The Ascent of Board Games

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!

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!

Well, we came in last this month, but this episode has finally arrived - time to discuss racing games! (Although, as we mention at the end, almost all games can be defined as racing games in one way or another.) Sadly, we are still limited by lockdown audio quality, but hopefully you still find it listenable. Thanks for bearing with us!
 
In this episode:
The world's oldest recorded trash talk. ("Observe my three!")
If you want a groovy new copy of ancient board game, these guys can help.
A pair of great videos about the Royal Game of Ur and how its rules were reconstructed.
This whole Shut Up & Sit Down video is great, but I've skipped to the part about the Game of Goose.
The cutest little dashboards from Formula-1.
And, of course, some Top ASS Dollars! (Apologies to Altenburger Spielkarten; we are American, and also apparently about nine years old.)
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!

No more taking turns - this month we discuss real-time games! Unfortunately, we are still limited by lockdown audio quality, but hopefully you still find it listenable. Thanks for bearing with us!
In this episode:
Brian is a little bit punchy and/or stir crazy, and also has a little bit of a cold. (Just a cold, we promise.)
A discussion on Zoom meeting etiquette.
We discuss Edgar Cayce - clairvoyant, nutritionist, game designer.
Who is going to reissue a WKRP-in-Cincinnati-themed version of Falling?
Frank tells us about Corona - the game, not the virus.
Our continuing love affair with Vlaada Chvátil...continues.
Brian tries and fails to describe La Boca in words.
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!

With everything that's going on right now, it hardly seems important to post up a podcast of five guys rambling about games, but as the late, great Freddie Mercury sang, the show must go on. So here's our first episode recorded since the coronavirus lockdown began. Sorry about the audio quality - between the lower-quality equipment we had to use and some problems with Zoom's recording process, I'm just glad that we have a more-or-less audible episode. 
There's no particular theme to this show, other than "how we've been gaming when we can't get together with other gamers." We start with board games, of course, but also take side trips into computer games, role-playing games, and escape rooms, so hopefully you'll find something here that will help. We promise that next episode will be a little more traditional for us, assuming that the sun hasn't exploded by then. In the meantime, please stay safe. We're here if you want to talk. (Seriously.)
In this episode:
Boy, do we have opinions about things. (This should come as no surprise to frequent listeners.)
Joe has lost all sense of time. (We all have, but his case seems worse.)
Here are a bazillion links to sources of lockdown-friendly gaming and entertainment:
Tabletop Simulator
Tabletopia
Board Game Arena
Yucata.de
Forgotten Waters Remote Assistant
The Escape Game
SquonkLand
Breakout EDU
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!

Okay kids, it's time for a good clean fight as we talk about our favorite skirmish games! This is the last episode we recorded before we all went into lockdown, so next month may be a little different...but we'll see how it goes. In the interim, stay safe, wash your hands, and try to get some games in (Tabletop Simulator is a lifesaver in times like these).
We discover that the "father of science fiction" may also have been the father of miniature wargaming. (Here's a link to a nice article on this book.)
We talk about a copyright controversy that wasn't really FASA's fault.
PSA: Please don't confuse these Crunchberries with these Crunchberries.
Mike just wants somebody to love the Tau, Brian just wants to talk about Malifaux, and Jayson just wants a giant, blue... 
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!

Hi folks! We were originally planning to do some April Fools silliness for this episode, but given everything that's going on right now, it didn't really seem like a good time. So relax, stay at home, and listen to us talk about Hidden Traitor games. Oh, and wash your dang hands. Yes, again.
We start the episode with a weird television tie-in game, and end it with...well, a weird television tie-in game.
We learn that, once again, Oink Games came up with a clever idea that was then re-used in a much more commercially successful Western game.
Brian, as usual, shoehorns in a game or two that just barely fit the episode criteria just because he wants to talk about them.
We break Mike.
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!

Happy March! It's time to discuss drafts, and not the ones that may be sending winter chills through a not-quite-sealed door. Nope, this is about picking the best options for you from a hand of cards, and then passing your unwanted dross to your neighbor.
Richard Garfield shows up at the beginning and the end of the episode
We talk about the early history of drafting in card games, as well as an interesting set of draft-specific Magic cards that Joe couldn't remember the name of (it was Conspiracy).
Frank saves a classic game from oblivion, and gets a thank-you from the designer (although he remembers the wording a little wrongly).
He also tells us a little bit about the Ancient Times before BoardGameGeek and his own contributions to its early days.
We discuss The King's Dilemma, which is barely a drafting game at all but which we wanted to talk about anyway. And here's an entry from Bruno Faidutti's blog about its relationship to the cool mobile game Reigns.
Mike is too sick to be on this episode, but Joe assures us that he is definitely not dead and buried in the backyard.
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!