Trajan - Shut Up & Sit Down Review 

It's nice to see ShutUpAndSitDown leaving their comfort zone with Trajan.

This was one of the first reviews that really got me thinking on certain aspects of board game design. An eye opener to some of the flaws that seems mechanically decent on paper, but in execution turn oddly unpalatable.

I did find it funny the notion of some random passer by walking past as he attacked a board game box, and time has not changed that amusement

Yes, yes yes!! This is what I want from a board game review. The mid-review-turn-around was SUBLIME. Excellent work!!

"Thematically barren" is now my board game insult of choice.

i can imagine his neighbour's 'daaad the crazy mans beating up boxs in the street again'

You didn't finish your damn sausage! no games until you eat all your food.

Coming back six years later, and my main take away is that the entrance to Quinns' old loft was an actual door mounted sideways.

the stunts on this show make Jackie Chan look like a traffic cone.

Coming back to watch this 4 years later as it is still the greatest review of a boardgame probably ever

It just occurred to me : SUSD is just Monty Python meets boardgames

All those games in the attic. The saddest thing I've seen for some time.

Oh, it's this review. Ohhhh, it's THIS review... Now I'm all... sticky and dripping with rules...

A while back I thought you guys were cheesy, but now I can't get enough of your reviews. So entertaining and articulate.

Petty personal reasons are the best reasons to review anything.

I love Trajan, I'm so glad SUSD introduced me to it!

omg this was the funniest review I've ever seen! And it was also a useful review! That bed scene... wow lol

One of my two favorite games, thanks for introducing it to me SUSD!

I'm going to be honest, I spend a lot of time on youtube and only videos of people's limbs getting bent the wrong way in workout videos make me more uncomfortable than the mandala bowls scene in this video.

You're not exactly wrong, but Trajan isn't just "3 points versus 6 points"; it does have it's "moments": building that 3rd or 4th construction of a set, winning the Senate, shipping 5 different goods after a bit of digging, getting to do an action 3 times on one turn, heck even accomplishing a Trajan itself makes you feel like a clever little weasel. It's just that all these feel a bit more like "work" than other Feld designs. I still enjoy the game with the right opponents.

Was it this review where your ladder fell down and you got stuck in the attic?

I absolutely love Shut Up & Sit Downs reviews lol!

It's always a good day when I get a shut up and sit down notification

This is my favorite board game I own(my collection is also over 100), and I still loved your review! This game somehow makes me feel relaxed regardless of all its silly complexities underlying the 6 "mini-games." :D

Genuinely. This board game review... is a piece of art. Hilarious!!!

You can make even the driest game seem ehh... wet?

That bed scene was creepy...

The game box make it look like it's meant to be played on playstation or xbox.

i love that transition at the beginning xD

It was odd that I could tell which shots were done slightly later because most of the review has Quinton with a major bruise across the side of his head. One sliced in later had the bruise gone but a plaster under his eye. Which only makes me wonder if he was running a fight club or something back in 2016.

I really enjoy Trajan, because the managing the mancala just has an insane depth to it. That's where the game really is. The first time you play the game, it's easy to get overwhelmed. Pretty much everyone ends up playing it extremely tactically, doing whatever the mancala gives to you. As you play more and more, you get much better at actually planning ahead, and the game rewards you immensely for it. There's a real feeling of progression as you get better at the game. Plus, that mancala is just fun as heck. The windrose from Felds game Macao is very similar, except even less forgiving. There's no playing Macao tactically. You need to develop plans several rounds ahead of time and set it up the whole way. These kinds of games are fun because of that cycle of stress and payoff. Quinns even talks about that in the review. I think more people would like it than he says...

Could you imagine looking out you're window and seeing a man beating up a board game

Your reviews are so entertaining, even when you're not liking my favourite game :)

Thanks for the review- Whitsun be with ye🔥

This is the perfect video to rewatch after reading Quinns's article on culling his board game collection.

Full on charm offensive at 5:40.

So many games I'd like to play in that attic... Freedom the Underground Railroad and Caverna... I wonder if Agricola is up there too

Is that a Firewatch poster? I loved that game.

I can't believe he threw caverna in the attic. It's an amazing game. Tzolk'in was the first board game I ever bought so I share his enthusiasm for it but still... caverna is awesome.

I'm in love Eurogames, Caverna is one of my favourites of all time and Terra Mystica is great, but good lord this looks dry. It's like a collection of minigames without any theme.

4 and half years later and it's dropped 40 places...

This is exactly what I thought about Trajan. I played it once and then right after that I played Gugong for the first time. Same idea, 6-7 mini-games, all interlocking but without the insane over-the-top action selection mechanic that turn it into a pointless (sic) bit-twiddling fest. Gugong is everything Trajan is not. It's truly tight, mean, aggressive and, most of all, fun.

