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Golem is an Alright Game
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- čas přidán 16. 08. 2023
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Videos like this confirm why Shut Up and Sit Down make the best reviews. Other channels just give a quick overview, opinions and that's it, but SU&SD takes the time to analyze deeper topics , to look at the bigger picture.
I totally agree with your point on ok euro games, I just wish I had the means to support the channel financially.
Right on mate! But also want to shout out NoPunIncluded for also doing the same thing!
No Pun Included are also awesome! Also check out Boardgame Hangover!
If you like podcasts, So Very Wrong About Games also does that
Finally. Thanks Tom. I'm not Jewish personally, but several immediate family members are, and when I first saw this game I was very intrigued that they would be tackling this theme. Then, upon almost immediate investigation, was immediately turned off (I've studied a bit about the Sefer Yetzirah etc...). There's so many interesting things they could have explored philosophically with this. Appreciate, a reviewer taking a crack at the theme the way you did. Thank you thank you.
Agree completely with everything you just said. But… even if this might sound very naive and maybe borderline stupid, I also had some other thoughts…
However, first, I‘d like to say that I‘m not jewish myself, but have studied science of religion & social anthropology and spent quite some time on several jewish „topics“ (English isn’t my main language, so I apologise if that sounds a bit off)
While I was aware of missed opportunities and quite disappointed about the fact, that the game didn’t „really get into the theme“ and used many stereotypes - I also saw it as a good „teaser“ to spike people’s interest to learn more about the story, the culture and everything… and well, I admit, that I also still enjoyed the game.
But as I mentioned - maybe I‘m way too naive and got a bit too excited when two „fields“ of my personal interest seemed to overlap…
A great video as usual and it gave me much food for thoughts as well :)
Have a lovely evening/day
As a Jewish gamer, I was initially very excited to see this theme from some of my favourite designers. The more I learnt about the way it was treated I felt like this was a major missed opportunity. What a shame...
@@Sz4r1ej The story of the golem is important, so understandably people who are familiar with it were excited to see a board game retelling it and understandably disappointed to see the game do a poor job of it, especially as it'll be many people's first introduction to the story. Not every Arthurian retelling has to be historically accurate, but if this game had such a theme then people excited to see a good retelling would be equally disappointed, for mostly the same reasons.
people care more about incorrect marvel lore in their games than this....@@Sz4r1ej
Every story is important! Anything ever created is important! It's all stories. I get it people can be disapointed that it doesn't picture their interpretation of mythological story but to even remotly arrive at conclusion that the game is bad because of it or even worse that it's in any shape or form antisemitic??? I'm sorry but that is riddciulous BS and the fact that SUSD brings that subject in their review is showing how much of their journalism is now at toilet level.
Not a single of their reviews form early days had any notions that any story brought to table by any boardgame would be discriminating or ill intended.
Stereotpyes have been propagated with little to no concern of historical fact in overwhealming majority of the board games and none has not been treated like in this review.
Whatever sympathy and respect I had for Tom and his creative output, simply vanished after watching this. This is embarassing to the point of cringy.
"This game makes the classic mistake of draping a paper-thin theme over the top of a spreadsheet and hoping everyone mistakes that for being unique." I've never played Golem, but I've felt this way about loads of games. Most recently, Lost Ruins of Arnak made me feel this way, but that might be an unpopular opinion.
Jewish viewer here. Deeply appreciate your words on the theme (or lack thereof) on this game. I think it’s telling that in the initial promotion of this game the word אמת was printed backwards-not that the designers were malevolent but that they didn’t do the work to engage with the subject matter deeply. I also felt really validated on the subject of the “good enough Euro.” My spouse and I have a very similar Kallax cube of “good enough Euros” and they revolve through the collection probably faster than something that’s outright bad. It’s a shame that my culture doesn’t get much exposure in the first place and when it is it’s a little halfhearted. I concur that this game isn’t intending antisemitism by any stretch but it is painting with a broad brush. Thanks Tom for the great work as usual.
Minor criticism: one of the titles in the collage of “Christian themed games” was the upcoming Ezra and Nehemiah, which is decidedly not Christian in theme but rather about the Jewish repatriation to the Levant during the Persian Empire. It also looks to be taking the history and subject matter more seriously than Golem. Thought you might want to know. 😊
Keep up the good work!
Was going to say this. Hard to judge a game that is yet to come to crowdfunding, but certainly looks promising from a Jewish pov.
A few more of the titles in the collage were biblically themed, such as Kingdom of Solomon (first & second edition), and abstract card games like David & Goliath or Jericho. Note that KoS and E&N are by Christian designers, which sometimes have a different view on the events.
