54

are endless, which is weird because,

19:56

you know, I I don't like

19:58

playing, you know, board games in a

20:00

on on a desktop computer with the computer.

20:02

How new board get? How new not

20:04

board game? How new ballgame.

20:07

That's what I meant to say.

20:09

Okay. Yeah. No. I like this one. I

20:11

think that this will be one that we have an argument

20:14

about in the New Year. When we

20:16

do our twenty twenty four tabletop predictions --

20:18

Yeah. -- because that would be like the the

20:20

UNO for the oculus rift was a game

20:22

changer time. Yeah.

20:24

No. III don't know. Yeah. We might as well

20:26

have to argue about this, but we'll see. Well, I'll be on

20:28

the lookout. In in other, you know, sort of,

20:30

like, table or another prediction based

20:32

podcast I feel like, you know, the host can kind

20:34

of work it out amongst themselves whether someone

20:36

is right or wrong with, like, empirical proven

20:39

evidence. I reckon that we'll just do a

20:41

Twitter poll. Who do you think was the

20:43

most right? And the Twitter poll will

20:45

come down as it always does into people supporting the

20:47

underdog and you will win it. Yep. And that's

20:49

I'm fine with that because I

20:51

don't know. I'll just need to I'll just need to make a really good case. What

20:53

is your third prediction for twenty twenty three? My

20:55

third prediction is a little boring, a little I don't

20:57

know if it's safe, but it's just

20:59

not that interesting, which is that Tagrisso and

21:02

euphrates will receive a major

21:04

revamp or rerelease. Who

21:07

owns the license right now? I

21:09

don't know. I didn't do any

21:11

research. Is it not

21:13

still is it not still a fantasy

21:15

or asper Day, fantasy flight who still

21:17

have the old wind riders' edition,

21:19

like Well, we have there's sort of

21:21

Is it probable cause? Is that the right

21:24

terminology? Probably not. But we

21:26

have Biowound Games

21:28

picking up. Ryan Accutsia things. Like,

21:30

Zuvadis is being remade

21:32

very recently. That was just happening right now.

21:34

And then Ra has

21:36

been sort of remade by twenty century

21:38

game has been re released. So the licenses

21:40

for these things aren't impossible for people

21:42

to attain and then reprint. And I think

21:44

we've been tootting the horn and other people have

21:46

been tootting the horn of tea versus new freighters

21:48

for too long. So

21:50

hopefully, we'll see This is mainly just me

21:52

willing it into existence more than anything else.

21:55

Especially just Matt gave me

21:57

his copy of Tigris and Ephrases as a gift. He

21:59

was like, hey, you can have this. And on my

22:01

first game of it, I immediately snapped the

22:03

board in half. When being over

22:05

vigorous and flattening it onto the tank. You know, I've

22:07

never done that. While unfolding,

22:09

like, AA6 folder and eight folder.

22:11

Yeah. I have never I've never

22:13

ripped it fleeing off. I

22:15

wonder if Matt had done, like, loosened the

22:17

jam jar, so to speak. I think that I

22:19

I genuinely think that that copy of Tagrisso

22:21

devotees still had, like, everything, like, sealed,

22:23

if I remember correctly. Damn. Yeah.

22:25

It was like you and him played it a lot together for

22:27

the review presumably, but then he bought a copy

22:29

and it's just been untouched, which is why

22:32

it is now mine and why it is now broken.

22:34

I like this prediction because you're basing

22:36

it on absolutely no knowledge

22:39

of anything. Like, not even not even

22:41

no insider knowledge, but very little knowledge at

22:43

all. Yep. On the other hand, I

22:45

like it because there's a good

22:47

argument that Tigris and New Freight is is you if

22:49

you have to say what is the greatest

22:51

board game of all time, I

22:53

don't think anyone would would have too much

22:55

problem with you saying it is Tiger's new freighters. Right.

22:57

That you can't really buy it. He's he's

23:00

he's better. But then but then,

23:02

like, you know, before the Winder Games Edition,

23:04

which, you know, which is the addition that I like and that

23:06

you would ever don't like. You can listen listen

23:08

to one of the old podcast we did about Radik

23:10

Misia a couple of

23:12

years ago. Before that

23:15

when Radish edition, it was unavailable for,

23:17

like, age I wanna say,

23:19

like, it hadn't been reprinted for, like, seven

23:21

or eight years. Right. Right. So we

23:23

could we could be in for another long haul. I don't know. My

23:25

first is, like, don't don't wanna publish me all copies

23:27

and they don't wanna let go of the licensees it.

23:29

That that happens all the time in board games.

