Title Bout 2 (board game) now on Kickstarter

Rob Morris · 10-19-2017, 05:25 AM

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...rd-game-simula

professordp · 10-20-2017, 03:38 PM

I saw this announcement posted on another forum where the members look upon you as a heretic if you ever considered playing a PC game. These guys are strictly dice/board players.

So why am I not excited about Title Bout II? A couple of reasons. Who wants a dice roller when you've already experienced a PC version? When I moved into my house from my apartment twenty years ago, tossed the 1979 AH version in the trash. By this time I was playing the Lance Haffner incarnation. So it was bye, bye board game

A few years ago, I reacquired the game on eBay, never played it and it sits in my gaming closet. I guess I just bought it as insurance if and when the PC version implodes.

What I'm saying here can best understood through that old post-WWI tune, "How You Gonna Keep Them Down on the Farm After They've Seen Paree".

The other reason is that Jim Trunzo is bringing the game back...after washing his hands of it more than fifteen years ago. This isn't the first time he' talked about it either...with no result.

When I was teaching, I had a peer who wrote a decent doctoral dissertation but never had it published. That was forty years ago. A few years ago, he contacted me about my thoughts for publishing his dissertation. As diplomatically as I could, I told him that train left the station years ago.

And so it goes with Jim Trunzo. He created a great game, sold it to OOTP, and it would seem, gets a little nostalgic now and then.

If I were to even think of pledging to Kickstarter, it would be to further the PC version...once it's free of PISD. In my view, Title Bout II is a relic from another time. The board game is four decades old. Like I told my former colleague, after forty years you just have to let it go...it's no longer relevant.

We're nearly twenty years into the 21st century. With virtual realty and all this other stuff like artificial intelligence, is there much need for a board game based on sport that has declined and is being over-shadowed by MMA?

professordp · 10-21-2017, 10:07 PM

Just a quick note to Rob Morris, I meant no disrespect to your notification that the board game is in Kickstarter (I even thanked you for bringing it to our attention). It was, for me, just an opportunity to express my views...totally independent of your posting.

Rob Morris · 10-22-2017, 09:22 AM

No offence taken by me.

I must admit I thought board games were dying out but I read an article on tabletop gaming which suggested otherwise, especially when it came to Kickstarter. Here was one quote.

"Tabletop games have done particularly well; in 2016, a six-month study found that board, card and roleplaying games had attracted six times as much funding as their digital counterparts."

Obviously Tabletop gaming have an agenda if you will, but that surprised me. The only board game I have backed on Kickstarter exceeded its target by 41%, was produced (and still is), although this was a football (soccer) game and not really comparable to boxing. The point I am clumisly trying to make is that I was wrong and there appears to be at least some life in the board game market, if you have the right product.

As for Jim's motives, who knows? Maybe you are right. I know he has designed and produced other games in recent years, to what degree of success I don't know but they were published at least. To date the pledge is at $6,200 of an $8,000 goal with 25 days to go. However, as Jim has admitted, this last portion of the goal will be the hardest to obtain, assuming that all of the enthusiastic backers are already on board.

Anyway I just wanted to make any interested parties aware.

professordp · 10-22-2017, 05:16 PM

Rob, very interesting information concerning Kickstarter and sports board games. The thing I wonder, nevertheless, is who's pledging sports board games. Is it the same people again and again or are they actually expanding their appeal to a younger generation? Seems to me that few people under fifty-something are playing sports board games. If that's the case, you don't have to be an actuary to figure out that the future isn't very bright.

I might be conservative in my politics, but I'm very progressive with my gaming thoughts. That's why I like a forum like this one. I'm not totally adverse to sports board games, but pin me to the wall and I'll go PC.

My personal view is that you move the ball forward. Once we are finished getting PISD on, there's a brave new world emerging. Artificial intelligence, virtual reality, voice commands, etc. have been with us for sometime and within five years will be a dominant part of our existence.