Even without going into the thematic connections of Golem, I was bothered by the Frankenstein's Monster look of the cover, which looks nothing like the golems depicted inside the game, and the use of the letter א to represent Knowledge - I've never seen the letter "A" used in a similar fashion.
@@salty-horse Ezra & Nehemiah IS by Christian Designers, correct, but they've tried their best to stay as authentic to the Hebraic text.
they've done plenty of Non-Christian themes that no one should be worrying about bias.
@@salty-horse as a Jew (although not the most knowledgeable one) honestly the use of א is probably one of the things I think the game gets right - there’s lots of stuff in Jewish mysticism related to the Aleph Bet and Aleph in particular, and this is especially relevant to the story of the Golem which was said to be animated using this sort of mystical knowledge
I mean Christianity is derivative of Judaism, and share a lot of the same beliefs and scripture. Nehemiah and Ezra are in the Old Testament, so saying it's not a Christian theme isn't necessarily correct, because they're both.
There are hundreds of “good not great” euro games with solid mechanisms, and I’d be happy to try most of them. I totally agree with your comments. Something special is needed to make a game truly great and worth playing multiple times. Granted, there is definitely some variation over personal tastes, making someone’s “good game” a “great game” for someone else, but still, in the current age with so many games coming out each year, a game really needs to have something unique or interesting or just an incredible level of polish to become worth buying.
Before I say anything else....I don't speak for all Jews, obviously. Only for myself.
I 100% agree that the theme of the game could have been more rich, and I also agree that there are areas of the game that could be argued to be distasteful e.g. using a synagogue to roll marbles. At the same time, as an orthodox Jew that loves this hobby, and have typically only been able to see my culture in any way represented through frankly bad games....I am very appreciative that Golem exiss. A game I both greatly enjoy, think is really well done, and has a Jewish theme, however pasted on.
Yes this 100 % this. As a secular Yiddish speaking Jew I absolutely love seeing this theme used. I'm used to Euro games having thin theme but this is way better than building another church right?
Yes Tom. Mature criticism in a non-confrontational way. 10/10
I have to admit, I disagree with this a little. I do like how he discussed the theme in a very non-confrontational way, but I honestly think this not on the level Quinns would discuss something like this. For example in the reviews of "Istanbul" or "Undaunted: Normandy" Quinns goes into much more thematic depth than Tom does here. Moreover in contrast to this review, the games and their qualities and faults are also discussed in great depth, which this review (probably purposefully) lacked entirely. I think Toms style is quite chaotic (which I enjoy as well) but it doesn't really mash well with more serious topics, in contrast to Quinns more "to the point" writing and delivery.
@@o0LordMuffin0o I would go much farther than that. Review is extremely shallow rasies a questions that no one asked (someone mention antisemitism in a comment on my blog page - is not freaking enough to justfiy bringing such strong accusation to the forefront). Throws down a lot of very harmful insinuations with 0 knowledge or facts to support them then backpeddals on those leaving a large segment of the review frankly pointless.
There is no merit in this piece at all. The only take from it is - "I didn't really like the game that much but I can't find anything that is wrong with it", amazing conclussion to pointless review.
Now someone teach NPI how to do this. Please. Anyone.
@@Sz4r1ej see, i don't think the video needs to go into an intense depth like that. were the game more deeply bigoted and malicious with its theming, i would expect a more critical analysis. as things stand though, it feels like the video's "let's not do games like this, lads" attitude is more appropriate.
might i ask what "harmful insinuations"* this video is stating? what i've taken away is that the designers thought the story of the golem would make for a cool boardgame, but didn't research enough to have a complex understanding of the subject matter. they didn't set out to sow seeds of antisemitism, they just didn't look very far beyond their base level conception of the story and thus created something similarly base level, muddying the tale in a way that can be harmful to jewish folks. tom is by no means accusing them of some grand bigotry, he is just accepting that, as a non-jew, he cannot conclusively state whether or not it is antisemitic (especially not in such a public and definitive forum as a review video).
i don't think reviews need to offer some divine judgement on the media they cover. they can simply be conversations around an item and the fields it's associated with. i don't imagine we'll see eye-to-eye on this though; i think we are hoping for different things from reviews, and that's fine.
*quotation marks like that always seem to convey a sneering tone, which i do not intend. just want to show that i'm directly quoting you
@@o0LordMuffin0o But.. Tom doesn't discuss the theme, really. He brings up a broader point about themes in board games, which is: try do to something meaningful with themes especially if they're unusual / come with a lot of nuanced history, rather than have it as the shallowest set dressing possible.
