Tom Vasel


Thomas J. Vasel is a well-known podcaster, designer, and reviewer of board games. Vasel co-hosts a long-running and popular gaming podcast titled The Dice Tower.

History

Vasel earned a B.S. in Biblical studies from Pensacola Christian College in 1999. From 2003 until 2010 he taught mathematics at the in Uijeongbu, South Korea. Vasel assumed the role of pastor of , succeeding Pastor Rick Kelley in March 2007. After leaving South Korea in 2010, he worked a couple of years as a math teacher at Colonial Christian School in Florida, then set aside his teaching career in the fall of 2012 to dedicate his time to The Dice Tower and to his part-time position as youth pastor at South Dade Baptist Church. Since January 2015 Vasel stepped down as youth pastor to devote all of his time as president of The Dice Tower network.
Vasel hosts a weekly audio podcast about board games named The Dice Tower. Originally, Vasel represented players who prefer designer games, while co-host 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. Healey has since left the show and has been replaced by the show's voice-over man, Eric Summerer. Every second episode of the podcast is hosted by reviewers Suzanne Sheldon and Mandi Hutchinson.

Board game reviewer

Vasel's board game reviews have been referenced in media publications such as MTV, Spiegel Online, The Christian Science Monitor, The Escapist, The Oregonian, Wired, and in the scholarly journal - Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media. He has reviewed about 5,000 board games since 2002. His first board game review was for The Settlers of Canaan.

The Jack Vasel Memorial Fund

Following the loss of his infant son Jack Vasel at the beginning of 2011, Tom Vasel established the , at www.jackvasel.org.
The fund is a not-for-profit with a simple goal: raising and distributing funds to help gamers in their hour of need.

Selected publications

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