23:32

Yeah. Okay. My

23:34

neck my fourth prediction for twenty twenty

23:36

three is get this wholesale

23:39

stolen from the dice towers predictions for twenty twenty

23:41

three. Oh, boy. Oh, okay. This

23:43

this morning while I was trying to get inspiration for,

23:45

you know, what's coming in twenty twenty three, I was watching

23:48

as and reading some people's predictions. And the dice tie had

23:50

one that I just loved. So

23:52

I took it because no one can stop me.

23:56

So the dice tie one of the

23:58

dice ties predictions was that in the year

24:00

twenty twenty three, the

24:02

first purely solo

24:05

one player Board game will

24:07

enter the BGG Top one hundred.

24:10

So I I think this

24:12

is I think this would be the

24:14

natural result of

24:17

people having Solo Games just having a

24:19

beer in the first year of

24:21

the pandemic. A lot of was up a sit down coverage.

24:23

So there was your review of thousand year old vampire

24:25

that just unbelievably good one player

24:27

juggling game. There was a massive

24:29

review of under falling skies by Check Games Edition.

24:31

We reviewed the hostess negotiator, which got everything

24:33

to his final girl, which is a pretty cool box.

24:36

Bargain Basement Baffaffia. The Free Put and Play One

24:38

Play game got published as a box game by

24:41

Wizards. And I started doing the exit escape

24:43

room board games by myself and having a

24:45

great time. And so yeah,

24:47

I think following on from that boom

24:49

year of people going, oh, one player games can actually

24:51

be quite good actually. For example, you, Tom

24:53

Brewster, you like playing super skill pinball my own for

24:55

some reason. That's me. That's

24:57

you. No. It's actually pretty good. That's I like it.

24:59

Yeah. Yeah. I so

25:01

I think the timeline is

25:03

right. If In twenty twenty one, people

25:05

realized that there's a market and

25:07

a new design space available at Solo

25:09

Games. Twenty twenty three feels like

25:11

when one could come out that's

25:13

just like Just runny good. Yeah. In fact, I'm

25:15

just gonna Google something right now because I

25:17

believe chip theory games have

25:19

AA1 player gladiator. Blumakus.

25:23

Popla Macas, that's just for one player. Right? It

25:25

is just for one player. Imagine that.

25:27

Maybe that's gonna be one of the best

25:29

hundred games ever made. Now I said that, it seems just

25:31

like incredibly improbable. No. I I like

25:33

this because you because you have the caveat

25:35

that it has to be a purely solo game.

25:37

I think that's what cinches it.

25:39

That's what's gonna kill me. Yeah. Because the proportion of

25:41

board game players who are purely solo

25:43

gamers is relatively small and like

25:45

I'm looking through the top a hundred here.

25:47

And it seems like a lot of the games that are

25:49

in here, like a lot of the games that place quite

25:52

highly or some of the games that place quite highly

25:54

can be so low so they get

25:56

that like updraft from that percentage of

25:58

players who do play solo, but most

26:00

of them are not. And those

26:02

games themselves are typically very good

26:04

at, like, larger player counts

26:06

too. So I love this prediction I think it will be wrong.

26:09

Even though, I think the

26:11

dice tower know more than

26:13

us. Generally speaking -- Oh. -- they have

26:15

to They do they they do know way more

26:17

than us about the industry, but loads of their

26:19

predictions were just were just were just definitely

26:21

wrong. So, like, Like, I

26:24

like, they they said that Marvel Snap one of

26:26

their predictions was that Marvel Snap would come out

26:28

as a physical game this year, and I think there's

26:31

no way. Because we physical game. I think

26:33

that could happen. It

26:35

could. But I think it would actually I

26:37

think it would be like a

26:39

tie in with like smash up because

26:43

Marvel Snap is basically smash

26:45

up. So why not? They they don't invite

26:47

that comparison. Yeah. That's true. That's

26:49

like Yeah. They've been broken.

26:52

Best. What's your fourth

26:54

prediction? My full prediction is also in a

26:56

similar vein to you. We're talking about the BGG top

26:58

of hundred, but my one is is now

27:00

I'm thinking about this. Maybe bolder, maybe

27:02

less bolder, we'll see what you think. By

27:05

the end of twenty twenty three.

27:07

Two games from twenty

27:09

twenty three will have entered the

27:11

BGG top ten. I

27:14

let me look at the BG Top ten

27:16

right now. So I think that

27:18

of the BG Top ten at the moment, there

27:20

is only one game in here that was So

27:23

Oh, wait. Hold on. There's literally no games from

27:25

twenty twenty two in here. Oh, no.

