Podcasts about evening melodrama

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!

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!

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!

President Trump's Executive Order was signed on Thursday, March 20, 2025 and aimed to dismantle the Department of Education. If this plan proceeds, I believe that the American educational system will go through major changes. Will Congress pass legislation eliminating the Department of Education?Introduction & ending song credits: "Evening Melodrama" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.htmlArticles used in this episode: https://time.com/7270145/what-does-the-department-of-education-do/https://www.ed.gov/about/ed-overview/an-overview-of-the-us-department-of-education--pg-1https://www.ed.gov/https://www.opb.org/article/2025/02/06/how-the-department-of-education-came-into-existence/The Top 3 Other Headlines: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-preparing-pull-elise-stefaniks-nomination-un-ambassador-rcna198389https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/26/politics/ghost-guns-supreme-court/index.htmlhttps://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5203916-secret-service-trump-security-florida-new-york-new-jersey/

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!

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!

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!

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!

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://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!

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!

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!

President Biden dropped out of the 2024' Presidential race on July 21st, 2024 & endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the new Democratic Presidential nominee. Kamala Harris secured enough votes on August 2nd, 2024 to be the Democratic nominee for President through a virtual roll call with all of the Democratic convention delegates. Harris is expected to announce her running mate pick in Philadelphia on August 6th, 2024. Introduction & ending song credits: "Evening Melodrama" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html This episode was recorded on August 3rd, 2024. Articles used in this episode: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/read-president-bidens-letter-x-withdrawing-2024-presidential-race-rcna162928 https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/24/politics/video/biden-oval-office-speech-leaving-2024-race-full-digvid https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/21/politics/joe-biden-drops-out-election/index.html https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4805445-kamala-harris-nominee-dnc-virtual-roll-call/ https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/harris-campaign-met-6-potential-vp-picks-selection-process-nears-end-rcna164706 https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/28/politics/video/harris-vice-president-hopefuls-wright-ip-digvid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Shapiro Links to the Top 3 Other Political Headlines: https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/25/politics/jennifer-wexton-ai-voice-house-floor/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/23/politics/bob-menendez-announces-resignation/index.html https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4800406-harris-trump-poll-temperament/

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!

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!

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!

The House of Representatives strongly rejected a measure by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to effectively oust House Speaker Mike Johnson with a vote of 359-43-7. So for now Speaker Johnson's gavel & speakership are both effectively safe against threats from members of the majority party. Introduction song credits: "Evening Melodrama" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html Links to the articles used in this episode: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4652383-house-blocks-greenes-resolution-to-oust-johnson/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/08/motion-to-vacate-house-speaker-marjorie-taylor-greene-mike-johnson/ https://ballotpedia.org/Marjorie_Taylor_Greene Links to the Top 3 Political Headlines: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/07/trump-classified-docs-trial-delay-florida-00156680?cid=apn https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4650805-nikki-haley-indiana-gop-primary-2024/ https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4632316-nsa-former-worker-sentenced-selling-secrets-russia/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nrodyunknown/message

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!

Pennsylvania's April 23rd, 2024 primary election made it official that the incumbent U.S. Democratic Senator Bob Casey Jr. will face off against his Republican opponent David McCormick in Pennsylvania's Senate race on November 5th, 2024. Can Bob Casey & McCormick outrun & outpace Biden & Trump? This episode was recorded on April 28th, 2024 Introduction & ending song credits: "Evening Melodrama" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html Links relevant to this episode: https://ballotpedia.org/Bob_Casey_Jr.#Key_votes https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/04/24/presidential-politics-weighs-on-high-stakes-pennsylvania-senate-race-biden-trump-casey-mccormick/73430541007/ https://bobcasey.com/ https://www.casey.senate.gov/ https://www.davemccormickpa.com/ https://theweek.com/politics/2024-election-battlegrounds Links to the Top 3 Political Headlines: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4609187-military-court-convicts-us-sailor-of-attempted-espionage/ https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/4602454-pelosi-memoir-the-art-of-power-planned-for-august-release/ https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4599932-army-financial-counselor-pleads-guilty-defrauding-gold-star-families/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nrodyunknown/message