And he doesn't really discuss the game either, because he uses it to make a broader point, which is: there are a LOT of themed euros in the world, and many of them are good games and many have nothing to make them uniquely rise above all others, so pick those that appeal to you and play and go forth and have fun, *but* they won't show up in reviews as much as there is nothing specific to say about them that's new.
Thank you for making this review. I have been vociferously complaining about how the theme of the Golem has been handled in this game. I grew up hearing the story of the Golem of Prague as a tale of empowerment against anti-Semitic persecution. Persecution that you rightfully point out is ongoing in the modern era. I was excited to see a game coming out that utilized this theme/story. However, the use of Jewish iconography and the tale itself were indeed just pasted on a game about collecting resources and robots going amuck. They should have gone for the Golem of Chelm instead or a Terry Pratchett golem story set in the Discworld.
I think one issue is that everything gets mixed up. There's blunt worker golem stories (Chelm like you mentioned, I think Vilna as well), people have heard of the Golem of Prague, a cursory look can mistakenly think those stories are of the Prague golem. Sometimes the golem is "killed" because it has done its job (would fit this game's mechanics), sometimes because it can't be controlled with the necessary finesse (Sorcerer's Apprentice-style), I believe most versions of the Prague golem it's because it's acting too human.
Anyway, to head off my rambling, I think what I'm trying to say is that if you only do cursory research and initial sources haven't done their research or are sloppy in how they communicate it, it's possible to read all that as variations on one story so you just set it wherever people will recognize.
I think if it *was* about discworld golems, people might actually be quicker to go "wait, this is kinda weird and off-theme", because those that'd be attracted by the image of Dorfl on the cover would go "wait, why are we just collecting ankh morpork sausages, gold, and dwarfen bread, and sometimes killing a golem, where's the theme?" because the discworld themes of the golems buying themselves free, rebelling by working too much, and being impervious to the wrath of gods, would be completely missing and instead it was just brand name recognition on generic tokens.
It'd be closer to people because if you are into discworld golems, you'll know them as more than generic robots. The average player buying Golem probably has much less knowledge of the golem of prague as a story than the hypothetical discworld fan of dorfl.
That's not a defense, I think it actually illustrates well why SUSDs point on its themes is a correct one - the theme of the game would collide with the reality of the game even if you remove the more charged IRL topic and replaced it with a fictional one.
@@fy8798 You are correct that Pratchett's message about personal autonomy and slavery would be lost if the theme were changed.
Leave it to publishers to opt for generic forced "real-life" themes rather than ones that are more freeing or out of the box like Discworld
@@adamsbjathis halogens ALL the time in the industry and Euro game designers frequently fall victim to it.
There is a reason why many marginalized people in or adjacent to the industry use variations of the phrase "not about us without us." Having a subject matter expect detail the story of the Golem of Prague would have helped immensely...if they wanted to get the theme right. Bringing a sensitivity reader or cultural consultant on after the fact could have at least fixed the places where the theme was just wrong if they had already created the mechanics.
The sad truth is there is just no reason to get it wrong.
For a really good video on the actual history and meaning of the Golem story Jacob Geller did a fantastic video on this.
Your point two is sort of the whole reason I struggle to get into Eurogames. Even at the best of times they can feel like half a dozen game mechanics stuffed in a trench coat.
I agree that mechanical & thematic dissonance does not make a game a classic, but it hardly constitutes intentional misrepresentation.
Mid review turnaround not withstanding... I actually wouldn't mind more reviews like this. I love euro games, but there are SO many. Quick, simple, amusing "This is fine" type reviews can give me enough of a taste to figure out if I'll enjoy it enough to buy.
As an Orthodox Jew, I feel that the game isn’t antisemitic and that it is commendable that they tried to implement a Jewish theme even though it didn’t fully land. I will say that I am looking forward to the upcoming game by Garphill Games, Ezra & Nehemiah. I still appreciate that Golem attempted it.
My thoughts exactly. I'm not Jewish but I'm Greek and I've enjoyed plenty of games with Greek themes. Why shouldn't Jewish culture be used as a backdrop as well? Why must it only be a sacred thing that one must be hollier than thou to dare to invoke? Cultural references may be used for silly, playful reasons as much as for serious consideration.
Ooooo color this Jewish-blooded Anglican interested…. Will stay on the lookout for that one
haha cause they dont have the bälls to make game about the real goylems
wiki/Münster_rebellion
wiki/Frederick_V_of_the_Palatinate# Reign
wiki/Visigoths# Religion
wiki/Eleusinian_Mysteries# Demise
wiki/Banu_Qurayza wiki/Quraysh
but this is just hairy old ancient men from the past, imo our times would learn much more from a bit of dark scifi like Deuteronomy 30:4 imagine that!