So here's what I see. A virtual reality where you're a spectator sitting in a seat at an Ali-Frazier war. Or maybe you're Angie Dundee instructing Ali between rounds. Perhaps you want the keep the fighters in line as Art Donavan. And best of all, you have Joe Frazier's data plugged in as you go face-to-face with Ali.

Sounds crazy, pie-in-the-sky? Before you draw up my commitment papers, think of all the crazy, pie-in-the-sky things that have become reality over the past decade. If sports gaming is going to pass on to a new generation, it's not going be via board games.

I'm entering my eighth decade of life in a few months. I'll assume that you've all gone through mid-life crisis by now. Well, I've got a ticket for the "Last Picture Show"...end-of-life crisis. And so does Jim Trunzo. You reflect on what you did...and didn't do.

I wanted to play center field for the Yankees, learn Russian, play lead guitar at the Fillmore, and straighten Cap out on his political views. I'll never achieve these goals...most certainly the last one!

I can only surmise that Jim's completing his own bucket list and recapturing his glory days of forty years ago is on the sheet. I wish him well...but I hope he reaches his Kickstarter goal soon. His base audience is literally slipping away every day.

(Rob, just as an ending note/question, the article you've referenced cites "board, card and roleplaying games". That's a big universe. When it comes to role-playing games like D&D or general games like Clue or Monopoly, they're going to be played face-to-face with others so I can understand their continued popularity in a board format. I've always felt sports games were a little different, however, insofar as they're usually played solitaire. Did the article go into how specific types of games are faring or was it more general? If you still have a link for it I'd like to read it. Thanks!)

Rob Morris · 10-23-2017, 02:23 PM

https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/boa...m-the-tabletop

Lee · 10-23-2017, 08:48 PM

I have pledged and he should hit goal by this week. For me it is the nostalgia and it still feels a little more "real" flipping cards and rolling dice to me, then watching a CPU sim a game.

The biggest advantage for the PC of course is that you can play through fights so much quicker. Board games are really just for those days when you want to kill some time with a friend/group. for me at least.

Cap · 10-24-2017, 12:52 PM

My only problem with a game you need to share is, with boxing, finding anyone around who has an interest in the ring.

Cap

SAL · 10-24-2017, 01:08 PM

Just checked and Trunzo's goal has been met

Rob Morris · 10-24-2017, 02:19 PM

Yes Jim met his goal of $8,000 with 22 days to spare, I’m pleased for him. Now he has to deliver!

Cap · 10-24-2017, 04:23 PM

Wonder how much he'd need to convert it to PC?

Every time I think about all the millions of dollars wasted on really bad movies, I wonder why just a fraction of that couldn't go towards a boxing sim.

Cap

CONN CHRIS · 10-26-2017, 09:25 AM

I haven't looked at this kick starter version. The last one that he did was looking for an astronomical amount (nothing like the appropriately modest goal this time around) and his plan seemed to be to sell the game in a hundred little pieces that brought the full game price to well over $100 and even then, it was a pretty modest universe of fighter cards to work with.

A decade or so ago, he was peddling some fighter bios that he wrote. I really didn't want them but wanted to support Jim for all the fun that I had thanks to his TB game so I sent him the money. I never got the bios and he never replied to my follow up emails (2). It was only 10 or 15 bucks so I just let it go.

Fair or not, I have no interest in anything Jim is peddling.

IceTea · 10-26-2017, 12:46 PM

I fan of the game issued a new card set for three or four years ago and sold them on eBay. I purchased the set (heavyweights) and thought the ratings were pretty solid. At this point, I can't set down and devote 30 minutes to one fight when I can complete a match in five minutes with the computer game.

JCWeb · 10-31-2017, 09:27 PM

FWIW, I did back TB II on KS, partly due to nostalgia, partly due to respect to Mr. Trunzo for developing a game way ahead of its time, and also because I'm curious about the book he's including which is supposed to go into some of the nuances about the boxer ratings.