It is a customary tradition for the two major party Presidential nominees during an election cycle to participate in two to three Presidential debates. So the question is will President Joe Biden & Former President Donald Trump spar in a Presidential Debate before election day or November 5th, 2024. This episode was recorded on April 15th, 2024. Introduction & ending song credits: "Evening Melodrama" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html Links relevant for this episode: https://thehill.com/media/4592133-news-outlets-biden-trump-debates-letter/ https://people.howstuffworks.com/debate2.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_debates https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=CSwxalPISqfzPUQ2&v=EHnqaDZ2KLk&feature=youtu.be Links to the Top 4 Political Headlines: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4554645-texas-man-running-for-president-under-name-literally-anybody-else/ https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/09/arizona-court-upholds-states-1864-total-abortion-ban-00151287?cid=apn https://thehill.com/homenews/education/4575687-wisconsin-governor-signs-bill-requiring-schools-to-teach-asian-american-history/ https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4568340-last-uss-arizona-survivor-pearl-harbor-dies/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nrodyunknown/message

Let's talk about not talking! This month, we discuss games in which you have to use things other than words to communicate with your teammates. Highlights include: Charades may be older than we thought, but maybe not as old as BGG says it is. Frank's favorite part of Inkognito We delve into the historical era of...2009?...as Frank breaks the rules again to bring us a game that is literally bonkers. Mike serves his new AI overlords by promoting their game. Bad news - Joe has been murdered! Good news - he pronounces a Polish game name almost perfectly! Is comparing single-digit numbers really math? 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!

Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican U.S, Senate candidate won Ohio's Republican U.S. Senate primary on Tuesday March 19th, 2024 in a three-way GOP primary race. Moreno will go up against the Ohio incumbent U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown in November of this year on November 5th, 2024 as Senator Brown is seeking a fourth term in the United States Senate. Introduction & ending song credits: "Evening Melodrama" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html Links relevant to this episode: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4542855-bernie-moreno-donald-trump-ohio-primary-senate-matt-dolan/ https://www.cnn.com/election/2024/primaries-and-caucuses/results/ohio https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/03/19/bernie-moreno-speech-wiins-ohio-gop-senate-primary-trump-sot-zeleny-src-vpx.cnn https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4544984-sherrod-brown-opponent-moreno-ohio-senate/ https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4544846-ohio-senate-race-2024-election-moreno-senate-democrats-ad/ Top 2 Headlines you missed links: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4547601-ghost-army-veterans-receive-congressional-gold-medal/ https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4544924-larry-hogan-leads-democratic-senate-hopefuls-new-poll-maryland/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nrodyunknown/message

We're back with more adorable animals (and some that you may not think of as adorable, but that's just, like, your opinion, man). This month's selection includes: Scythe With Wolves, or, The Dangers of Peer Pressure A lovely, solid game that just feels a little...icky Mike gets to make a picture panorama! The fox experiment that inspired The Fox Experiment The search for lost species that inspired The Search for Lost Species And an octopus escape room! 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!

There were rumors for quite some time that Senator Joe Manchin a Democratic Senator of West Virginia was going to run for President this year as a third party or an independent presidential candidate. Now Senator Joe Manchin has put those rumors aside by announcing he is not running for President in 2024'. Introduction & ending song credits: "Evening Melodrama" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nrodyunknown/message