@@ioannispaxinos5171it could be… but that wasn’t what this game tried to do with their theme set up.
u wonder why they didnt implement the part where it turns against its makers and tries to kill em just like irl, look even my list of all the goylems who apparently didnt have that wordplay on their forehead for shutting down in the right time just by wiping away one letter, like on the box cover, was unceremoniously deleted... shame on the whole YT/FB directorate, they now resort to introduce the whole world to what their parents supposedly 'fled' to the US from the eastern bloc from...
I liked this video, would actually like to see you guys do some more videos like this. More a comment or essay on the industry than a review of a game. That is one of the reasons why I like your podcast so much.
Also, if anyone wants to learn more about Golems and the story about the Golem and the riot of Prague I really recommend Jacob Geller video on it here on CZcams.
If they can do it like this, maybe. But I really don't need more NPI in my life.
@helxis I agree. I enjoy NPI, but I could use a bit of warning on their videos. Am I about to watch a humorous review? Or get sucked into political/social commentary. I don't mind the latter, but I have to be in the right mood.
Echoing everyone else here, fantastic video. Did not expect it to have such an important message when watching the first half, glad you're so entertaining and pleasant to watch that I was happy to stick around for the whole video. Point well made
Thank you for this, Tom. I heard the podcast and felt a frisson of dread at this game's alarming similarity to the many, many 'scary story books' I read as a non-Jewish child, where the tale of the golem was about a greedy merchant, and lacked any of the religious, historical or cultural significance which I discovered as an adult. I'm very glad you all are here to talk about these issues. You make the hobby and the world better.
While I agree with the overall sentiment of the video, I would not want to scare designers into thinking they should sacrifice tight gameplay design to fit the theme better
“Games that are 7/10 aren't even immediate recommendations for a newer player". Nail on the head. What does a "recommendation" even mean if no context is given? It could hardly mean the same thing for someone just starting out, as for someone with 20 games already on their shelf of shame or someone who played their 120 Euros to death. I love that you can say something along "Game A is a solid one, but there's no reason to seek it out before you have at least tried classics B, C, D and E of the same genre".
Great work!
And especially great work on your second point - thanks for taking the time to respectfully talk about it.
Excellent take on Euro over-saturation in the market. And the need for designers and publishers to push out new games with one interesting mechanism (name! gimmick!) without creating a truly memorable experience. I think we could all use a little more of the "play your mainstays" motivation rather than attempting to obtain the new hotness. Thanks Tom!
Agreed but I even think we are beyond the single feature gimmick. I think we are neck deep into the everything and the kitchen sink approach to Euro design. Chock full of content, and aiming to cover all demographic bases straight of out the box. To be everything to all people. 3 in box expansions before any sort of feedback or meta has been aroused.
Thrilled to see the overlooked deck building gem Trains get a shoutout at 7:13!
Not to be confused with Gollum, which is a 10/10 best game of the year, of history, and the multiverse
This video was shared with me and I'm really glad it was. This video is interesting, intelligent and spot on. Very much appreciated. New subscriber for sure.
Thanks for taking this topic on.
Big fan of the Italian design house and where Lorenzo and Grand Austria succeeds to feel thematic, I too bounced off the theming of Golem. It just feels inert and surface and unnecessary. They should have definitely went further with the theme but ironically, I think they were worried about causing offence.
It's said in other comments, as well, but I appreciate a video presenting angles and well-presented criticism.
Makes game about the mythical Golem made to hunt down antisemites in Prague.
Has zero antisemite killing.
Sees a game with a Golem: huh
Sees the makers all have Italian last names: HUH
So many missed opportunities. 12 turns? Why not 18? Why not play with multiples of 18 in the point system? It being a eurogame could add a lot complexity- you're talking about a field that focuses a *ton* on numerology which is basically very complicated code breaking. It's activated and deactivated via a pun in hebrew ("emet" or Truth activates it, erasing the aleph makes it "met" or dead" and thus deactivates/destroys it). Imagine a game that incorporates those elements where you're having to play with words, letters and numbers as you do things under pressure. The way they chose to go about this was insulting, why are there multiple groups of Jews competing against each other (I guess for who lives?). Why do you send your golems to go shopping?
Why wouldn't you send your Golem shopping? Bloody chore xD
I have similar thoughts just about any time I see a Mesoamerican themed game. It’s an opportunity to be unique, to say something, to teach me something. But it’s practically guaranteed that all it is, is wallpaper to make a mushy bland game seem exotic.
