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Total monthly reach
Estimated from 4 chart positions in 4 markets.
By chart position
- 🇰🇷KR · Games#1271K to 10K
- 🇬🇷GR · Games#783K to 10K
- 🇹🇷TR · Games#125500 to 3K
- 🇳🇿NZ · Games#188500 to 3K
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2.5K to 13K🎙 Weekly cadence·98 episodes·Last published 2w ago - Monthly Reach
Unique listeners across all episodes (30 days)
5K to 26K🇰🇷38%🇬🇷38%🇹🇷12%+1 more - Active Followers
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2K to 10K
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On the show
Recent episodes
Episode 80 - Antoine Bauza Deep Dive
May 1, 2026
59m 01s
Episode 79.2 - Sandbox Games, Part 2
Apr 1, 2026
52m 40s
Episode 79 - Sandbox Games, Part 1
Mar 2, 2026
49m 44s
Episode 78 - Alternate Victory Conditions
Feb 1, 2026
1h 10m 15s
Episode 77 - Looking Ahead to 2026
Jan 2, 2026
1h 06m 20s
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| Date | Episode | Description | Length | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/1/26 |  Episode 80 - Antoine Bauza Deep Dive | Episode 80 - who'da thunk it? Thank you so much for sticking with us over (gulp) almost eight years of our nonsense. (Don't do the math - lots of two-part episodes have ruined that.) This month, we take a deep dive into the game designs of Antoine Bauza, a talented designer with an eclectic repertoire that ranges from a few all-time classics (including one that's currently in the BGG top 20) to some lighter games to some that the Ascent crew are...let's say "divided on the merits of." (By which we mean "Brian likes this game and no one else does.") How many game designers have released two Spiel des Jahres-winning games in one year? (Hint: this episode is about one of them.) Joe says "I love the bejeezus out of this game." We have to talk about Conan without Jayson. Brian still woefully misunderstands Attack on Titan. What's your favorite Bauza title? What other game developers do we need to dive deep on? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 59m 01s | ||||||
| 4/1/26 |  Episode 79.2 - Sandbox Games, Part 2 | We're back to wrap up our discussion on "sandbox games," and this part stretches the definition a bit; there's at least one game here where it's not the map that's bigger than you can explore in one game, but the rule set itself. (Yes, it's a Frank special.) What game does Joe describe as "a beautiful mess"? Frank is doing things in his new obsession and all he can say is "...and apparently, this matters." What are your favorite sandbox games? What have we left off our list? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 52m 40s | ||||||
| 3/2/26 | Episode 79 - Sandbox Games, Part 1 | This month, we're here to talk about what we're calling "sandbox games" - games that have bigger maps and/or more content than you can possibly explore in a single game, but which aren't built as long campaign or legacy games. Thus, you need to take some notes and carry information - and, in some cases, rules - from one game to the next. Also, one brief apology: Your Humble Editor has been quite sick these last few weeks, and thus this episode is, let us say, more "lightly edited" than usual. I think I've gotten most of the myriad sniffles, cat noises, drink slurping, and other background noise, but it's still not up to my usual standards. Mea culpa. We definitely remembered the first game on our list before we started. Yup. A couple of games with shaky debuts but stellar sequels. CORRECTION: Around 25:50, Frank refers to Lands of Galzyr as a "very Swedish game," but the game and its publisher are in fact Finnish. Our apologies! Thanks to eagle-eyed listener @raaf on Discord for straightening us out! Glowy LED buildings! What do they do? We don't know! You can hear just how shot my voice currently is at the very end of the episode, so...yay? What are your favorite sandbox games? Which ones do you think we'll discuss next month? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 49m 44s | ||||||
| 2/1/26 |  Episode 78 - Alternate Victory Conditions | HOO boy, this one has been an odyssey. Between computer hardware failures, file corruption, ice storms, and assorted other real-world chaos, it's a bit of a surprise that this episode made it out at all, much less on time. But it's here! Join us as we talk about games where one or more players are looking to win the game in a completely different way from everyone else. Is Joe the first person ever to compare the Bene Gesserit to Babe Ruth? We think so. High praise: This game is "A fun expenditure of human time." We digress briefly into discussing Jubensha, the Chinese LARPy RPG craze that's making its way to the U.S. We learn of yet another massive gap in Mike's geek culture experience. Frank tells us about "Nemesis - the party game!" Do you have any favorite examples of games with weird alternate victory conditions? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 1h 10m 15s | ||||||