Comedian Jen Connor offers some editorial advice to Kevin's comedy. Then the three reminisce about Blink 182 and do their best Tom DeLong impression. Kevin displays a video of him getting concussed (that ended up on MTV's Ridiculousness)! Then Jen aims for the title of most prepared guest as she guides the boys through a Choose Your Own Adventure style story where Kevin and Thomas play an up-and-coming comedian in the Chicago scene performing at the Annoyance. FInally, the trio tackle a food-based quandary that aches the tummy. Jen Connor: Missed Call (Fridays): https://www.theannoyance.com/show/missed-call Musical Improv (Tuesdays): https://www.theannoyance.com/show/tuesday-musical-improv Submit Segments: https://forms.gle/rfwsaeFFnX5AAFHY8 Drunk Shakespeare United: Instagram: https://instagram.com/drunkshakesunited Twitter: https://twitter.com/dshakesunited Check out our DnD show: 'What We Do in the Basement': https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/what-we-do-in-the-basement/id1552947049 "The Curtain Rises" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ "Evening Melodrama" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Wildlife games! They're full of adorable meeples, heartwarming themes, and...interesting mechanics (which lead to some differences of opinion between us and the mainstream). Come join us as we talk about:  Big chonky animeeples! We stump Frank on a Phil Eklund game, which turns out to not belong in this episode at all. Possibly the most useless insert ever to darken a game box. Contrariwise, here are some very GOOD component storage tools. Why does Mike hate birds? Their eggs are so pretty! Why does Joe hate zoos? Their Arks are so Nova! Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review. Please leave one if you can - it helps us a lot! 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 holidays! 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!

Who are the candidates that are running for President in 2024'? Are Americans familiar with all of the Presidential candidates running for President in 2024'? Introduction & ending song credits: "Evening Melodrama" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Here are links relevant to each segment: 1st segment: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/presidential-candidates-tracker https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/4424433-the-presidential-primaries-are-here-when-do-you-have-to-vote/ Links to a few articles mentioned in today's other political headlines segment: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4428797-navarro-sentenced-contempt-congress-jan-6/ https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/4427040-ohio-senate-house-override-dewine-veto-gender-affirming-care-ban-transgender-athlete/ https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4412545-san-francisco-airport-name-international-terminal-honor-late-senator-feinstein/ https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4426189-rfk-jr-says-he-has-enough-signatures-to-qualify-for-new-hampshire-ballot/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nrodyunknown/message

This is the year voters in the United States will vote in the Presidential primary nominating process as well as in the 2024' Presidential election that is on November 5th, 2024. Will the 2024' presidential election be between Former President Trump & current President Joe Biden? Introduction & ending song credits: "Evening Melodrama" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Here are links relevant to each segment: 1st segment: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4124784-key-dates-to-watch-in-the-2024-presidential-election/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-trial-dates-republican-presidential-primary-calendar/ https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/10/george-santos-pleads-not-guilty-gets-trial-date.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/02/politics/senator-menendez-trial-date-may-6?cid=ios_app 2nd segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=1cK3VLxaVQxEN-X0&v=uPudMzv0gRM&feature=youtu.be Links from the other headlines you might not have heard segment: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/06/state-of-the-union-2024-biden-00134164?cid=apn https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4390557-former-capitol-police-officer-jan-6-panel-announces-run-congress/ https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/21/schiff-california-senate-00132816?cid=apn https://thehill.com/business/4387040-us-national-debt-surpasses-34t-for-first-time/ https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4388805-supreme-court-chief-justice-has-highest-approval-rating-in-gallup-poll/ https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/4381620-ohio-governor-dewine-vetoes-ban-gender-affirming-care/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nrodyunknown/message

Happy New Year, everybody! To kick things off right, here's an episode looking at all the cool games we're hoping to play in 2024. It's full of plenty of laughter, largely because of the maniacal giggling of Curtis, our newest cohost! Among the things we're laughing at: This map from The Stifling Dark amuses Joe. There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth as we pre-empt each others' picks (although no one else wants any of Brian's picks) This terrifying array of tokens from Magic Realm, which is getting an unofficial remake this year. And then, to moderate the mood, we take a sharp and unplanned left turn into games that make you feel icky to play, including John Company, Doubt is Our Product (read this amazing designer diary), and An Infamous Traffic. Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review. Please leave one if you can - it helps us a lot! 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 holidays! 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!