It's a board game. Not a history book. Name a culture that hasn't been the backdrop theme of a boardgame.
"Why does SUSD not review eurogames?"
* cue b-roll of all the eurogames they've reviewed in recent years *
It's only a sample of one, but my rabbi friend loved the theme. It might be a case of bad representation > no representation, but I know of at least one Jewish board gamer who was happy with how it turned out.
Alex from BoardgameCo is Jewish, he enjoyed this game and loved the theme.
Excellent stuff. Thanks SUSD. ❤
Outstanding stuff as always Tom! You’ve proven time and time again you can distill the spirit of a game in a short and entertaining manner, while also making necessary and mature commentary about important issues in the field ❤
Just discovered this channel and beeing impressed by the humor and reviews. Did not expected to hear what I heard on this video and it was AMAZING!
Keep the good work guys, amazing channel already on my most favorite list 🧡👏
Anno 1800 is a fave in our household :) A solid 10/10 from both of us
man i have known of golems since i was a little kid due to them being in a lot of my favourite PC games, so for like 30 years almost now
TIL that they have a jewish background
I really like the golem myth and the history behind it, and it's a shame the game doesn't seem to do it justice at all. Still, some elements looks cool so maybe I'll play it some day. Definitely not buy, but maybe play.
If anyone's interested in the Jewish history of the golem, Jacob Geller's "The Golem and the Jewish Superhero" video is very good by the way - I highly recommend it (although I am by no means expert on the topic).
edit: Damn, I edited the comment and the heart I got from susd disappeared :c
It was always my favorite story at Hebrew school. Was interested in owning this game as a Jewish board game lover who would love their culture reflected on the shelf...sad to hear it's kinda bland though. And that they didn't really use the theme in the mechanics whatsoever beyond "build golems/workers, destroy them."
Soooo … since you bring up the topic of game preferences, I will chime in:
My favorite reviews by this channel so far - which have led to me getting several now-favorite games - have been those of The Quiet Year, Thousand-Year-Old Vampire, Go (and your whole “chess” series which led to my buying Ice Team), your roundup of solo print-and-play games which included the *fantastic* _Supermarché,_ the solo special which included Aerion, your reviews of Burgle Bros. 2, Turncoats (which led to me getting a bunch of tiny hand-crafted cloth-and-pebble games), Mind Mgmt., both Song Birds and Wingspan, the obscenely huge Railroad Ink with every expansion, and although I haven’t bought any yet, I’m eyeing a few Oink games, a few Button Shy games, and a few games from your small-box roundup. And let me reiterate: I own Ice Team, in part because I have friends with kids - and the only time I can stand kids is while playing games with them - but really mostly because I have friends who drink (or who entertain themselves in other ways), and Ice Team is rollicking good fun on fuzzy evenings … so yes, I’m also considering buying Stomp the Plank!
So I don’t know what that tells you about your audience’s game preferences, but I wouldn’t watch this channel if it were 100% thorny euro-games 100% of the time. What I LOVE over and above all else is when you highlight something by a small or independent game designer which could not get made by a larger manufacturer - the more off-the-wall or confounding the better - as well as games that find fun in ordinariness (again, _Supermarché_ is SO GOOD), games with interesting or clearly handmade earth-hugging form factors, fun games with beautiful art, games I can sweep into a backpack and take with me on a commuter train or on an interstate train, solo games, cozy and cute games, complex yet easy-to-teach abstract games (in addition to Go, have you considered covering Xiangqi, or Shogi, or Hnefatafl?), and yes, classic games which may be overlooked.
So I don’t know exactly what your magic is, but you’re doing pretty well in my book. I’m considering Iki as my next purchase, because the art looks lovely and the mechanics appear not too tricky to enjoy and the theme is unlike anything else in my collection, if I can find a vintage copy of Dune for less than my whole bank account I think my friends and I are up for the challenge, and I’m looking at those little Oink games, or Button Shy games, or at Nautilion and Onirim et al., because whether alone or with others in public or at home I’d often rather play a game in my spare moments than stare at a screen.
So yeah, please keep doing what you do. If anything, please unearth MORE small-box games, solo games, simply unique games (like The Quiet Year), handmade games, overlooked foundational games, and excellent print-and-play games. Everything doesn’t have to be a euro-game, plus there are loads of channels already covering that territory. Please keep catering to us artsy weirdo brainy people who equally like games about mind control, fluffy bunnies, vampires, and shopping carts!
AND INHUMAN CONDITIONS!! My GOD, do I *love* Inhuman Conditions!