27:28

Okay. Ark Nova

27:30

was twenty twenty one. Yes. That was my

27:32

That is So it's absolutely not

27:34

the fourth best board game. I I appreciate

27:36

that I like I can over less than most people,

27:38

but like a holy cadence. Like, that is

27:41

not the fourth, but Arkmo over higher than higher

27:43

than Toyota's Imperial for I mean I think it should be

27:45

higher than Toyota and Imperial Fourth Edition.

27:48

I'd yeah. But actually higher, maybe I don't.

27:50

I'd I'd tell you a while. I haven't done the BG top

27:52

one hundred in a while, and and

27:54

the the this is this is this

27:57

is or wrong now. Like, I vaguely recognized it like

27:59

four or five years ago, but like,

28:01

I don't know. Great

28:04

Western trial. Fifty June

28:06

Imperium, Gaia project, Star

28:08

Wars rebellion, TerraForming Mars, Act

28:10

Nova. This is just like a

28:12

litany of of Euro games that we

28:14

don't like as well. Well,

28:16

perhaps Birmingham at number two feels like a good

28:18

concession to to

28:20

our team. Blum Haver at number one. Sure.

28:22

Pandemic Legacy season one at number three.

28:24

Great. But then you disagree with what

28:26

everything else? Is gloomhaven jaws of the lion's eye

28:28

on the set? Do we need two gloom havens in the top

28:30

ten? I don't know. No. The opposite. Through the

28:32

ages, a new story of civilization at

28:34

number thirteen. No. No. Do we need

28:36

nemesis at number eighteen?

28:39

No. This is a this is a bit

28:41

of fun to version Quinn's, but I need you

28:43

to to to

28:45

join me on on on this prediction. I

28:47

actually might make it easier and

28:49

say, no, I'll I'll keep it as it

28:51

is actually. You wrote to Dettler. I've I'm

28:53

absolutely You have to keep that

28:55

that prediction exactly how you wrote it. It's because

28:57

III looked to I I looked

28:59

at the top ten and I saw Ark Nova and

29:02

went like and I was like, that's a

29:04

twenty twenty two game. That's one

29:06

game, you know, per year. Goes

29:08

into the top ten. So two is bold,

29:10

but then aren't over is twenty twenty one. But you're

29:12

right. Yeah. One of them could be Frosthaven, and there

29:14

would have one of the three Three of the properties

29:16

in the top ten. If if gloomhaven jaws that

29:18

Lion made it that close, then I

29:20

think I think I think Frosthaven is a shoe

29:22

in. So really, you're just saying one other game

29:24

aside from Frosthaven is gonna be

29:26

good enough. I don't even know if Frosthaven

29:28

is a shipper, but I like I I will keep

29:30

this prediction maybe. Okay.

29:32

Okay. I mean, look, you have to keep it

29:34

because I didn't I I

29:36

sort of ran out of steam towards Like,

29:38

this is the point where I I couldn't think of anything

29:40

really. Truly great. I think

29:42

that's some final predictions. Because I

29:44

wrote these before I knew there was like

29:46

the stakes of us burgling one another.

29:50

So I've got one that you

29:52

can veto don't think it's fair,

29:54

but my fifth prediction was in the year

29:56

twenty twenty three, I will

29:58

do another shot of a video review of

30:00

an RPG. That was my That's

30:02

terrible. You have to just leak control

30:04

over that. You I've well, look, that

30:06

wasn't that wasn't the deal. We said some

30:09

predictions. I predict that. I have

30:11

control over it? Yeah. Will that

30:13

definitely happen? I don't know. Life's

30:15

complicated. So but it you'd let let Yeah.

30:17

If you're really gonna kick up

30:19

I'm kicking up a fuss about that one. Okay. Go ahead. You

30:21

wanna bin. Do you wanna break the seat

30:23

on my emergency back up? Yes. I

30:25

do. Rip that bad boy open right now.

30:28

It's one word. Domino's.

30:36

I think look. We've we let

30:38

Crockenall came back. Blaine.

30:40

The regular fifty two car deck, you know, we we

30:42

shut up and didn't explore that a little bit.

30:44

Poker chips. We're playing with

30:47

them. So what what is a board game

30:49

component of history that

30:51

hasn't recently gotten a fair shake?

30:53

It's dominoes. So and also, like so fuck.

30:55

This is not as insane as it sounds. So, like, you

30:57

know, because obviously, Kingdomino is powered

30:59

by domino technology -- Right. -- but I believe

31:01

renature Yes. Basically Domino's discovery.

31:04

Yep. So some

31:06

kind of Domino in twenty twenty

31:08

three. You know, like, you're thinking it's

31:10

so I think we could change the goalpost on

31:12

this to be like a domino based game

31:14

gets a glowing shut up and sit down

31:16

review. Wow. That's Hang on.