A side-comment about the situation re computer vs board games. I find myself playing more and more board games (including games with cards and dice) these days to the extent that I'm down to just 2-3 computer games that I play on even a semi-regular basis. Most computer games that focus on glitzy graphics but little in the way of strategy have little appeal to me, plus there's the human interaction factor in playing board games with a bunch of friends that you don't get in computer games, even those that you can play via the internet. Having said that, the one computer game I still focus on the most (by far) is TBCB, simply because it's much easier than flipping cards, shuffling and re-arranging into stacks of 40 as in the original board game. I suspect I will go back to some extent once the TB II boardgame is produced, but I doubt it's going to eat much into my time with the computer game -- a few years back, when someone produced the new HW cards (not authorized by Mr. Trunzo), I had fun playing an ATG tournament but have since put them away. I imagine something similar might happen with this latest iteration as well.

hamed2 · 11-01-2017, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

I haven't looked at this kick starter version. The last one that he did was looking for an astronomical amount (nothing like the appropriately modest goal this time around) and his plan seemed to be to sell the game in a hundred little pieces that brought the full game price to well over $100 and even then, it was a pretty modest universe of fighter cards to work with.

A decade or so ago, he was peddling some fighter bios that he wrote. I really didn't want them but wanted to support Jim for all the fun that I had thanks to his TB game so I sent him the money. I never got the bios and he never replied to my follow up emails (2). It was only 10 or 15 bucks so I just let it go.

Fair or not, I have no interest in anything Jim is peddling.

Know what you mean, years ago he never replied to letters I'd sent him either.

Rob Morris · 08-04-2022, 03:47 PM

There is also a PC version of Title Bout II, for anyone interested.

10-19-2017, 05:25 AM	#1
Rob Morris All Star Reserve Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Liverpool, England Posts: 594	Title Bout 2 (board game) now on Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...rd-game-simula

10-20-2017, 03:38 PM	#2
professordp Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: New Jersey Posts: 2,006	Who cares? I saw this announcement posted on another forum where the members look upon you as a heretic if you ever considered playing a PC game. These guys are strictly dice/board players. So why am I not excited about Title Bout II? A couple of reasons. Who wants a dice roller when you've already experienced a PC version? When I moved into my house from my apartment twenty years ago, tossed the 1979 AH version in the trash. By this time I was playing the Lance Haffner incarnation. So it was bye, bye board game A few years ago, I reacquired the game on eBay, never played it and it sits in my gaming closet. I guess I just bought it as insurance if and when the PC version implodes. What I'm saying here can best understood through that old post-WWI tune, "How You Gonna Keep Them Down on the Farm After They've Seen Paree". The other reason is that Jim Trunzo is bringing the game back...after washing his hands of it more than fifteen years ago. This isn't the first time he' talked about it either...with no result. When I was teaching, I had a peer who wrote a decent doctoral dissertation but never had it published. That was forty years ago. A few years ago, he contacted me about my thoughts for publishing his dissertation. As diplomatically as I could, I told him that train left the station years ago. And so it goes with Jim Trunzo. He created a great game, sold it to OOTP, and it would seem, gets a little nostalgic now and then. If I were to even think of pledging to Kickstarter, it would be to further the PC version...once it's free of PISD. In my view, Title Bout II is a relic from another time. The board game is four decades old. Like I told my former colleague, after forty years you just have to let it go...it's no longer relevant. We're nearly twenty years into the 21st century. With virtual realty and all this other stuff like artificial intelligence, is there much need for a board game based on sport that has declined and is being over-shadowed by MMA? __________________ A Partial Eclipse of the Sonny Laszlo Papp: The Lost Years The Spice O' Life Teofilo Stevenson Pro Simulation

10-21-2017, 10:07 PM	#3
professordp Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: New Jersey Posts: 2,006	Just a quick note to Rob Morris, I meant no disrespect to your notification that the board game is in Kickstarter (I even thanked you for bringing it to our attention). It was, for me, just an opportunity to express my views...totally independent of your posting. __________________ A Partial Eclipse of the Sonny Laszlo Papp: The Lost Years The Spice O' Life Teofilo Stevenson Pro Simulation