(The game, that is. And this channel’s review of it - which introduced me to it!!)
I will add value by responding to your thoughtful, well-articulated and salient point by saying:
Ditto.
For a second there I read that as Gollum
So true about good, not great. Most eurogames operate like jigsaw puzzles. If you like putting together jigsaw puzzles, you'll like most of them you buy. If you're not really into jigsaw puzzles, there's nothing to really draw you in. The mismatch between theme and construction is like hoping the picture that the puzzle creates will revolutionize the jigsaw puzzle playing experience, when in reality the same puzzle has many different pictures printed on them, but the pieces stay the same.
I think the critique that you guys don't like euros is just confusing at this point. Aside from your Iki video, Ava also made a video recently on Hamlet. Quinns had a short on Brass Birmingham. You had a video on Horseless Carriage. The podcast will also frequently mention games like this and 3 Ring Circus. I love euro games, but have never felt that they were under represented.
I think some people misunderstand the comments of "fair warning: if you play this, you'd better like CUBES" - they focus on the "fair warning," instead of the joy with which they yell "CUBES."
Hell, Quinns won't stop putting shots of Brass Birmingham into videos
very confusing...also Tom makes a point about them making content for people new to the hobby when the terminology of most of their videos is far too dense for new gamers. I still watch all the SUSD videos but I stopped valuing their opinions after they said Marco Polo wasn't a good euro and that CUBITOS WAS A GOOD GAME.
It's generally pronounced "GOH-lum" with a long "O". Unclear how 17th century Prague Jews would have said it, possibly "GOY-lum", "GAO-lum", or "goh-LUM". Never "GA-lum".
Really loved this review, For Tackling a hard issue and Eurogame's in general! Thanks!
I played this two player with a guy who was clearly very into it. Even as he was explaining it, I could not help having a sinking feeling that I was about to experience "Going Up Tracks: The Game", since the main board is literally four tracks in different colors that you go forward on and can never go back.
By the end I had been utterly decimated by Bonus Actions and I was left confused as to why people on BGG were singing this game's praises. It felt like a parody of a Euro game to me, and as you correctly pointed out it takes a really interesting theme and reduces it to window dressing,
Going up the tracks, building engines and getting victory points is literally 99% of euro games....
I hear you... up to a certain point. I have plenty of Euro games that don't feel as dry, themeless, and bald-faced about their mechanisms. To me, Golem does nothing to color its experience, which I can see some people being cool with but when I have so many games that do a great job of integrating theme and mechanics it's hard to get excited for Golem. @@Sz4r1ej
I hope you will make a video where you show good excamples of Workerplacement with good theme. Just an idea
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Guile's theme really does go with everything.
The conclusions that Tom makes here are so true. And the craziest part is that we really cannot say these games are bad. I'm talking about Golem, Newton, Grand Austria Hotel, Lorenzo and I would also put some Suchy, Feld and Pfister titles into the same category. Another growing but scary trend is the 'Card salad' game, or more popularily, the tableau builder where you get dozens of cards thrown at you and you have to choose the ones that work best. I really think we can learn a lot from Reiner Knizia who made generally simple games, but each one with a unique twist and nothing like the last one. Or Vlaada Chvatl whom I consider the Kubrick of board games because of the variety of genres he's been succesful in and from a mindset where theme, its interwovenness with the mechanics and silly jokes take precedence over balance, security and tried mechanics.
great video and critique as always. I would love to recommend a game from the same publisher: Barrage. I absolutely love it and I feel it is so unique I would never remove it from my collection. I have always felt that this game is very underrated but seeing that it climbed to position 35 on BGG I see that's not true.
Late to the party on this one so of course the comment will never be read, but... I just picked up Golem, specifically because we have a Jewish person in our regular game meetups and I thought it'd be nice to have a game where the rest of us are the 'outsiders'. I've played it a couple of times, and while not Jewish, I am familiar with the tales of the golems of Prague, Chelm, and elsewhere and the basic 'keep an ever-strengthening force under control until you must inevitably end it' of those stories is very well reflected in the game, and the joke about knowledge actually reminds me of how central scholarship *is* to Jewish culture. If it fails, it's not bringing up the specific context of those stories, but on the other hand we are talking a genre of game that includes Puerto Rico, with brown 'worker' discs. Yes. "workers", totally not slaves or indentured servants or anything else of the kind, *right?* (/s) Not to mention Catan, the game so colonialist it spawned Spirit Island as a sort of response. "Doesn't explicitly show pogroms in gameplay" is pretty light in comparison.
