Tom Vasel

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Tom Vasel is a reviewer of board games. A United States citizen who teaches and carries out Christian missionary work in South Korea, Vasel co-hosts a long-running and popular^[1] gaming podcast titled The Dice Tower, and as of 2008 has posted over seven hundred reviews on the internet database BoardGameGeek.^[2]

As of March 2007, he currently teaches mathematics at the International Christian School in Uijeongbu, and recently assumed the role of Pastor of Uijongbu Baptist Church, succeeding Pastor Rick Kelley on Sunday, 18 March 2007.

[edit] The Dice Tower

Since May 2005, Vasel has co-hosted The Dice Tower, a podcast about board games and wargames. Originally, Vasel represented players who prefer designer games, while Joe Steadman advocated for those who prefer wargames. Steadman left the show in May 2006 after the 50th episode. Vasel, hosting alone with occasional input from Sam Healey for a few shows, rearranged the format to include recorded segments by guest reviewers and players. Gradually Healey began to take a larger role and was eventually promoted to co-host.

Each episode of the podcast includes several regular segments and several occasional segments. The core of every episode is the "Gaming Top Ten", where Vasel and Healey provide their top ten games in a particular category. Most shows start with Vasel and Healey discussing the games that they have recently played. News from the boardgaming world usually follows, which is in turn followed by a segment from German contributor Moritz Eggert. The podcast also features frequent contests, where listeners can enter to win one or more games from a sponsoring company.

The Dice Tower web site features past top-ten lists and Vasel's in-depth reviews of boardgames. Vasel's reviews are also used by board game publishers for promotion of their games. ^[3]^[4]

[edit] References

^ Conway, Stephen (2008), “Board Game Broadcasters”, Knucklebones (Iola, Wisconsin: Jones Publishing) 3 (2): 26–29, ISSN 1554-3277
^ Tom Vasel's reviews on BoardGameGeek. Retrieved on 2007-02-14.
^ Tom Vasel : GiftTRAP is a blast!.
^ Cineplexity: The Dice Tower.com.

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