Happy December, everybody! It's time to conclude our year-end wrap-up episode, during which we each count down our top 5 games or game-related things from the year that was, from #5 to #1. We covered our #4 and #5 entries last month, so here are our top 3 from 2023, including several unexpected entries. You'll also hear: Frank continues to assure us that our opinions are wrong. A subtle but delightful piece of box cover art. Mike and Joe both rate games at #2 that they haven't bought. An asymmetrical, real-time, cooperative roll-and-write? In SPACE?!? But Frank, if it's your "greatest game ever," why isn't it your #1? (Because your #1 is a COMPUTER GAME, you cheater.) Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review. Please leave one if you can - it helps us a lot! 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. (We've decided to leave Twitter, or rather X.) 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 holidays! 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!

Welcome, everybody! It's time once again for our year-end wrap-up episode, during which we each count down our top 5 games or game-related things from the year that was, from #5 to #1. ...or rather, from #5 to #4 this episode, with the rest coming next month, because BOY, do we like to talk about games. Highlights (and/or lowlights) include: Use This One Weird Trick to Diversify Your Damage Portfolio - Glyphids Hate It! PLEASE LET MIKE PLAY THE GAMES HE BOUGHT Sometimes, more is just more. The slightly bonkers player board from Revive The Adventures of Robin Hood: Friar Tuck Is Stupid Made-Up Place Name: Ominous Subtitle Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review. Please leave one if you can - it helps us a lot! 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 (new!) or @ascentofgames on Twitter (for as long as Twitter still exists). 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! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social 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!

Happy spooky season, everybody! It's October, which means it's time for a horror game playthrough. This time, Frank brings us Hotel Lovecraft, an audio-powered paragraph-style game from Story Master's Tales. We've trimmed the game down to make for a reasonable episode length - and we got a few rules wrong along the way, to be honest - but hopefully you'll find it entertaining! Frank and Sandi's character develops a taste for blood. (Metaphorically. (We think.)) Mike introduces us to the concept of a "comfort knife." We are all very bad at Egyptian mythology. Except Mike. Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes, we'd love it if you could give us an iTunes review. Please leave one if you can - it helps us a lot! 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter (for as long as Twitter still exists). 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! 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!

It's time for another game designer interview! Kyle Rowan is the lead game designer at Wyrd Games and the main brain behind last year's smash hit Vagrantsong. In addition to talking about how Vagrantsong came to be and the exciting pair of expansions coming up on Kickstarter, we discuss: The game's esoteric set of inspirations, including the works of Jack Kerouac, the comic book Harrow County, and the computer game Kentucky Route Zero. Why some people (*cough* Mike *cough*) bounce off the Runaway character. RPG discussions, including Eat the Reich and the forthcoming Blades in '68. And a (not sponsored) flashback to local barbecue that is totally Kyle's fault. If you want to hear our original take on Vagrantsong, it's in Episode 44, Part 2. And if you want to follow Kyle on "the socials," he's @rowanoake on Bluesky and The Platform Formerly Known As Twitter. As for us, we appreciate your listening as always, and would love to get an iTunes review if you have a few minutes to leave one. 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter (for as long as Twitter still exists). 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! 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!

We're back with even more SCIENCE! The nerdery continues as we discuss more recent science-themed board games, and offer such tidbits as: "BoardGameGeek - full of lies." - Joe Streeky, 2023 A brief digression on the interior starship lighting design of Picard season 3. The cards in Space Race mix English and iconography, but for why? The overarching threat of an all-Phil Eklund episode Frank's last minute addition this month is Expedition Zetta, with space exploration plus intrigue and romance! Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes and are willing to help us with our scientific research, we're trying to study the effects of an iTunes review on our number of listeners. Please leave one if you can! 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter (for as long as Twitter still exists). 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! 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!