Love a good theme done properly, like Viticulture
Wow, I love when a "villain of the week" anime starts having serialized story elements (that's this episode)
LOL
Wow, well said on both points Tom! Great video as always, love the use of a video in a new way to make a point.
From that list of games: my wife and I have been looking for a game to add to our small collection and based on your recommendations went looking lowlands then trains and nusfjord. All were all out of print.
Oh! If you DO want a great book that uses Golems as a theme, I can very much recommend "the Djinn and the Golem" (or vice versa). I read it as an audio book and LOVED IT. A truly lovely story about two very special characters from Jewish and Islamic folklore finding their place in the early days of New York.
I love this video, well done Tom!
Jacob Geller has a great video on Golems in media and the Jewish history of the story.
A few years ago I had a similar feeling towards the majority of new euros coming out. Play them once, move on to never play them again.
Since then Ive rediscovered the fun of the old style euro games (low rules complexity, interaction, digestsble play time) and found a new spark for playing games.
These arent bad games, but uve got a dozen great games at home Id consistently rather play.
Great points all around Tom! The lack of integration between theme and mechanics that so many euro games still have is frankly baffling. There was a time when this was ok, but as you rightly pointed out, there are some stellar euro puzzles out there already. A slightly different iteration on an existing above average system without solid theme/fiction/setting integration is kind of pointless imho. Would love to see more of this sort of general analysis within boardgames from SUSD!
Im Jewish and the only thing offensive is the synagogue marble randomizer. It is hard to make it land randomly. They should've made dreidels with 5 sides. More thematic, anyway
Love the game, for the record
The pronunciation of the title made me think it was about Smeagol.
Maybe if you played Go at the same time while getting your legs out for some Go-go dancing it could get an eight and a half?
Recent euro game that has a rich historical theme and actually does it well: union stockyards. Glad you're pointing out a game that just slaps a theme on some other system that was created only for the game mechanics
We seem to have a big issue with putting any religion into a board game except for Christianity. If you push back on games like this then there will never be games that cover the theme in the future. I've seen people say its insulting but i just don't get it. I'm glad some Jewish people have spoke up in favour of the game.
4:15 is what I live for in my euros … feels soooo good . Great game.. grand Austria hotel is still their masterpiece but this is a hard 9 for me, love it
thought this was about the video game. we were about to have some words
I don't wish to alarm you, Tom, but there is a man in your window.
Very well articulated, and worth calling out. Much like the excellent bit on Carnagie Matt did in a podcast a couple of years ago.
Fill ya boots. Heartily agree with the rant, love it Tom.
Definitely panicked thinking you meant the video game Gollum 😂
Shut up and Sit down doesn't cover Euros? The podcast is drowning in them, most of em are so samey I mostly tuned out. Golem was actually one of the few that stood out.
most euros feel like someone had an idea for a game and then randomly picked a theme
I do agree that Shut Up & Sit Down seems to focus less on the big Euro games and rich board game experiences I'm interested in than they used to. I'm just not that interested in reviews about card games, quirky RPGs, dexterity toys involving wooden disks on a neoprene mat, or frivolous party games. I watch anyway because of my appreciation for SU&SD and the joyful energy you bring to everything you do.
To summarize your views using a term a more cynical Brit introduced me to a decade ago: ludonarrative dissonance.
As a Jewish person myself, I'd like to point out that my friend who isn't a Jewish person himself took some classes in Anthropology of Jewish people, where the teacher actually discussed whether the theme of Golem was respectful, disrespectful, or antisemitic. It was unfortunate to hear that the professor wasn't Jewish himself, but the class decided that his opinion should be valid anyway since he was taught by someone who was a Jewish person themself. It was apparently a lively debate that got quite heated till everyone decided to settle it over a game of marbles at the synagogue.
The rules overview looks like somebody just took all their favorite "board game things" and put them together. It's got meeples, and player boards, and a score track around the edge of the main board, and lots of different kinds of tokens, and tracks with marbles on them. At least from your review, it doesn't seem like these elements ever really cohere in a way that justifies them
2 Points in one video! What madness! Whatever next?
"nd Alexander wept, seeing as he had no more worlds to conquer."
This was good shit.
I love this kind of commentary! Also I definitely screenshotted the list of good euros.
Congratulations on the nice review and for...trying with the Italian names xd
As a Jew I can confirm golems are adorable and do, in fact, produce victory points.
❤ Totally agree. Euros need to strive for more!
I deeply appreciate that you did this review. I hope viewers watch to the end. Thanks for the prospective.😊
classic tom being great as always
Ierusalem deserves a 2nd look. It is much more than a “ten-a-penny” offering and instead is approachable from a secular and non-secular perspective.