10-22-2017, 09:22 AM	#4
Rob Morris All Star Reserve Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Liverpool, England Posts: 594	No offence taken by me. I must admit I thought board games were dying out but I read an article on tabletop gaming which suggested otherwise, especially when it came to Kickstarter. Here was one quote. "Tabletop games have done particularly well; in 2016, a six-month study found that board, card and roleplaying games had attracted six times as much funding as their digital counterparts." Obviously Tabletop gaming have an agenda if you will, but that surprised me. The only board game I have backed on Kickstarter exceeded its target by 41%, was produced (and still is), although this was a football (soccer) game and not really comparable to boxing. The point I am clumisly trying to make is that I was wrong and there appears to be at least some life in the board game market, if you have the right product. As for Jim's motives, who knows? Maybe you are right. I know he has designed and produced other games in recent years, to what degree of success I don't know but they were published at least. To date the pledge is at $6,200 of an $8,000 goal with 25 days to go. However, as Jim has admitted, this last portion of the goal will be the hardest to obtain, assuming that all of the enthusiastic backers are already on board. Anyway I just wanted to make any interested parties aware. Last edited by Rob Morris; 10-22-2017 at 05:13 PM.

10-22-2017, 05:16 PM	#5
professordp Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: New Jersey Posts: 2,006	Rob, very interesting information concerning Kickstarter and sports board games. The thing I wonder, nevertheless, is who's pledging sports board games. Is it the same people again and again or are they actually expanding their appeal to a younger generation? Seems to me that few people under fifty-something are playing sports board games. If that's the case, you don't have to be an actuary to figure out that the future isn't very bright. I might be conservative in my politics, but I'm very progressive with my gaming thoughts. That's why I like a forum like this one. I'm not totally adverse to sports board games, but pin me to the wall and I'll go PC. My personal view is that you move the ball forward. Once we are finished getting PISD on, there's a brave new world emerging. Artificial intelligence, virtual reality, voice commands, etc. have been with us for sometime and within five years will be a dominant part of our existence. So here's what I see. A virtual reality where you're a spectator sitting in a seat at an Ali-Frazier war. Or maybe you're Angie Dundee instructing Ali between rounds. Perhaps you want the keep the fighters in line as Art Donavan. And best of all, you have Joe Frazier's data plugged in as you go face-to-face with Ali. Sounds crazy, pie-in-the-sky? Before you draw up my commitment papers, think of all the crazy, pie-in-the-sky things that have become reality over the past decade. If sports gaming is going to pass on to a new generation, it's not going be via board games. I'm entering my eighth decade of life in a few months. I'll assume that you've all gone through mid-life crisis by now. Well, I've got a ticket for the "Last Picture Show"...end-of-life crisis. And so does Jim Trunzo. You reflect on what you did...and didn't do. I wanted to play center field for the Yankees, learn Russian, play lead guitar at the Fillmore, and straighten Cap out on his political views. I'll never achieve these goals...most certainly the last one! I can only surmise that Jim's completing his own bucket list and recapturing his glory days of forty years ago is on the sheet. I wish him well...but I hope he reaches his Kickstarter goal soon. His base audience is literally slipping away every day. (Rob, just as an ending note/question, the article you've referenced cites "board, card and roleplaying games". That's a big universe. When it comes to role-playing games like D&D or general games like Clue or Monopoly, they're going to be played face-to-face with others so I can understand their continued popularity in a board format. I've always felt sports games were a little different, however, insofar as they're usually played solitaire. Did the article go into how specific types of games are faring or was it more general? If you still have a link for it I'd like to read it. Thanks!) __________________ A Partial Eclipse of the Sonny Laszlo Papp: The Lost Years The Spice O' Life Teofilo Stevenson Pro Simulation Last edited by professordp; 10-22-2017 at 10:42 PM.