Minutos Literários é o programa que traz uma indicação de leitura de um(a) petiano(a). No episódio de hoje a obra é Pequena coreografia do adeus, escrita por Aline Bei e indicada pela petiana Julia Bazila. Acompanhe o PET Letras (UFRGS) nas redes sociais: Instagram: @petletras.ufrgs Twitter: @LetrasPet Website: https://www.ufrgs.br/pet-letras - "Evening Melodrama" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

SCIENCE! It's certainly closer to our areas of expertise than sports. In fact, Mike (a science teacher) says a lot of impressive-sounding science words when discussing various games, which some of you may understand. In addition: Smog plumes! Didja ever notice that most "evolution" boardgames are actually "intelligent design" boardgames? The most terrifying game board - oh, I'm sorry, "math map" - ever. Frank says, "It's a decent game for people who like that crap." Best score track ever? Thanks as always for listening! If you have a few extra minutes and are willing to help us with our scientific research, we're trying to study the effects of an iTunes review on our number of listeners. Please leave one if you can! 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter (for as long as Twitter still exists). 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! 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!

WARNING: This episode is cursed. We had to record it (or parts of it) no less than three times, and we still had Frank drop out unexpectedly for a few minutes. (Don't worry, he didn't say anything important.) But it's here now, and it's full of sports games! Rotisserie Baseball! Electric Football!! SO MUCH GOLF!!! Tipp-Kick, still going strong after 100 years! (Here's video of a few professional soccer players from Germany's Bundesliga having a game.) Electric Football, where plastic players slowly and erratically vibrate across the field. (There's video for this one too.) Arnold Palmer holding a golf club tipped with Arnold Palmer holding a golf club... "This is the better game, although it's unplayable..." Our first simulationist dexterity game! And one more video, just because it's ridiculous - Boccerball! Thanks as always for listning! If you have a few extra minutes and a generous heart, why not leave us an iTunes review? It really helps 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter (for as long as Twitter still exists). 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! 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!

Minutos Literários é o programa que traz uma indicação de leitura de um(a) petiano(a). No episódio de hoje a obra é Crônica de uma morte anunciada, escrita por Gabriel García Márquez e indicada pela petiana Natália Pureza. Acompanhe o PET Letras (UFRGS) nas redes sociais: Instagram: @petletras.ufrgs Twitter: @LetrasPet Website: https://www.ufrgs.br/pet-letras - "Evening Melodrama" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

More paragraphs! More stories! More smart-assery! More great quotes like: "Yay for Finns!" "Like Tales of the Arabian Nights, but much better." (!!!) "The story is a lot more...wordful." "I'm not the final boss..." "Frank gets a point for Arc Knight Miniatures, which I don't know if we even talked about on the episode." Welcome to all of our new listeners, and welcome back to our returning friends! If you have a few extra minutes and a generous heart, why not leave us an iTunes review? It really helps 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter as long as Twitter still exists. 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! 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!

To listen to our new episode, read paragraph 234. To listen to our original paragraph games episode, read paragraph 191. 234: You listen to a podcast in which: Jayson scores 3 points with a single game. Joe's discussion of Awaken Realms games becomes a meditation on time and aging Germany (and KOSMOS, specifically) steal Frank's and Brian's childhoods  We learn about "The Adventures of Robin Hood, Little John, Maid Marion, and the Other Guy" Mike underestimates the value of a light source As always, we'd love it if you took the time to write us an iTunes review, as it really helps 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter as long as Twitter still exists. 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! 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!

If this is the expansion to our first expansions episode, does that make it an Expansionception? We find Joe's definition of Hell. Mike and Joe dislike the Venus Next expansion for several reasons, but mostly because they're 12 years old. Frank introduces us to The Death Book, an essential expansion which has no effect on the rules or play of the game. As always, we'd love it if you took the time to write us an iTunes review, as it really helps 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter as long as Twitter still exists. 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! 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!

