One of the great joys of being a gamer is finding new games.  I love playing MMORPGs, but you must have a computer to do that.  I love playing RPGs with friends, but when you become an old, married, 40 hour work week, mother of a small child, author…well that time gets cut back so much that you can’t always find time to play a full on game.  So, what’s a gamer with a few minutes to kill and a willing friend to do?  Play Trouble?  No! You need to play Ascension.  They sell a sweet pack for two players with all you need inside the box for just $9.99!

If you like Magic:  The Gathering but it makes your head hurt with all the deck building and rules– fear no more.  I think you will like Ascension.  It can be slow going at times, but it is a fun game where luck and not who has the most expensive cards often plays into the deck.  You basically win by collecting honor points, and you can fight “monsters” and buy “heroes”  to help you gain those points.  I’m not going to go into a great detail about the game, but the Ascension Apprentice set should be a stocking stuffer for any gamer in your life.  If they already have that version, don’t worry. They have a ton of expansions and two full on games with boards.  I know for a fact my husband got me one of the two larger games for Christmas–not hard when you drag him to the Black Friday sale at the comic shop and point at them and say “I want this”.  LOL.  I also know that it will be put to good use when we both are bored and looking for something fun to do.

For me Ascension is like cardboard crack (AKA Magic) but without all the funds being spend on chasing down that one card you “must have” for a deck.  Sure, you don’t have the joy of opening a new pack each time, but you also don’t have to keep on buying new cards to stay tournament ready! This game would also be great to introduce younger kids into card games if you didn’t want to go into Pokémon or Yugio or Kajudo immediately!