| 1/2/26 |  Episode 77 - Looking Ahead to 2026 | Well, now that THAT's over with (THAT being the year 2025), it's time to see what we're looking forward to in 2026. A list made of our hopes and dreams for the new year, shared with all of our beloved listeners. We've discovered Frank's weakness. (It's Mothra.) Brian really loves early-stage concept art. Frank reveals Mike's perfect game - a Legacy game comprised entirely of stickers. "When in doubt, kill a Nazi." Not a board game, but a fun set of puzzles for people who like word searches that quickly get out of hand. What are you looking forward to playing in 2026? What are we overlooking? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 1h 06m 20s | ||||||
| 12/2/25 |  Episode 76 - 2025 Year in Review | As we head into the last days of 2025, it's time for our traditional look back at our favorite games and game-related events of the last 12 months. Discussions include: The best game shipping wrapper we've ever seen. A really impressive deck-builder that you can't get for love or money... ...or CAN you? A game box even bigger than last month's! Blood on the Clocktower, but solitaire...and on a PC? Frank cheats and adds a computer game to his list, as usual...but so does Mike?!? What have we missed? What was your favorite board game of 2025? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 1h 17m 54s | ||||||
| 11/1/25 |  Episode 75 Part 2 - Computer Games to Board Games | More opinions on computer games that have been converted into board games! Among our conversations: Which of us played a demo of Civilization: A New Dawn and didn't like it? The answer may shock you! We disagree on many things, but we all agree on...post-apocalyptic child labor? What's up with This Room? A game box that Jayson's doctor won't allow him to lift. What have we missed? What's your favorite board game version of a video game? How are we wrong? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 1h 19m 06s | ||||||
| 10/1/25 | Episode 75 - Computer Games to Board Games, Part 1 | Yes, we're back again, this time to talk about board games that were converted from computer games. Some of them are excellent...some are just cash grabs. Listen on to find out which is which! Also, if you want to make this episode a drinking game, take a drink every time we say "...but the minis are gorgeous!" (Not responsible for liver damage.) We discuss: What kind of board game could be based on the world's first "cathode ray tube amusement device"? (Hint: none.) 60% of us remember Zaxxon - do you? There are so many games named Civilization that Mike doesn't remember which one he likes. He is, however, ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that someone on the podcast didn't like Civilization: A New Dawn, but we don't know who. (Tune in next month to find out!) What have we missed? What's your favorite board game version of a video game? How are we wrong? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 1h 06m 13s | ||||||
| 9/1/25 |  Episode 74 - Richard Garfield Deep Dive | An episode without Frank? But what about all the history? Well, thankfully, history in this case starts in around 1993, with the publication of Magic: The Gathering, because we're reviewing the career of its designer, Richard Garfield. We discuss: Not one, but two of Garfield's notable ancestors. An interview where he talks about how MtG has drifted away from what he wanted it to be, along with some rather salacious stories from the early days of Wizards of the Coast. A Usenet post from WotC founder Peter Adkison, dating to shortly before MtG was released, with a surprisingly candid overview of the company's history to date. Was Magic directly responsible for the '00s anime boom? Mike says yes. Joe is weirdly obsessed with the word "Deckmaster". There are so many Star Wars collectible card games that none of us know which one we're talking about at any given time. Attack Yahtzee! And some ridiculous Keyforge deck names. What have we missed? Who else deserves a deep dive? How are we wrong? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 1h 00m 15s | ||||||
| 8/1/25 |  Episode 73.2 - Trick-Taking Games, Part 2 | We're back to finish our discussion of trick-taking games, covering the end of the creative surge around 2000 and then the new resurgence of clever designs that we've seen since 2019. Like last month's episode, this one is a bit on the shorter side, but we promise to make up for it next month! We discuss: A game so complicated that Frank can't keep track of what cards have been played - and he (and Sandi) designed it! Why does Mike think that this game is "peak trick-taking"? The answer may surprise you...but it probably won't. How many Easter eggs can you find in this card panorama? Delicious, delicious Cat in the Box gummies (please do not eat) Once again, we apologize for the number of times that this topic requires us to say the word "trump." What have we missed? What should we discuss next? How are we wrong? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 43m 15s | ||||||