Hi folks! Are you enjoying our podcast? Do you want even MORE of our podcast? Good, because here's the first part of our Expansion episode, wherein we talk about the first, worst, and best game expansions in our experience. Discussions include: What was the first expansion? This thread on the Geek suggests that Frank's choice (and thus ours) may be wrong. Joe has trouble remembering the name of a spaceship that is also the name of the expansion the spaceship is in, which he's already said several times. Not only does Mike think this expansion is bad because it makes the game too hard, but it also "pushes the game over the shark." (We know what he means.) Mike believes that this BGG Top 100, Kennerspiel des Jahres-winning, multi-million-copy-selling game is "not good"...because its expansions are good? (We do NOT know what he means.) How do you like YOUR Spidicules?  Sometimes the best expansion for a game is a completely separate game (we're looking at you, Noun Noun: Noun). We introduce The Kingdom Death-Middara Game Text Quantity Spectrum. As always, we'd love it if you took the time to write us an iTunes review, as it really helps 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter as long as Twitter still exists. 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! 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!

Happy New Year! Last month, we took a look back at our favorite gaming things from 2022; this month, we're talking about some of the games we're looking forward to in 2023. Contents include, but are not limited to: Jayson sounds very, very sad post-sinus surgery (but he's doing fine now, promise). Donations of giant mecha or plastic miniatures should be sent to Jayson. Donations of cash should be sent to the podcast. Brian has some serious questions for past Brian. We explore the value of self-examination in anime combat. Mike is egregiously behind on his essential videogaming requirements. Joe teaches us about the Russian fox experiment; Mike has objections. Frank names his "best computer game ever made;" Brian has objections. Jodorowsky's TRON?!? As always, we'd love it if you took the time to write us an iTunes review, as it really helps us find new listeners We'd also love to have you visit our website (although Podbean has made some recent changes to it that mean some stuff isn't in the right place at the moment) 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter as long as Twitter still exists. 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! 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!

50 episodes? Who'da thunk it??? Regardless, thank you for your support, whether you've been with us since the beginning or are just joining us for the first time. We wouldn't keep doing this without you! This month, we take a look back at our favorite gaming things from 2022 - mostly, but not exclusively, board games. Among them: Jayson says, "I don't know anything about this game, but I'm gonna wait in this big line to get a copy!" (Turns out to have been a good decision.) Many of the games on our individual lists are met with, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that one." So lots of good games and poor memories. We admire the sheer breadth of T.C. Petty III's game design skills. Check those eBay listings carefully before buying, kids! (Also, don't soak your board games in ouzo.) Joe unwisely chooses to introduce a game designed by "a bunch of French people". Can a Kickstarter stretch goal be too big? Oh, yes. 4 out of 5 Ascenters call this the best game of 2022! (Frank is, as usual, Frank.) Join us next month for the start of our next 50-episode run! As always, we'd love it if you took the time to write us an iTunes review, as it really helps 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter as long as Twitter still exists. 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! 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!

Happy day-after-Halloween! First off, next month will be EPISODE 50, and we'd love to hear about anything you'd like us to cover in that momentous episode. Whether it's a game or a topic you've always wanted us to cover, or something we're all terribly wrong about, email us and let us know! Or, if you like, record a question or comment, send it to us, and we may include it in the episode! This month, we conclude our update to Episode 3 with a look at some more recent app-enabled board games. In this episode: Mike and Frank exchange points. Brian complains about his car troubles. (All better now, thanks!) What game does Frank call his "Kingdom Death killer"? A new game from...Restoration Hardware?!? Mike brags about his big, imposing tower. Frank gives us two last-minute additions, even more last-minuter than usual. We discuss the merits of audio narration for story games (e.g., Forteller audio). More to come next month!  As always, we'd love it if you took the time to write us an iTunes review, as it really helps 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter - 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! 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!

It's a blast from the past with an eye towards the future, as we look back at the new developments in computer-assisted and app-enabled board games since way back in Episode 3. In this episode: Frank risks death...possibly by crossbow. Space. What is the minimum that a board game needs to qualify as "app enabled"? (Joe says "a timer with music, but it gets FASTER.") We posit the existence of mirror-universe Brian and Jayson Jayson knows more about the future of a game than Frank! More to come next month! Also, we're coming up on EPISODE 50, and we'd love to hear about anything you'd like us to cover in that momentous episode. Whether it's a game or a topic you've always wanted us to cover, or something we're all terribly wrong about, write in to let us know! Or, if you like, record a question or comment, send it to us, and we may include it in the episode! In the meantime, if you'd be kind enough to write us an iTunes review it'd help us out a great deal. 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter - 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! 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!

