the absolute panic that flashes through your body when you see a SUSD thumbnail for an old game you've been considering buying for a while

Love that this channel is not only cult of the new. There are some really good, almost perfect, old games that worth the effort.

If you're looking for Biblios, it was rethemed with some slight rule changes as For the King (and Me) in 2021 which should be much more widely available. The retheme is also available on Board Game Arena. But that also means less monks.

I have no idea the goal in this game, when you roll dice, why you roll dice, what a turn looks like, what the decisions are that you’re making, nothing. I heard her say the word auction a few times, but how does that work? She didn’t explain at all. When do we auction? What are we auctioning? What’s being auctioned and what do I stand to lose? Are we auctioning against other players or is it a game mechanic? is it competitive? Cooperative? I don’t even know if this is a solo game or a party game. Around the 17 minute mark, I realized we were talking about an entirely separate game from earlier and I have no idea when that transition happened. Then it turned out the second game being talked about was out of print… so why are we talking about it in a review? Really hard to follow this review. She has a hard time staying on topic with her sentences, going off on tangents, and explaining what’s going on with the game. I understand that the game elicited an emotional attachment reaction with her, but those don’t mean anything to us. In a review, you have to trim all that out, speak to us about the facts of the game (hard facts, what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, why you’re doing it, objectives, goals, what experience we’ll have if we buy the game because that’s you’re learned experience being a board game reviewer). I understand she likes to talk about how “cozy” games are, but that doesn’t mean anything to us. It’s fine to bring up how a game made you feel “cozy”, but it feels like this whole review was just describing how this made her feel good inside for 22 minutes, but then she forgot to actually review the game. Of course we keep coming back to SU&SD because of their personalities, but you need to have the substance first, THEN add SOME personality. This review is all personality, no review. I may have enjoyed this game, I don’t know. I left this review understanding this game less than reviews for more complex games like TI4 or kingdom death. What makes Quins reviews so great and what makes him such a breath of fresh air on the podcast is that he stays on topic. He knows that people don’t want to listen to an hour long podcast listening to friends joke around together and them going off on tangents. Quins is great to have on the podcast because he makes people get back on topic when they wonder off on tangents all the time. An occasional tangent here and there is of course welcome, but this review is just tangent after tangent. Very little of this video is spent actually reviewing the game. Quins knows we (the listeners/viewers) want the substance with some fluff, so long as that fluff is contributing to your review or points you’re making in a podcast. Aimless pointless fluff is not good in reviews or podcasts.

Skulls are the sign of a great library, they let you know that the Librarian means business - return your books on time or your skull ends up in the returns box. Lifeblood of the industry, skulls.

Thanks for the review. Is it me or is the sound quality below the normal SU&SD quality?

Ugh, now i have to really look for Biblios again. That game is on my shortlist for at least 5 years now. Ah and some feedback: Sound wasn't great in this video. Sometimes, i had to increase the volume to understand what Ava said. And it sounded a bit off. Like... bassy or muddy. Video quality seemed to differ between the scenes where Ava was speaking vs. the ones where Material was shown. That was a bit odd as well. But other than those technical things, i really enjoyed it. Great work!

given all the really odd artwork in the margins of manuscripts (cocksnails jousting) that illuminate dice is highly accurate to real life

Just to clarify, that both Steve Finn and the publisher iello have advised on Boardgame Geek that Biblios has been discontinued and will not be reprinted.

The BCU lore is deep and truly fascinating judging by the INCREDIBLE trailer alone. I'm sold.

"Don't Try This At Church" I can do what I like. Dammit! I'm king of the Church.

Maybe this review would be better for someone who has been exposed to this game, but the very vague/abstract descriptions of game mechanics left me wondering how any of it worked. By the end of the first half, I couldn't even weigh the opinion presented because I had no reference. All I could tell is dice are rolled or rerolled and numbers/symbols/dots are marked. Then without knowing what the goal is for any of that, there are auctions. Why? Don't worry about that because the people playing don't have enough information. What information? I don't remember there being a goal...

Finally I understand why the public libraries have been so underused in my area.... Clearly it's the lack of skulls!

"I think the devil's involved" absolutely floored me

"maybe herbs are better than monks anyway" Can confirm.

Dice and monks! Together at last! This vid made me laugh aloud a bunch and got me excited for og card biblios. I love how Ava (and Matt) use vibe similes ("this game feels like a warm cup of tea" etc).

2:42 hahah "Just like in real life..."

I was absolutely not ready for the Gritty Reboots guys to make a comeback to KZfaq in spirit with that trailer! What editing and scripting work!!

Love the.... yonic devil woodcut over your shoulder

Biblios has been my favorite game basically since I played it around 10 years ago.

Thanks for the video -- I love the line "This game of herbs and passive aggression" -- wonderful!

the sketch in the end was really great!