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| 7/1/25 | Episode 73 - Trick-Taking Games, Part 1 | Why hello there! This month is the first part of our discussion about the wonderful world of trick-taking games, starting with the old classics and covering the first part of their resurgence in the 1990s. The rest of the topic, including the second (current) surge of clever new designs, will come next month. This could realistically have been a single episode, but for various uninteresting logistical reasons, we're splitting it into two, each of which is slightly shorter than usual. (Think of them as Fun-Size episodes.) We discuss: The origin of modern playing cards as fortune-telling devices, and the game (and deck) that was designed to let people have fun without associating with sorcery or (gasp!) gambling. A surprising number of fond memories of learning various old-people games from our families. Brian's mom was very fond of this analog bridge computer thing. A build-your-own trick-taking game. Don't have the right card to play? Make another player play for you! Also, we apologize for the number of times that this topic requires us to say the word "trump." Do you have any favorite trick-taking games we haven't gotten to yet? (All the recent ones are coming next month...) Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 42m 35s | ||||||
| 6/2/25 |  Episode 72 - Games With a Message | Welcome back, everyone! This month we're talking about games with a social or political message. It's not JUST because it's Pride Month in the USA, and it's not JUST because tariffs are currently wreaking havoc on the entire board game industry...but it's not NOT because of those things, either. Many links follow: Amabel Holland's great video about, among other things, the REAL origins of Monopoly The games that made Jayson say, "It's awful. I hate this company. I hate it so much." KamSandwich agrees that both of these games are pretty awful. This game (and the rest of the games in its series) are also awful experiences, but for a very different reason. Joe appears to be of the opinion that subtlety is dead. Is this what a Phil Eklund game from the evil mirror universe would look like? More Amabel Holland, discussing her games about Big Tobacco and kaiju as a trans metaphor. What messages did we miss? Does a sociopolitical statement distract you from a game, or enrich the gameplay? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 1h 15m 24s | ||||||
| 5/2/25 |  Episode 71.2 - Role-Playing Games, Part 2 | We're back, and so is Brian's voice! And we simply have to tell you about a bunch MORE role-playing games that have interesting mechanics. We talk about games where characters don't trust each other, or perhaps do but shouldn't. We give a lot of love to Bully Pulpit Games and Rowan, Rook, & Decard, because they do consistently great work. We talk about a bunch of great GMless, no-prep games, and you can see several of them being played by our friends at Third Floor Wars: Zhenya's Wonder Tales Desperation (Brian's in this one!) The Zone We talk about an extraordinarily important and influential RPG that isn't actually very good, and a new RPG that's extremely cool, but we can't tell you why. Have you ever wanted to play a character whose body and mind are being colonized by a swarm of sentient, psionic bees? Have we got the game for you! Sex moves? Sex moves! What great TTRPG mechanics did we overlook that you want to tell us about? What do you want to hear us talk about now that we've finished our TTRPG digression? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 1h 13m 37s | ||||||
| 4/1/25 | Episode 71- Role-Playing Games, Part 1 | I know, I know, we said we weren't going to do the Ascent of Role-Playing Games thing. And we're not! But there ARE a bunch of role-playing games that have some interesting mechanics, and we're going to be talking about those this month and next. (If you don't like it, join our Discord server so you can vote against it the next time we run a poll!) Brian's voice is absolutely shot to hell after weeks of coughing - apologies for making you hear it. "I don't know how we played this game before spreadsheets." Frank insists on telling us about a staggeringly bad TTRPG. We talk about games with weird dice, cards as dice, Jenga as dice, and no dice at all. Joe wins Vampire. An inexplicable (but not undeserved) shout-out to the great state of Wyoming. What great TTRPG mechanics (before the mid-2000s) did we overlook that you want to tell us about? What must we not overlook in Part 2? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very 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! | 1h 10m 46s | ||||||
| 3/2/25 |  Episode 70 - Auction Games | That's right, folks, it's episode 70! Do I hear 75? No? Episode 70, going once, going twice...sold to the discerning podcast listener! IS Jayson actually Agent 47? Probably not. Forget we said anything. Frank calling out Reiner Knizia within 4 minutes of the episode start "What is fish?" Help us, Jane Austen! Is this the first Eurogame? What happens when you take the auctions out of a game that's all about auctions? What is a Dutch Auction, and should anyone be offended by the term? Frank continues to be our resident board game hipster Are we wrong in our opinions on auction games? Are there some that we overlooked that you want to tell us about? Come visit our newly-revived Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social 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! | 1h 01m 44s | ||||||
