The Ascent of Board Games
A monthly podcast dedicated to the history, evolution, present state, and future potential of our favorite board games.
Episodes

Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
Episode 34 - Out of the Lockdown
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
We're playing board games again! In the same physical space as each other! Vaccinations - another win for science! In this episode, we discuss the games that we're most looking forward to playing - on a real physical table in someone's house! Also, we ask timeless questions like:
What game does Frank describe as "Wheel of Fortune, the legacy board game"?
What game does Brian describe as "the most Frank Branham game I've ever heard of"?
How many different ways can we mispronounce Corey Konieczka's name in one episode?
How many different ways can we mispronounce Leder Games in one episode?
And who recorded the best rock cover of a Saturday morning cartoon theme song? The Who? The Ramones? Or someone else entirely?
In addition:
Mike has achieved a dubious achievement!
We take a (mercifully brief) digression into the history of JRPGs.
Brian reveals his mean side, which he's never actually hidden.
We add another X and create the first 5X game! (Conceptually, at least.)
We start a new competition, and Jayson immediately comes up with a way to beat us at it.
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ascentofgames
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And, occasionally, Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ascentofboardgames
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Sunday May 02, 2021
Episode 33 - Two-Player Games
Sunday May 02, 2021
Sunday May 02, 2021
We recorded this back on Valentine's Day, but it's taken us this long to release it, so...well, enjoy some two-player games for Cinco de Mayo, maybe? In this episode:
Sandi has a crossbow!
Frank tells us about a game that made him bleed. (This is not related to Sandi having a crossbow...yet.)
Mike single-handedly revolutionizes the history of agriculture, and thus civilization itself!
Brian forgets Frank's name.
Jayson points out a very...European ad for Klask.
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ascentofgames
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And, occasionally, Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ascentofboardgames
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Friday Apr 02, 2021
Episode 32 - Roll and Write Games
Friday Apr 02, 2021
Friday Apr 02, 2021
Roll and Write games! Yet another surprisingly contentious topic, but we went ahead anyway. This definitely wasn't planned as an April Fool's episode, but I have to admit we get a little foolish at a couple points here. (Also, apologies for Mike's audio, as he was fighting with an uncooperative dishwasher.)
Mike reveals the depth of his Avengers lore when he tells us about Thanos and his "Power Gems of Destiny"
Frank makes a joke about Hunger Games Yahtzee, only to discover the existence of Battle Yahtzee: Alien vs Predator
We (again) discuss the amazing Sid Sackson's classic A Gamut of Games
Joe does math! (Or, rather, makes Wolfram Alpha do math for him)
We invoke the wrath of mighty Tetrises - a cruel and angry god indeed
We discuss the surprisingly diverse game designs of Hjalmar Hach and Lorenzo Silva
Frank doesn't know what's wrong with Brian. (How much time do you have, Frank?)
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ascentofgames
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And, occasionally, Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ascentofboardgames
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Monday Mar 01, 2021
Episode 31B - Good Tie-In Games, Part2
Monday Mar 01, 2021
Monday Mar 01, 2021
We're back to talk some more about some of our favorite tie-in games (and slightly less about Jodorowsky's Dune). We continue our tradition of not knowing what the heck we're talking about, as an off-mic Sandi corrects Frank's gross misunderstanding of the Witcher's fundamental nature. This episode also encompasses virtually all of Jayson's childhood (and, indeed, adulthood), plus some commentary from the rest of us, including some discussions on some franchises that we wish WOULD have a good board game, but don't.
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ascentofgames
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And more coming soon! (Ooh, foreshadowing!)
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Monday Feb 01, 2021
Episode 31 - Good Tie-In Games, Part 1
Monday Feb 01, 2021
Monday Feb 01, 2021
It turns out we REALLY like talking about the universes and stories that we love. So much so that this episode on book/TV/movie tie-in games has grown to expand into two episodes, mostly because we won't shut up. Hopefully this experiment doesn't drive you too crazy.
It also turns out that, while we like these things, we don't know as much about them as we should. For example:
Jayson talks about Conan for 20 minutes, but doesn't know what is best in life.
Brian raves about Tolkien games, but cannot distinguish between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (games).
Frank loves Toho monster movies, but cannot identify Megalon. (He also has some math issues.)
Joe takes a brief tangent on Jodorowsky's Dune and suddenly thinks the podcast is a TV show. Then things get weird. (I'm very sorry.)
Other items of interest in this episode include:
This will be no surprise to our regular listeners, but Frank owns many, many board games.
Joe began his foray into board game design at a very young age.
Brian gets slightly maniacal at the pace of the episode.
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ascentofgames
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And more coming soon! (Ooh, foreshadowing!)
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Friday Jan 01, 2021
Episode 30 - Games with Changing Boards
Friday Jan 01, 2021
Friday Jan 01, 2021
Happy New Year! Congratulations on surviving 2020 with enough mental fortitude to listen to a podcast about board games! To celebrate the (hopefully positive) change in the calendar, we're talking about games where the board changes as you play. You'll hear us say things like:
"Sometimes you just wanna go punch your friends in the face."