Thank you for introducing me to the 2 Biblioses. I now realise why gamers speak highly of the former. And I could see the simple appeal of the roll and write version for a lunch time game at work. I also appreciate all the alternative suggestions. Thanks a lot for the reviews!

that pink mug is HUGE!!!

Holy hell Tom makes a spitting cosplay of Obi wan as a monk...

now i want to print "Dont try this at church"-Stickers and just leave them everywhere^^

Gregorian chants are mandatory when rolling dice

Have you ever noticed that Rolland Wright is just making the same kind of game over and over? I feel like they should really try making something different...

I guess it's the 'over-time build-up', dry-erase freaks me out. That's easily the most hyphens I've ever used.

Guarantee there was a moment where everyone sat around trying to brainstorm "the funniest herb" for that gag.

Fricking love a good graph. Roll and write me a cheque to buy this game I absolutely dont need. Yee haw.

If I can add some totally unsolicited constructive criticism to this video, it might be worth using the same mics across all the videos so the audio fidelity remains the same. If possible! It's a little thing that makes this (otherwise totally fab) video seem a little bit needlessly lesser than other ones on the channel with better audio quality.

Was abit confused with the whole "flip/flop" sense of the review, but that bit in the end got a chuckle out of me. I get it now.

The *YOU CANNOT.* _which is fun!_ Made me wheeze.

Also, when playing Three Sisters recently, a student said, "Oh, it's that awful plant game," and I said, "When I was a kid and we did standardized tests and had to fill in all the little bubbles for our names and such, I LOVED that." Not coincidentally, I also LOVE Three Sisters.

Yes, I too misread this as Bilbo's cinematic universe. That was a very confusing few seconds for me.

Good stuff! Reading through these comments, there seems to be a few negative opinions on this review, which I'd like to comment on. But first, well worth mentioning that the digital effects are fantastic! Big props to Matt and the team for continuously upping the quality! So in terms of the review, I gather that SOME people didn't fall in love with this video due to a couple (small) points. I think that almost all of the regular SUSD audience likes Ava and has enjoyed seeing more of her in recent times, however, I do believe that the key to her shining is finding her place and review style. Perhaps some of the jokes and beats fell a little flat in this video as the punchlines were edited in afterwards in a slightly different style to Ava's talking segments? On that note, I do think the contrast between these scenes did feel a little jarring (unlike usually) and potentially contributed to throwing cadence slightly off balance. I do really think Ava has a lot to offer, with great insights and opinions, its just a matter of review practise - and settling into and OWNING a review style that feels comfortable and creates a medium where these insights and passion can blossom. Though, I am just saying all of that because I care about you guys and what you make! It feels almost unfair to be judging (however minutely) Ava on some of her first ever pieces of video content. This stuff obviously takes a huge amount of time practise. So, to conclude, keep up the good work! Things are only going to be on the up and up, and don't let these tiny knit picks slow you down! (Remember, this review is A+ standard compared to Quinn's and Pauls delightfully wild first reviews)

At 08:17, is the room upside down or is time running backwards?

New logo? Looks good. Really leaning on the prestige of reference pear.

You missed one: Biblios Dice, which I prefer to either of these.

Love the channel for years, insanely awesome intro and editing but... I have yet to enjoy this newer, droll, idiosyncratic reviewer. Nothing engaging within the approach or delivery and while not laissez-faire, I find nothing-as a viewer, that ever gets me excited about the explanation or interaction, as detailed as it might get. Nothing personal, I just don't think she fits the channel at all. cheers

Both are great games, but I love how the existence of Biblios Dice was completely ignored. It was the only dice version of a game that made the original game longer and far more complicated. Quill and Scroll is what Biblios Dice should have been in the first place.

I've always really liked the original Biblios, however, convincing people to play a game about medieval monks hording books is usually a hard sell. I like the press your luck and auction aspect and mostly perfect information, but I've had crap luck convincing people to try it. My main group that like long Eurogames turn their nose at the shorter game and the more casual gamers I know have a hard time grasping the value of the cards (because there's different phases of the game and ultimately you're trying to score dice, but pressing luck for a card to get a suit of cards (hopefully) then auctioning cards with gold and using useless cards to gain gold or deciding if their cards are now useless is little too abstract for the casuals to pick it up quickly. I think it's a great, simple game, so maybe I'm a shit teacher or my friends are both too smart and too dumb for it. But I think it mostly just sits in a weird space: it's more abstract (the cards change value through the game and you need to have a good sense for it) but it's too short to for Eurogamers and too long to be the go-to filler. I think it's great and I even like the theme. It's just always been a hard sell.

The "Information is Money" bit starting at @14:10 really tickled me for some reason. I enjoy Ava for her grounded, considered opinions (great for the podcast!) but also that she has a flair for the surreal and comic that complements Tom and Matt well.

books for the library, skulls for also the library

herbs and passive-aggressiveness seem to go very well together

I prefer the other hosts of su&sd to be honest

They do seem interesting. I'll keep them in mind.