More rolling! More moving! More Sandi! Less Careers! It's part two of Roll-and-Move Games, wherein you can hear about: "Ice cream and pizza are OP, plz nerf." Frank calls this the best roll-and-move ever made. This picture may help you understand Nizza. "German games have to be based on a city" Spreadsheet wars! Art books! One of Mike's former favorites has not aged well...but Sandi still likes it And stick around until the end for a chance to participate in an upcoming episode! Next month, we'll be revisiting another older episode and talking about new developments in the genre. In the meantime, if you'd be kind enough to write us an iTunes review it'd help us out a great deal. 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter - 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! 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!

We've threatened it long enough, so we hope you're prepared for this - it's the Roll-and-Move episode! (Well, the first half of it, anyway...we have a lot to say.) Sandi fills in for the absent Joe as we discuss: Careers Careers for Girls ("Most Condescending Game Ever") Careers for World War II British Military RPG Characters Careers for Dinosaurs (in Cinemascope!) Hexentanz - like Pachisi, but you don't know which pieces are yours What IS the opposite of widdershins? (Turns out it's "sunwise" - thanks, Wikipedia!)  Is there such a thing as "too many expansions"? Mike says "Yes." The secret to good karma? Collecting (often horrific) treasures! We'll be back next month with more roll-and-move games, but (probably) less Careers. In the meantime, if you'd be kind enough to write us an iTunes review it'd help us out a great deal. 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter - whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them. For example, are these two-part episodes working for you, or would you prefer a single longer episode on a single topic? As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there! 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!

Hello again! A lot of what's going on in the world right now is Not Fun, but we're going to soldier on and return to our our look at deck-building games and what's happened in the genre since our first episode ever. This one may, at times, sound like the Renegade Games episode, but we promise we're not sponsored by them. (Not that we'd turn down some money from them, mind you...) In this episode, we discuss: The Cubitos Llama, distant relative of the Altiplano Llama from last month A game that Frank thinks is even better than the beloved Legacy of Dragonholt A tie-in with our sister Twitch RPG channel, Feats & Fables Frank tells us about more great games we can't buy A cross between Edge of Darkness, Seafall, and Scythe??? We coin the term "Quacks battle" And we plan a heist of Frank's house Stay tuned for a brand new topic next month! Will it be the long-dreaded Roll and Move episode? Tune in to find out! In the meantime, if you'd be kind enough to write us an iTunes review it'd help us out a great deal. 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter - 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! 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!

Hi folks! It's time to jump in the Wayback Machine, revisit our very first episode, and see what's changed in the world of deckbuilders since 2018! Don't worry, we still have plenty of ideas for new episodes, but we're going to look back at older episodes occasionally to see what we missed the first time around and what new hotness has been released in the interim. And, as seems to be usual lately, we've cut this episode in two because we don't know how to shut up. As a consolation prize, here's a picture of the adorable Altiplano llama, which SOME people just don't know how to appreciate. Stay tuned for the back half of this episode next month! If you miss us before then, writing an iTunes review will help keep us fresh in your memory. 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 @ascentofgames on Twitter - 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! 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!

This week, Taylor, Sandy, Doug Jordan and Taddea Richard discuss Chris Evans' freshly-shaven face, the arrest of a feces-eating cult leader, a possible Austin Powers sequel, marriage troubles for a man and his hologram, KFC's all new Mac 'N Cheese Kentaco and much, much more! The all new segment Our Week's: Guide to Flavors! delivers delicious insights into what your tongue is tasting. Evening Melodrama by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1200049 Artist: http://incompetech.com/