I will never look at Trajan the same way again after this. Hahaha

lining up colours with the bowls sounds like nightmare fuel

This review. I was completely sold on this game and then the twist ending....well actually didn't convince me that I wouldn't enjoy this.

Quinns is genuinely among the most talented presenters on RU-vid. He could make tax accountancy riveting

Does Matt hit you? Its ok you can tell us. You're in a safe place. Side note I love your content I've bought more board games based on your videos and blogs than any other and have found satisfaction in all. Thank you for being around.

Somebody buy this game and then show up at my house to play it with me.

Wow! Brutal review... he even put it in the attic! Quinns is not playing.

Question. Is the Moca Cafe a good place to get food? I’m planning on taking a trip to London soon.

Do you keep your games in the attic or did you but them up there just for the end shot?

I was not prepared. When you moved to the bed I nearly spat out my tea.

LOL at Panamax in the final shot hahaha

What is Suburbia doing in your attic? You loved that game! We both loved that game!

At 5:45 I became very uncomfortable, but also quite entranced. It was an interesting time in the reveiw.

Just imagining how random people react when you guys are doing one of your skits is funny enough.

Did they ever do a review of Tzolkin? and if so could someone kindly post a link?

Quinns you are one saucy devil!

5:40 *THIS IS A FAMILY SHOW!*

Great review! though the bad part might have been a little too "hard euro" for me.

PAPYRUS BICEPS DO YOU EVEN LEGISLATE? >:D

This is everything that a review should be. Using years of objective experience to identify what is good and bad with a product, and then providing your own personal opinion. What a brutal end to this one! Love it, love this channel. Never stop.

out of curiosity why do you pronounce integer with a hard g?

Review Conquest of the empire second edition!!

this episode is awesome. haha

i have the most politics in my pants and im dead fruity so i win

like a movie

I find it curious that you didn't like this game - your complaint basically being, it's a point salad game - but yet you LOVE Village so much (another point salad game). Village and Trajan feel so similar to me, in fact, that I usually will recommend the other, if someone likes one of them.

Is this an old review with a new ending? (I only have the audio). I swear I remember this review and without the current fashion of games must be directly social.

I love those British soap operas.

Omg these guys are hilarious

I demand to know what the pink thing at 1:20 is.

Please make a BattleCON review. ( If you do pick Devastation or War Remastered for reviewing or even better pick all three games and review BattleCON in its entirety. Awesome review BTW. I t have the same problem with Trajan.

Hahahhaha just the thought that there is someone standing outside camera view having the most confused face as they watch this.

5:55 How do I explain this to my therapist?

Fight Club would have been so much better if it had Quinns in it fighting a boardgame.

Review Castles of Burgundy too please

Thing is, although maybe more bland in looks and 'point salady', we still play Trajan to this day... A bit like Burgundy, don't think it through just enjoy the crunch. Playing Village these days though? Not so much...

This game is awesome and you guys are awesome. Love the dark revenge ending.

King if the windows.... I loled

30 seconds in: "are you going to eat that half a sausage?" Edit: at 5:45 the hard euro begins.

So do you recommend this game or not? :D

Thanks a million.... (I forgot what I was going to say...)

T'zolkein and Castles of Burgundy are 2 of my ABSOLUTE favorite games! Trajan looks interesting though (as a Euro), but..i dunno..i love your channel and try to play recommended (and highly liked) games you review, but this.. this.. I just don't know.. lol

I'll never look at my shoes the same again...

Sneaky pulling the splinter out of your head!

i love your reviews! could you toss in some wargames, no that would be interesting.

I love stefan feld games, he's melded my brain into a different kind of gamer. great hilarious review.

I think you give too much credence to BGG ratings. But yeah, this is one of my favorite euros; I like that it doesn't have that "one thing" as the goal. The way jockeying for board position and the bowls inform each other keeps this game from being heavy as it keeps the game relatively tactical. Definitely have to be in the mood for it though.

Good to see Quinns increasing the Greenich crime rate

"What does Trajan have? Trajan has moves that earn you three victory points rather than six victory points." That's generally how I felt at the end of my first game. There was none of that synergistic, engine-building crunch that I enjoy in complex games. Almost every kind of synergy in Trajan has no effect whatsoever, other than determining how many victory points you get. Even the most interesting part of it, the Trajan itself and the mancala bowls, just sees you spending an action to pick up a tile, that you later redeem for a free action and a sneeze of victory points. It's so disheartening when you realize that all the puzzling you been agonizing over on your player board has gotten you no profit, other than three victory points.

I see you have some injuries there. Did...did Trajan actually beat you up?

Except for Legend. Everyone listens to that album.

Six!

Lol I bought this having only watched half the review. We’ll see how this goes down at the next game night 😂

1:23 why does he have a cumberland sausage on his gaming table ? That's the sort of thing Tranjastites use...?

Panamax in the attic?!

Well, that got unexpectedly awkward!

did he woke up from a bush that morning?

Trajan is top 10 for me. One of the best games ever made imo.