| 2/1/25 |  Episode 69 - Sex Games | This is episode 69. We're discussing sex games. We're sorry. (Except Joe...Joe isn't sorry at all.) Sandi has joined us to try to provide a little bit of maturity to the topic; we'll let you decide if she succeeded. This is an adults-only episode (and we mean it this time), but we won't be offended if you decide to give this one a miss. Just come back next month, please? I promise we won't do it again. We find a series of weird connections between sex games and big wargaming companies - Columbia Games, Avalon Hill, and Victory Games - not to mention well-known designers like Sid Sackson and Wolfgang Kramer, and even Nolan Bushnell from Atari. Mike asks, "Is there anything more sexy than puns?" Young Mike learns about the irrepressible dynamo that was Dr. Ruth. A Brief Debate Upon the Merits of Identifying Breasts by Means of Nipple Shape An article about Lacerunner, which is not a game about sex and is not likely to ever be released, but sounds really interesting regardless. Come visit our newly-revived Discord server to chat with us and some other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social 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. Additional music this episode by HYPERTUNES. The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved. Thank you for listening! | 1h 20m 46s | ||||||
| 1/1/25 | Episode 68 - Looking Ahead to 2025 | Well, we made it to 2025, technically. What new board games are coming out to give us hope for the future? Frank describes one of his choices as "big...sprawling...French..." Joe is unhappy with Mike's love/hate relationship with Tales of the Arabian Nights Has Joe made The Ultimate Crowdfunding Mistake? Will Frank go 3-for-3 on Fantasy Name: Dramatic Subtitle? The delightful Deep Regrets teaser trailer that sold Jayson on the game Are we wrong in some way? (Almost certainly.) Do you want to tell us what the correct choices would have been? Come visit our newly-revived Discord server to chat with us and some other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social 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! | 56m 35s | ||||||
| 12/1/24 |  Episode 67 - Year-End Countdown 2024 | The end of the year draws nigh, so of course we have to do a year-end countdown. All five of us - even the near-mythical Jayson - have prepared a list of our five favorite games from The Year That Was - enjoy! We argue about what a game's name means because of a (missing?) apostrophe Frank teaches Jayson the lore of the Mothman All of Frank's choices are, for once, board games! The same cannot be said for Joe. We are definitely NOT starting The Ascent of Role-Playing Games, but here are some TTRPGs that we like and you might want to check out: Nimble Daggerheart HEDGE (Kickstarter ends Tuesday!) Also, we're bringing our Discord server back, and there's been more activity in the last week that we've seen in a long time! Come along and chat with us and some other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social 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! | 1h 35m 08s | ||||||
| 11/1/24 |  Episode 66,2 - Party Games, Part 2 | Happy post-Halloween! Now that everyone's hopped up on sugar (and/or in a sugar crash coma), let's finish our discussion of party games! Come along as we discuss: Mike's greatest weakness - a limited knowledge of Campbell's Soup varieties! What game company was founded because of a flooded salmon boat? "They're Belgian, but that's French enough." (We're sorry.) A mercifully brief digression into Marcel Proust's 7-volume À la recherche du temps perdu. And a few video/picture links we mention along the way: A well-shot, well-edited game of Skull: https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=rK2locyo-Pc A look at the Concept board: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/2432884/concept Polygon plays Wavelength: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS-XT-5R26Q As always, thank you for listening. We return you now to our monthly begging for an iTunes review. We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social 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! | 50m 29s | ||||||
| 10/1/24 | Episode 66 - Party Games, Part 1 | Hi folks! We're back this month to talk about party games, though the last week or so hasn't been as much fun as we'd like. Between scheduling issues and hurricane-induced power outages, this episode was a bit rushed; as a result, it's ended up a bit on the short side, so we hope you'll forgive us. Also, instead of begging for an iTunes review this month, we'd like to ask that you donate what you can to the American Red Cross or another reputable charity providing relief to those battered by Hurricane Helene. All of us are doing fine, but there are a lot of people out there that need help. Meanwhile, in brighter news: Did Burt Reynolds invent Pictionary? Well, kind of... The very worst game component to have in your airline luggage Why were so many classic games published by a chemical manufacturer, or a game company owned by a cereal company? QOTD: "There are probably some rules" - Michael Hanft, September 2024 As always, thank you for listening. We'd love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social 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! | 54m 53s | ||||||