31:18

Look, I I don't I look, we've we first off, Domino

31:21

based games have gotten glowing shut up as Dom reviews because

31:23

you reviewed Renature. I loved it. I did.

31:25

Yes. I'm just saying that board

31:27

game publishers will remember and

31:29

try and access some of the

31:31

sort of like history and culture

31:33

and like let me

31:35

let me rephrase. Quentin

31:37

Smith will stake his professional reputation

31:39

on a game that has dominoes in

31:41

it. Well, at stake, it

31:44

it I like the wording of this. I so the

31:46

reason that I choose weddings because I basically

31:48

wanna see you sort of struggle to find a domino

31:50

based game that you really like. And then

31:52

half the defender on the

31:54

podcast. No. I think we should

31:56

go back to me doing another RPG

31:58

review. I think I don't see what was wrong

32:00

with that as a fifth There's something very

32:02

very funny about the your fiction

32:04

just being a single word dominoes.

32:06

That is good though. Okay.

32:09

I think so. Okay. And then we can we

32:11

can have fun next year arguing about

32:13

whether Domino's had a good year or not. How

32:15

about that? Yeah. Or or I think maybe we go the

32:17

other way because I've got like a sick I've

32:19

got a number six prediction that is like outlandish.

32:22

Right? And I feel like if we make one

32:24

of your predictions more outlandish,

32:26

it would then mean that we then have five base

32:28

predictions and a bonus sixth prediction

32:30

that's ridiculous. Oh, okay.

32:33

So Does that mean I'm allowed to have my I will do an

32:35

RPG review and then my sixth Asland's British.

32:37

It's just the word dominoes. Yes. Yeah. I

32:39

think that's Okay. I think that's fair.

32:42

Okay. Great. So what are your fifth and sixth

32:44

predictions? My fifth prediction

32:46

is I don't know whether this is

32:48

too easy or too hard or or what

32:50

kind of prediction it is. Well, you'll be the judge of

32:52

that. It is. My number five

32:54

prediction is Great Western Trail, New

32:56

Zealand, will enable you to

32:58

share your sheep. That way, is

33:00

that the outlandish prediction? No. That's my

33:02

that's my fifth regular. That's the serious one.

33:04

That's my serious prediction. It

33:06

will have a or or it will prominently

33:09

feature a sheep shearing mechanic.

33:13

Oh, wow. Well, we know it's gonna have sheep

33:15

instead of cow. We do. We do

33:17

know that, but will it let you share them? Now,

33:19

I'll also preface this to be like I didn't look up

33:21

whether Great Western Trail, New Zealand was even coming

33:24

out this year. So it

33:26

is we had Argentina. We

33:28

had the base games New Zealand will be this year? I

33:30

think so. That's what was that that feels

33:32

right or ahead. Or there'll be a pre

33:34

there will at least be a preview of it this year that

33:36

will inform us Right. Right. If there's a

33:38

sheep sharing mechanic. Imagine if you've got just

33:41

a potato table, like a convention,

33:43

and then someone's demoing, Great Britain's

33:45

Attorney Zealand, and I intensively ask,

33:47

Can you hear your sheep? And person Debbling says, no.

33:49

And I just scream in the middle of the convention

33:51

hall, and you go off and celebrate.

33:54

I can't kick up a fuss about this even though I think

33:56

it is quite likely. I

33:58

think it's unlikely because this is my

34:00

favorite cards in your hand.

34:02

And so shearing them might involve, like, a

34:04

whole extra, like, deck of cards to have your sheep

34:07

shawl or regular? Yeah.

34:09

I I'm

34:11

thinking you know, like, the the the slightly problematic

34:13

TP tokens in Great Western Trail. Right. I

34:15

could see, like, there being stations

34:18

along the path that let you share

34:20

your sheep. But also, that's not how sheep

34:22

shearing. Like, you don't share

34:24

your sheep on the way to driving them. Also,

34:26

you don't drive sheep anyway. So, like, I don't

34:28

know. We've got questions about great, wasn't true, and you see that my prediction,

34:30

which is not by this game we're playing,

34:32

but I predict I'm going to

34:36

great Western Trail and New Zealand is going to be the

34:38

one that I have in my collection. It just oh,

34:40

okay. That's a fun little bonus addendum that you've got there.

34:42

I have Great Western Trail, the first edition. It's fine.

34:44

So I wanna swap it out for one of the new second editions, and I think New

34:47

Zealand is the one. New Zealand's gonna

34:49

be it. It's kinda cute. It's a bit different.