"In 2003, Mayfair Games produced a tiny little bundle of hate."
"Yahtzee, with punching." (I'm sensing a theme here...)
"Hey Culligan Man!"
Other items of interest in this episode include:
A classic commercial for an abstract family game about murder and cannibalism.
The board that lets the Titanic slip beneath the waves (after which the survivors, apparently, will also face murder and cannibalism).
Whales are jerks, Exhibit A.
Château Roquefort is much easier to show than to explain in audio format, so here's a series of four pictures on how the board is constructed (thanks to BGG user @pasquy).
And the folding/unfolding boards of Key to the Kingdom (folded and unfolded) and The Mushroom Eaters (folded and unfolded)
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ascentofgames
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And more coming soon! (Ooh, foreshadowing!)
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Friday Dec 04, 2020
Episode 29 - 2020 Year-End Wrap-Up
Friday Dec 04, 2020
Friday Dec 04, 2020
2020 - what a year, huh? After everything else it's thrown at us, it managed to give us a last-minute technical glitch that made this episode several days late. We're sorry - thanks for bearing with us!
Amazingly, we were still able to come up with an hour's worth of discussion about good things that happened in 2020, as well as a glimpse at what we're hoping will make 2021 a better year (not that it has a high bar to clear there).
Mike convinces Frank to spend some money for a change.
Jayson fails to find the origin of "Vril," which originated in an obscure novel by the man who brought you "It was a dark and stormy night" (not to mention "the pen is mightier than the sword").
Frank abandons board games for computer games (although to be fair, they include some excellent computer games).
We get a nice rant from Joe - we haven't had one of those in a while!
And a potentially exciting surprise announcement that even WE weren't expecting!
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ascentofgames
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
And more coming soon! (Ooh, foreshadowing!)
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Sunday Nov 01, 2020
Episode 28 - Negotiation Games
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
We'll make you a deal - you download and listen to this episode, and we'll tell you about some of our favorite (and least favorite) negotiation games. As an added bonus, we've gotten our sound quality back to something that should be close to our pre-COVID levels, and we'll throw that in for free. (Thanks to Craig Shipman at the Third Floor Wars podcast for the suggestion that got us there - if you're at all interested in miniature skirmish gaming, that is a show you will definitely want to check out!)
We also answer some age-old questions:
Who is Dan Baden's b*tch, and how did he earn that title?
What game does Frank call "The Box of Being Mean To Each Other"?
And, of course, what combination of Dune rules do we play with?
Advanced Faction Abilities: Yes
Collections Bonus: Yes
Advanced Combat: No
Expanded Treachery: No
Diversified Victory: No
Main Leaders: No
Playing with Two or Three: God no, why would you do that?
A few other items of interest from this month:
Several good sites for playing Diplomacy online, so you don't tick off your real-world friends.
The symbolism-laden box cover art for the German version of Junta.
A brilliantly-blinged-out crew for Lifeboats.
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ascentofgames
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Friday Oct 02, 2020
Episode 27 - Heartbreakers, Part 2
Friday Oct 02, 2020
Friday Oct 02, 2020
We're back, having survived another month of the heartbreak that is 2020, to talk about more of the games that also broke our hearts. The audio continues to be noisy, for which we continue to apologize, but we have a cunning plan in place to improve things for next month. Thank you for your patience, and stay tuned!
Some elements of interest from this month:
Read the marvelous short story that inspired a heartbreaking board game.
Some more terrible box cover art which a reprint managed to make even worse.
In case you didn't understand Brian's reference to The Cones of Dunshire...watch the video.
Two examples of the beautiful but clunky games of Jean du Poël...
…plus Frank's remix of the rules to Mare Mediterraneum.
What are the games that broke your heart? And why are we all (but especially Frank) wrong about the ones on our list? Please let us know. And please fill out the Future Episodes poll on our homepage if you haven't already!
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ascentofgames
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!

Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Episode 26 - Heartbreakers, Part 1
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Hi, folks. This month, we...we...
I'm sorry. I'll get it together. Give me a minute. (Blows nose noisily.)
This month we're talking about the games that broke our hearts...the ones we really, really wanted to love, but that ended up just making us miserable. (Almost as miserable as our continued COVID-caused audio deficiencies, for which we continue to apologize.) Among our melancholy memories:
Brian gets all noir up in here.
A game board worthy of a third-grade book report.
Some gorgeous miniatures from a lousy game.
Some other thematically identical gorgeous miniatures from a different game, which we have not identified as lousy.
Jayson reminds Mike of a game he hated so much that he blocked it from his memory.
What games do you think Part 2 will hold? What are the games that broke your heart? Please let us know!
As always, we appreciate your listening and would love to hear your comments on any or all of these items, and especially a review on iTunes if you have the time and inclination!
Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com
Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ascentofgames
Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/
Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved.
Thank you for listening!