Could be. I'm also thinking that the expansion box might be an issue. Bus timings were soooo very critical with that board.
I don't recall that review. We did have some compatibility issues with some software, but it was in general quite compatible with the vast majority of the commercial software out there. The Elevator ran Microsoft Flight Simulator which was kind of the "gold standard" of compatibility. Every board was burned in right in-house, so reliability issues weren't all that common. I wouldn't go as far to say that they all worked when received by the customer, but it ran for 48 hours through a suite of test programs without error before it was shipped.
If you want to get the board to work for its own sake, your absolute best shot would probably be an actual IBM PC XT or even an IBM PC-AT.
All that said, especially with regard to the expansion box on the Tandy, I'd be looking to find other versions of the software. It was constantly being upgraded and improved. Timing issues fixed, compatibility problems solved. For example, there was a copy protection scheme called (IIRC) sof-lok or similar that had a laser hole in the media that originally did not work while running upstairs. That issue was overcome by (one of our) software gurus, Howie Marshall and his trusty Compaq luggable. (Wow, that just brought back some fond memories!)
Another memory: When we brought that board to comdex, the graphics in our booth said simply:
"The World's Fastest PC"
a fairly bold claim. I don't think anyone challenged it, either. But not having the cable to the processor socket posed some problems and limitations.
When people saw it draw the AutoCad Nozzle the vocal reaction was nearly universal:
"Holy Sh!t"
As far as the the original pc-elevator, I am not sure more than 200 or 300 were ever sold.
Someone asked about the 386 version of the board but I don't know how many of those were sold.