34:51

I don't know. What's your

34:54

sixth stupid prediction. My sixth stream of prediction is sort of along

34:56

the lines of one of your early predictions

34:58

of games being kickstarter

35:00

games becoming bigger and bigger.

35:03

More and more ridiculous, which is a game will

35:05

be shipped that is twice the weight

35:07

of Frosthaven. Wait. But

35:10

what was the get the huge game that you

35:12

were unpacking with Matt. Oh,

35:14

it's not bigger than Frost. Let me

35:16

check. So so for reference, Let me

35:18

just quickly check to see exactly how heavy Frosthaven

35:20

is because it is it's like let

35:23

me let me Google it real

35:25

quick. How heavy is Frosthaven?

35:28

It's thirty pounds for our

35:33

for for for normal people. In

35:35

kilograms, that's thirteen kilograms. So

35:37

I would need a game to be sixty

35:39

pounds, which is twenty twenty

35:42

three kilograms. Othesworn.

35:44

Wow. Let me see if I can find

35:46

out how heavy Ethesworn was physically.

35:48

Oh, hold on. Twenty five pounds

35:50

is Ethesworn. So gloomhaven, Frosthaven

35:53

is actually heavier. Frosthaven is

35:55

heavier. Yes. So you do you think that

35:57

we're going to okay. Gonna have

35:59

our first, like, well, kick start. I

36:01

really don't hope this, but I also

36:03

kinda do that Kickstarters

36:05

will start bragging about how heavy they are and

36:08

like, you know, bursting through the

36:10

weight line or the weight limit.

36:12

This is like

36:14

this is This is less of a sick cool prediction of something within the board

36:16

game industry is gonna happen and more

36:18

like you being a horseman of the

36:20

apocalypse and it's a

36:22

caring. But Board games are just

36:24

going to enter this utterly cursed

36:26

phase where where they just

36:28

get heavier and heavier. I was

36:30

going to my my prediction before wasn't I would think it was too subjective, but

36:32

before then was gonna be a game will be shipped to

36:34

the Creeks. A game

36:36

that will be shipped that comes

36:39

we're the only shipping solution. It's not

36:41

a cardboard box, but a proper wooden crane

36:43

you have to open. That's true. You

36:45

have to open with a

36:47

crowbar. Wow. Okay. You know, I'm

36:50

so excited to revisit this next year.

36:52

So Most not because it's gonna be,

36:54

like, interesting to see how the body images change.

36:57

But because going to be an

37:00

hour of the pettiest arguments

37:02

known to Matt, I have to argue

37:04

that Kickstarter games are fifteen

37:06

percent bigger. It's gonna be

37:08

more work to prepare for that debate

37:10

than it will be to predict what's gonna

37:12

happen. I think we should record the

37:14

recordings episode

37:16

in person and we should bring the games that are on the line and put

37:18

them in the middle of the table while we

37:20

record. That's that's perfect.

37:22

Yeah. Let's do that. That's absolutely brilliant.

37:25

Thank you very much listening to the channel. I'm podcast

37:28

everybody. And if we've probably a

37:30

podcast where we've all learned

37:32

less. Nothing.

37:34

Nothing. Yeah. If we've

37:36

if we've learned one thing from this podcast, it's that

37:38

Tom and I probably shouldn't try and

37:40

make our our living by

37:42

quoting our day jobs and working it. Soothsayers -- Mhmm. Mhmm. -- I thought

37:44

you're gonna set up more game industry critics or

37:46

whatever, but -- Oh, that. -- dude. We should

37:49

we I'd know we there's

37:52

if you were to listen to this podcast and say, I think both time

37:54

for you to just stop. I

37:57

would say, yeah, that that's

38:00

fair. And I and and I would, you know, you can

38:02

put me out in a field.

38:04

Yeah. No. This was a blast. And if you

38:06

thought this was a blast, why not leave a comment,

38:08

shut up at sit down dot com, the website that

38:10

collects everything we do.

38:12

From videos to podcasts, That's

38:15

actually it. That's that's pretty much it. But those those are the two best things because

38:17

they have because they're multimedia. Yeah.

38:19

You can enjoy them

38:22

in in any anywhere. You can enjoy them on the go or

38:24

in the bath. Yeah. The two modes of

38:26

being. Are you doing anything board game

38:28

related to day some? Yep. I'm

38:31

gonna write a review probably and

38:33

I'm gonna play some

38:35

paper back adventures. That's

38:39

the game where you spell that help you Yeah. Just like in slay

38:41

the spire, but instead, it's got

38:43

letters in it. Board

38:46

games are nuts. They're just crazy. All games just

38:49

keep crazy. Just so

38:52

crazy.