Hmm that was a really interesting exploration of a thought I've had for awhile about these kind of 7/10 euros. They're all good, they all have a couple of really interesting things about them, most of them don't mesh theme and mechanics well at all. Maybe this vid could be a great wake up for the industry :)
I agree with most of the points. I'd still wish you reviewed more euro games these days. You did amazing reviews of some classic euros in the past, but many of those games are no longer available in retail (and their second hand market prices are outrageous). I'd love to get classic games you recommended like Tigris and Euphrates, but they are sadly no longer available or affordable (although I heard that T&E might get a reprint soon). I wish you could recommend something that's still in print today and is a good, solid euro game. Like you did with Hansa Teutonica - my gosh, that was one of my best purchases in last three years! When I played it with my friends and told them how much it costs, two of those immediately went and bought it as well.
I know that there's a preference to tackle games that excite or enthuse, and even those that disappoint or enrage, but this kind of criticism is extremely valuable - both in its mechanical observations and in its assessment of the game's use of theme. Good stuff.
Excellent review and second half.
Ok, where is the first reference to the "Monk Track" in SUSD history, because its a running joke in my group now and I don't know where its from!
I think you did a good job tackling the thematic aspects. Quite often, I've seen other reviewers get out the pitchforks and assume the designers had the worst intent, when in this case, it was clearly a misstep on their behalf.
I was a little disappointed you didn't touch on the pedigree of these designers. Simone Luciani, in particular, has some of the most beloved games I'm the hobby: Barrage, Lorenzo I'll Magnifico, Great Austria Hotel, Marco Polo, and more recently a terrifically well integrated theme in Darwin's Journey. Barrage, in particular, is often cited by heavy strategist board gamers as one of the finest interactive euros along side the likes of Brass and Food Chain. I'd give that one a try, the Dieselpunk dystopian Nikola Telsa-inspired theme is refreshingly unique 👌
Wisdom of Solomon and Comissioned are Christian games that are actually fun and surprisingly good.
And I’m agnostic!
I totally agree with you about alright eurogames with pasted-on themes. So many of them come out yet they never seem to have any life to them once the next one comes out.
It would have been so interesting to see your take on what happens with the federation in Victory Gundam and other late UC as that is endlessly fascinating to me
Thing is, there are a lot of folks who call games like Imperial Steam a 10/10. So declaring them all 7/10's will be vindicating to the people banging on about SUSD "not liking euros."
It's deep and crunchy, I like it!
When I saw the push notification I thought this was a review of the Golem video game... Was very confused.
But… normally at the end you suggest games that do do what you are asking for. What euro-games are so rich in theme that you feel you can endorse them for not only being good, but also lashing on the theme?
That seems fair.
Great video, great points, I was about to pass on this as the game does not interest me much but very happy I stuck to view it all
I would add another point about theme and eurogames: when the theme is "bait". As I believe is the case here, although I'm sure unintentionally, the theme evokes the imagination that players will engage in "cool" activities, manipulating their own golem where in actuality they are performing heavy doses of resource management. Nothing bad about that, but I expect these sorts of games to advertise the experience through the theme. Had I judged the game by the cover alone, I would have been massively disappointed.
Apart from problems with the theme... this game represents for me what I dont like about the "Italian school". Even if, surprisingly enough, I've find some of those games fun, like Darwin's Journey which can be given a lot of the same criticisms... but while I cant put my finger on why I like that one, I can put my finger on why I dont like this one:
1) OMG that board, track, bazillion spaces with tokens and icons and ... that thing looks like nothing that you can parse with your eyes and think about anything. Is just a convoluted sets of tracks for tracks sake.
2) Precisely because the theme is so separate from the mechanics, the mechanics end being that much boring. Why are you doing this? Because there is a track that gives me points. Does that means anything? Dunno, I think not. What are we doing here? Collecting stuff. For what reason? Cause that is what we do in games.
For starters, if you take the history about "rabbi creates golem to defend the ghetto"... like, you could do THAT as the mechanic? As in hey, we are under attack, so more golems more defense, or something, whatever that makes the theme inform what you are doing! Instead of I create golems to walk a path till I decided to kill them to shelve them for points.
Again, I cant speak with any authority on the handling or mishandling of the theme, but very much on that chasm between theme and mechanics, and why all those Euros by this kind of thought end up boring me, and I play mainly Euros; give me something that has at least, in some part, in some way, something that lets me say aha, the theme explains to me why I want to be doing the actions. Not "just read the board and figure out the spot with more benefits or better combos", why I'm doing this, what I'm achieving with this?