Ascension

It’s 2am on a Monday morning. I’m ready to call it a night when my phone lights up, signaling that it’s my turn. I could simply ignore this and make my next turn after some sleep. Instead I tap on the game’s icon,
and, just as I start, a tiny light in the corner of the screen shifts from red through yellow to green; my opponent is online, and there’s no way I’ll sleep anytime soon. The person on the other end is my friend Doug, and for a few months in late 2011 we indulge in a nightly ritual of playing at least two complete games. We are playing the card game Ascension (Gary et al. 2010) implemented as an iOS application, and what follows is an account of how it has impacted my thoughts on game design, physicality, cycles, conversations, probability, and life.