10-23-2017, 02:23 PM	#6
Rob Morris All Star Reserve Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Liverpool, England Posts: 594	https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/boa...m-the-tabletop

10-23-2017, 08:48 PM	#7
Lee Global Moderator Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: The Scorched Desert Posts: 4,649	I have pledged and he should hit goal by this week. For me it is the nostalgia and it still feels a little more "real" flipping cards and rolling dice to me, then watching a CPU sim a game. The biggest advantage for the PC of course is that you can play through fights so much quicker. Board games are really just for those days when you want to kill some time with a friend/group. for me at least.

10-24-2017, 12:52 PM	#8
Cap Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Large Province in God's Country Posts: 7,776 Blog Entries: 4	My only problem with a game you need to share is, with boxing, finding anyone around who has an interest in the ring. Cap __________________ "...There were Giants in Those Days.."

10-24-2017, 01:08 PM	#9
SAL Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Joplin MO Posts: 5,732	Just checked and Trunzo's goal has been met

10-24-2017, 02:19 PM	#10
Rob Morris All Star Reserve Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Liverpool, England Posts: 594	Yes Jim met his goal of $8,000 with 22 days to spare, I’m pleased for him. Now he has to deliver!

10-24-2017, 04:23 PM	#11
Cap Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Large Province in God's Country Posts: 7,776 Blog Entries: 4	Wonder how much he'd need to convert it to PC? Every time I think about all the millions of dollars wasted on really bad movies, I wonder why just a fraction of that couldn't go towards a boxing sim. Cap __________________ "...There were Giants in Those Days.." Last edited by Cap; 10-24-2017 at 04:27 PM.

10-26-2017, 09:25 AM	#12
CONN CHRIS Global Moderator Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 28,366	I haven't looked at this kick starter version. The last one that he did was looking for an astronomical amount (nothing like the appropriately modest goal this time around) and his plan seemed to be to sell the game in a hundred little pieces that brought the full game price to well over $100 and even then, it was a pretty modest universe of fighter cards to work with. A decade or so ago, he was peddling some fighter bios that he wrote. I really didn't want them but wanted to support Jim for all the fun that I had thanks to his TB game so I sent him the money. I never got the bios and he never replied to my follow up emails (2). It was only 10 or 15 bucks so I just let it go. Fair or not, I have no interest in anything Jim is peddling. __________________ Check Out My Cards!

10-26-2017, 12:46 PM	#13
IceTea Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Sherrill, NY Posts: 9,767	I fan of the game issued a new card set for three or four years ago and sold them on eBay. I purchased the set (heavyweights) and thought the ratings were pretty solid. At this point, I can't set down and devote 30 minutes to one fight when I can complete a match in five minutes with the computer game. __________________ Don't worry, be happy! Women's Boxing Cyber Boxing Zone Philadelphia Boxing Boxrec Ross Boxing https://boxingjones.com/ Last edited by IceTea; 10-26-2017 at 12:49 PM.

10-31-2017, 09:27 PM	#14
JCWeb Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 2,042	Backer of TB II FWIW, I did back TB II on KS, partly due to nostalgia, partly due to respect to Mr. Trunzo for developing a game way ahead of its time, and also because I'm curious about the book he's including which is supposed to go into some of the nuances about the boxer ratings. A side-comment about the situation re computer vs board games. I find myself playing more and more board games (including games with cards and dice) these days to the extent that I'm down to just 2-3 computer games that I play on even a semi-regular basis. Most computer games that focus on glitzy graphics but little in the way of strategy have little appeal to me, plus there's the human interaction factor in playing board games with a bunch of friends that you don't get in computer games, even those that you can play via the internet. Having said that, the one computer game I still focus on the most (by far) is TBCB, simply because it's much easier than flipping cards, shuffling and re-arranging into stacks of 40 as in the original board game. I suspect I will go back to some extent once the TB II boardgame is produced, but I doubt it's going to eat much into my time with the computer game -- a few years back, when someone produced the new HW cards (not authorized by Mr. Trunzo), I had fun playing an ATG tournament but have since put them away. I imagine something similar might happen with this latest iteration as well.

08-04-2022, 03:47 PM	#16
Rob Morris All Star Reserve Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Liverpool, England Posts: 594	There is also a PC version of Title Bout II, for anyone interested.