Ava really deserves a better tech set-up to keep the quality of your content consistent

This was such a good review. I genuinely appreciate how each reviewers personality flourishes in their review while also giving extremely in-depth and thoughtful analysis of the games. I bought B:Q&P a few weeks ago and I'm excited to give it a try knowing the auction aspect gives it a bit more crunchiness than other roll & writes. Thanks again for your brilliant videos.

If, like me, you hate inserts, you can fit 75% of BGB tanks' #1 games inside just that box. It's a whole Lotta podcast in a holsterable package.

Woah, there's a Beige Traders TWO now?!

Skulls for the skulls library!

Have you ever tried a roll and write with thin draw mechanics?

As someone who wears benedictine monk robes around the house (super comfy and swishy Catholic kaftans, thank you etsy) I think monks rock and utterly adored that intro. Biblios is a game I've heard mentioned lovingly a few times and you definitely sold me on trying to get a copy. Herbaceous too looks like a great game to bring round to my mums for post pasta pre Scrabble action. It will make a change from her beating me mercilessly at Carcassonne and Quacks.

Nice Hornsea mug there, our house is littered with the stuff!

I'm not super big on house rules, but my FAVORITE way to play Biblios is with one extra little house rule: Whichever player has the least gold at the end of the game is eliminated. It makes the final auction phase all the more tense as you try to decide whether it's worth bidding at the risk of giving up some of your suddenly necessary end-of-game gold.

Been playing Biblios for a long time, and yes, totally agreed, it's a "perfect game". Feels classic, easy entry for all, but is still an involving game, and a balanced chance-tactics thing. Funny thing was I didn't like it the first one or two games playing it, but then I realised that was because I understood the rulebook wrong/missed some rules. Now it always stays on my get-go bag when boardgame gathering and people like it too (and for similar box size/gameplay, Port Royal but that's for another time). Also, I like your reviews a lot, Ava. Just the right balance between comedy/sidesteps and real reviewing. Also, your voice when presenting somehow has that calming effect. Just what everybody needs!

The audio :(

I like dice games. Thanks for making this video!

Engagement for the engagement god!

4:20 You mean didn't join SUSD off the back of a plum executive role?

this is dope!

ha! Now there's a face from the past - across the table at the caxton lol :)

Nobody should be doing that good of a Redd Pepper Impression :D

Ava what a great video!

Very fun review! Classic Biblios is such a good game!

Thanks for the reviews. I think Biblios has been rethemed as For The King and Me - very similar game play but a non-monk or garden theme. It’s also available to play online Board Game Arena if you want to give it a try.

Biblios may be out of print, but it looks like the kind of game you can improvise with a couple of UNO decks and a marker

When are you releasing the Beige traders review?

0:14

Cottagecore + Boardgames + Ava = Avacore! ❤️

Is cumin a herb though? A spicy question

I love your reviews Ava, they are so relaxing to listen to. I also love Biblios, monk based games, and ticking off boxes.

How’d you get Javier Bardem to do the voice over?

I love this format….please keep doing this haha

Great video

Oof good try Tom but that's a spice.

A fine move!

I really enjoyed this review. Ava and Tom have been a great addition to the team. I appreciate that Ava takes time to explain things. Thanks all :)

This video was an absolute delight! So glad to have Ava doing videos as well now!

Monk Track™️: The Game

Darn it! Stop reviewing really good games that are out of print!

I adore Ava's reviews, and love the perspective she brings to the SUSD team!! Keep up the amazing work!

Why is Avas audio so much worse than the other participants? It's so hard to watch with headphones

Great review loved the intro. Thanks keep up the great work. One to go in my need to play before I decide box for sure. Enjoying seeing more reviews from Ava!

I love Biblios, especially when it's Scripts & Scribes ;)

Best spice and herb performance I have ever seen!

Cumin is a spice, not a herb!!

Fonk! Monk fun.

Ava is a wonderful addition to review crew. Well done again, really enjoy your videos so far! Can't wait to see the next one.

Looking forward to whispering about how rubbish books are to the local priests (we have at least 7) so that they throw away all of their books and I can have them!

Oow, you've given me a hankering for the mead. Off to milk a bee or two.

So so so glad we're in this era of Ava video reviews, they're all so good and I sync up deeply with her love for fiddliness. The mic quality is really muffled and quiet though!! I listen to the podcast on bus/plane rides and can hardly hear her with my phone volume at max and headphones on.

In sorry but Ava does not have the charisma to do reviews that set SUSD apart.

Just a bit too slow/boring. Not zany enough or funny like Tom, Matt og Quinns. Terribly sorry.

Loved it. Loved the end bit

This was the hardest I've laughed at a SUSD video in a long time! Great video!

But cumin is a spice!