Alan R. Moon (born 18 November 1951) is an

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

of board games, born in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He is generally considered to be one of the foremost designers of

German-style board game A Eurogame, also called a German-style board game, German game, or Euro-style game, (generally just referred to as board games in Europe) is a class of tabletop games that generally has indirect player interaction and abstract physical componen ...

s. Many of his games can be seen as board game variations on the travelling salesman problem.

Career

Moon has worked as a game designer for

Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company' ...

Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products wer ...

, and Ravensburger

F.X. Schmid For over a century until 1996, F.X. Schmid was an important German manufacturer of playing cards (traditional card games and quartets), board games and puzzles. It was considered one of the major European manufacturers. In 1995, its turnover was 67 ...

USA. His first published game was ''

Black Spy ''Spy vs. Spy'' is a wordless comic strip published in '' Mad'' magazine. It features two agents involved in stereotypical and comical espionage activities. One is dressed in white, and the other in black, but they are otherwise identical, and ...

'' (Avalon Hill, 1981), inspired by the classic card game, '' Hearts''. But his first game that got him attention was '' Airlines'', published by the German company Abacus in 1990. He started his own publishing company, White Wind in 1990 and ran it until 1997. He now publishes his games through other companies, such as

Ravensburger Ravensburger AG is a German game and toy company, publishing house and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market. History The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began ...

and

Days of Wonder Days of Wonder is a board game publisher founded in 2002 and owned by Asmodée Éditions, Asmodee Group since 2014. Days of Wonder distributes its games to 25 countries. It specializes in German-style board games and has branched out to includ ...

. Since 2000, Moon has been a full-time freelance game designer, with dozens of games to his credit. Moon has won the Spiel des Jahres award twice, for ''

Elfenland ''Elfenland'' is a German-style board game designed by Alan R. Moon and published by Amigo Spiele in German and Rio Grande Games in English in 1998. ''Elfenland'' won the Spiel des Jahres award in 1998. Background The game was originally base ...

'' in 1998 and for '' Ticket to Ride'' in 2004; ''Ticket to Ride'' has won almost two dozen other awards worldwide.

Selected list of games

:''a full list is available from Moon's website in the

external links An internal link is a type of hyperlink on a web page to another page or resource, such as an image or document, on the same website or domain. Hyperlinks are considered either "external" or "internal" depending on their target or destination ...

section.'' * '' Capitol'' with Aaron Weissblum (2001, Spiel des Jahres nominated, Deutscher Spiele Preis 5th place) * ''

Das Amulett Das or DAS may refer to: Organizations * Dame Allan's Schools, Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne, England * Danish Aviation Systems, a supplier and developer of unmanned aerial vehicles * Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, a former Colombian ...

'' with Aaron Weissblum (2001, Spiel des Jahres nominated, Deutscher Spiele Preis 10th place) * ''

Diamant The Diamant rocket (French for "diamond") was the first exclusively French expendable launch system and at the same time the first satellite launcher not built by either the United States or USSR. As such, it has been referred to as being a key ...

'' with Bruno Faidutti (2005) * ''

Down with the King Down most often refers to: * Down, the relative direction opposed to up * Down (gridiron football), in American/Canadian football, a period when one play takes place * Down feather, a soft bird feather used in bedding and clothing * Downland, a ...

'' with Glenn and Kenneth Rahman (1981) * ''

'' (1998, Spiel des Jahres winner, Deutscher Spiele Preis 3rd place) * ''

Get the Goods Get or GET may refer to: * Get (animal), the offspring of an animal * Get (divorce document), in Jewish religious law * GET (HTTP), a type of HTTP request * "Get" (song), by the Groggers * Georgia Time, used in the Republic of Georgia * Get AS, a ...

'' with

Mick Ado Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broade ...

(1990, Spiel des Jahres nominated, Deutscher Spiele Preis 4th) * '' San Marco'' (2001, Spiel des Jahres nominated, Deutscher Spiele Preis 7th place) * '' Ticket to Ride'' (2004, Spiel des Jahres winner) * '' Union Pacific'' (1999, Spiel des Jahres nominated, Deutscher Spiele Preis 3rd place)

References

External links

Alan R. Moon's website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moon, Alan R. Board game designers Living people 1951 births

Career

Selected list of games

See also

References

External links