Alexander Randolph (4 May 1922 – 27 April 2004) was a

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

n-American designer of board games and writer. Randolph's game creations include ''

TwixT TwixT is a two-player strategy board game, an early entrant in the 1960s 3M bookshelf game series. It became one of the most popular and enduring games in the series. It is a connection game where players alternate turns placing pegs and ...

'', '' Breakthru'', '' Hol's der Geier'', '' Inkognito'' (with

Leo Colovini Leo Colovini is an Italian designer of German-style board games 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 generall ...

), ''Raj'', ''

Ricochet Robot ''Ricochet Robots'' is a puzzle board game for 2 or more people, designed by Alex Randolph, in which the playing pieces (robots) must be moved to selected locations in as few moves as possible, working within strict limitations on robots' movemen ...

'', and ''

Enchanted Forest In folklore and fantasy, an enchanted forest is a forest under, or containing, enchantments. Such forests are described in the oldest folklore from regions where forests are common, and occur throughout the centuries to modern works of fantasy. ...

'' (with Michael Matschoss).

Biography

Randolph was a son of self-described "rich parents" who attended private school in Switzerland. He spent his early years in various occupations, including military intelligence and as an advertising copy editor in Boston. In 1961, Randolph moved to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and became a professional game developer, performing initial work on ''

''. During this time, he became a dan player in

shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, ''chaturanga, Xiangqi'', Indian chess, and '' janggi''. ''Shōgi'' ...

. In 1962, Randolph (along with

Sid Sackson Sid Sackson (February 4, 1920 in Chicago – November 6, 2002) was an American board game designer and collector, best known as the creator of the business game ''Acquire''. Career Sackson's most popular creation is probably the business game ''Ac ...

) was commissioned to start a new game division for

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing 3M (originally the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company) is an American multinational conglomerate operating in the fields of industry, worker safety, U.S. health care, and consumer goods. The company produces over 60,000 products unde ...

(also known as 3M). Through 3M, Randolph created and published such games as '' Breakthru'', ''Evade'', ''

Oh-Wah-Ree ''Oh-Wah-Ree'' is a mancala variant - a strategy board game designed by Alex Randolph and published in 1962 by 3M as part of their 3M bookshelf game series, bookshelf game line. The name "Oh-Wah-Ree" is taken from ''Oware'', a typical West African g ...

'', and ''TwixT''. Randolph moved to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in 1968, continuing his career as a game developer with the company Venice Connection established with

Dario De Toffoli Dario De Toffoli is an Italian board game designer, gamebook author, and games player who founded the games company Studiogiochi and established many games events. Born in 1953 Venice, after an early career as a chemist he entered the world of gam ...

and

. Randolph died aged 82 in Venice on 27 April 2004.

Recognition

In 2016, as a testimony to his career, Fabulous Games published ''ADDX'' - the first ever digital game from Alex Randolph. Following Randolph's death, the Nuremberg Museum set up a special permanent collection of Randolph's games titled the ''Alexander Randolph Viewing Collection''.

Awards

Spiel des Jahres The Spiel des Jahres (, ''Game of the Year'') is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence ...

Game of the Year :1982 for ''Enchanted Forest'' Children's Game of the Year :1989 for ''Gute Freunde'' :1997 for ''Leinen Los!'' Special Awards :1996 Most Beautiful Game for ''Venice Connectio''n :1988 Most Beautiful game for ''Inkognito''

Origins Awards Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame :2011 induction as a designer :2011 induction of ''TwixT''

References

External links

Alex Randolph's games
at

BoardGameGeek BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition to ...

A Talk with Alex Randolph (1988 interview)

An extremely brief biography and a comprehensive list of created games
{{DEFAULTSORT:Randolph, Alex 1922 births 2004 deaths Board game designers American designers American expatriates in Switzerland American expatriates in Japan