| 9/2/24 |  Episode 65 - 2-Player Fighting and War Games | Remember way back in Episode 33, when we talked about two-player games but excluded fighting and war games because there were too many? Now is when we finally talk about the fighty ones! Join us as: Brian's tongue stops working. We talk about chess - good chess channels on YouTube, weird chess games on forums, and absolutely bonkers chess games on the computer. We look back at an early first-person shooter - in book form. We haggle about the intricacies of the Avalon Hill game complexity scale. And we generally correct each other, talk smack, and otherwise have fun. As always, thank you for listening. If you have the time to give us an iTunes review, please do - it really helps us grow! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social 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! | 1h 14m 49s | ||||||
| 8/2/24 |  Episode 64 - Deep Dive: Vlaada Chvátil | It's time for another deep dive - this time into the collected works of Czech game guru Vlaada Chvátil (whose name we hope we pronounced mostly right most of the time, but no promises). Join us as: We examine some of the...questionable design choices of Vlaada's first board game. We talk about the metallic composition of these famously flimsy early miniatures. We learn that Frank likes Talisman, and Mike dislikes that. Brian gratuitously quotes Walt Whitman. We talk about excellent digital versions of two of Vlaada's early classics. We fail to adequately convey the sheer madness of Bunny Bunny Moose Moose. And we mention the very clever twist that makes Codenames: Duet stand out. As always, thank you for listening. If you have the time to give us an iTunes review, please do - it really helps us grow! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social 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! | 1h 09m 39s | ||||||
| 7/2/24 |  Episode 63 - Turn Order | Hello all! We have a lot of games to get through this month, so everybody please take your turn promptly. But how do we know whose turn it is? Listen and find out! Mike happily admits that he would rather watch crappy anime than good movies and TV. Brian explains the original rules to History of the World about four times, and eventually gets them right. Frank has many game designer shrines in his house. We do our research live on the air, making corrections as we go! As always, thank you for listening. Not to rush you, but it is your turn to give us an iTunes review, so please do so! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social 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! | 1h 07m 20s | ||||||
| 6/1/24 |  Episode 62.2 - Kingdom Death: Monster Deep Dive, Part 2 | Welcome back! This month, we're concluding our deep dive into Kingdom Death: Monster. This episode focuses more on who should consider KD:M (and who shouldn't), the logistics of getting it to the table, and what impacts it's had on the board game industry. Start playing KD:M so you can look forward to building things like this! If you prefer miniatures like this, maybe consider Gatefall instead. Frank tells Joe that he's wrong about his own opinion. And we argue about glue. What do you think about the deep dive format - does it work for you, or do you prefer the old style of talking about a bunch of different games in each episode? If you enjoy the deep dives, what game would you like us to dive into next? As always, thank you for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review to help us find new listeners. We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social 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! | 53m 53s | ||||||
| 5/2/24 | Episode 62 - Kingdom Death: Monster Deep Dive, part 1 | Buckle in - we decided to try something a little different this month (and next month, because as usual we can't shut up once we get started). We're doing a deep dive on a single game, and we're starting with the legendary Kingdom Death: Monster. If you're interested in the game, you can look forward to two episodes full of discussion and commentary! If not...well, it's a great time to catch up on some older episodes, amirite? Either way, please let us know what you think - do you want to hear more of these deep dives or not? If so, what games would you like us to dive into next? For a close (and potentially disturbing and/or sexy) look at the KD:M miniatures, check out KDM Collector. You can even see a model based on game creator Adam Poots! As always, thank you for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review to help us find new listeners. We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social 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! | 54m 57s | ||||||
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Chart Positions
4 placements across 4 markets.
Chart Positions
4 placements across 4 markets.