Dario De Toffoli
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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 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  ...
, after an early career as a chemist he entered the world of games. Winner of over 60 medals at the Mind Sports Olympiad. He won the 2002 and 2012 Pentamind Competition for the best games all-rounder in the world. In 2006, he won a special award for his contribution to games which includes contribution to all aspects of games.


Contribution to games

The Personalità Ludica dell'Anno (PLDA) award the prize to the games personality of the year. In 2006, instead of the normal competition the PLDA made a lifetime achievement award to Dario De Toffoli for his "career" in games. In the 90's Dario, with the help of his company, staged the first 5 Italian Festivals of games, the largest in Italy. Other significant events established by Dario include the Mind Sports player competition Giocatore dell'Anno and the Venice International Backgammon Tournament. Another event that Dario established is one of the few board game design competitions: the Premio Archimede (the Archemedes prize), dedicated to
Alex Randolph Alexander Randolph (4 May 1922 – 27 April 2004) was a Bohemian-American designer of board games and writer. Randolph's game creations include ''TwixT'', '' Breakthru'', '' Hol's der Geier'', '' Inkognito'' (with Leo Colovini), ''Raj'', ''Ri ...
, an international competition where along with the prize the winner has their game displayed in the Swiss museum of games.


Scrabble in Italian

Dario was one of the top players in scrabble in Italian. The world championship in Italian scrabble was not founded until 2008 before that there were Majors. Dario had multiple top 3 finishes in these competitions and won the Masters in 1997.


Backgammon

Dario De Toffoli is the foremost expert in backgammon in Italy. He wrote two of the key books on backgammon in Italian: "the rules of the game" and "the big book of backgammon" In the latter, he is credited with bringing to light that the origins of backgammon went back 500 years further than had previously been reported. He is also a successful backgammon player having won numerous competitions and produced a book on the subject for
La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...
newspaper.Backgammon,
La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...
, December 1999
He is a top class player having world rating of over 1500 at the end of the 2009 season. However, Dario's impact on the game is most significant through his involvement in establishing the European backgammon scene. The Venice International Backgammon Tournament established by De Toffoli was one of the first two major backgammon tournaments in Europe along with the Nordic Open Backgammon Tournament. The tournament is one of the most important in the world and forms part of the European Backgammon Tour


Poker

Dario wrote the first book on Texas Hold'em in Italian and has since then co-written two more of the only books in Italian on poker with
Max Pescatori Massimiliano Pescatori (born 22 January 1971 in Milan) is an Italian professional poker player. His first tournament win was in the $300 limit hold'em event in the 2003 World Poker Challenge in Reno, Nevada. Three days later he won the Omaha H ...
.Book review La Repubblica, 13 November 2010
Google translation of
/ref> Dario is primarily known for being a leading technician in the game being asked for views on poker and as a TV commentator as he has yet to win a major cash tournament. In 2008, Dario became the Amateur Poker World Champion an event that is not played for money.David Spanier, Independent Pursuits: Poker, The Independent, 10 September 1998


Games All-rounder

Dario is one of the most successful games players of all-time. Perhaps his most notable achievement is as an all-round games player. He has won championships in games ranging from Oware to world championships in two new games: Continuo in 2002 and David Parlett's Hare and Tortoise in 2010. He has won over 60 medals at the Mind Sports Olympiad. In 2002 he became the oldest winner of the Pentamind World championship an event to find the best games all-rounder in the world.''The Mind Sports Olympiad Supplement, The Pentamind'', The Times, July 1997 This victory was achieved in the middle of Demis Hassabis 5 victories to whom he had earlier managed to finish second against.


Games Journalist

Dario has contributed hundreds of articles and puzzles for newspapers and magazines. His contributions include for Giochi Magazine,Giochi Magazine, May 1987-March 1988 Il Gazzettino and for
La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...
newspaper.


Game and Puzzle Book Author

As well as strategic books De Toffoli is one of the leading authorities on games having written "the
encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
of games" and the "1001 games for everyone". His works also include several puzzle books and a book on draughts.


Games Designer

As well as owning the company Studiogiochi, Dario has personally designed and co-designed several board games. The most notable of which are
Lex Arcana Lex or LEX may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lex'', a daily featured column in the ''Financial Times'' Games * Lex, the mascot of the word-forming puzzle video game ''Bookworm'' * Lex, the protagonist of the word-forming puzzle video ga ...
and
Vampiri in salsa rossa Vampiri ( sr-cyr, Вампири, trans. '' The Vampires'') are a Serbian and Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade. The band was formed in 1990, and performed music influenced by the 1950s doo-wop and rockabilly. After releasing two studio albums, th ...
role-playing based games. More recent games have had a more mainstream focus such as Sudoku and Kakuro board games and themed board games such as for the Totally Spies! cartoon series.


List of Games Designed

* Kluges Kopfchen * Totally Spies * Poker Cinese * Trova le mine * Joker Poker * Happy birthday! * Nebraska * Babar et le mistere des lettres perdues * Kakuro challenge * Kakuro (board game) * Challenge Sudoku * Mango Tango * Sudoku (board game) * Challenge Sudoku - Kakuro Challenge * Number one * Ketch up * Yummy * Buon compleanno * Adventure cards * Dummy * Theseus * I giochi della frutta * Abaco zuzzurellone *
Lex Arcana Lex or LEX may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lex'', a daily featured column in the ''Financial Times'' Games * Lex, the mascot of the word-forming puzzle video game ''Bookworm'' * Lex, the protagonist of the word-forming puzzle video ga ...
* Jagd der Vampire *Detective


List of Books Written

* Dario De Toffoli,
Max Pescatori Massimiliano Pescatori (born 22 January 1971 in Milan) is an Italian professional poker player. His first tournament win was in the $300 limit hold'em event in the 2003 World Poker Challenge in Reno, Nevada. Three days later he won the Omaha H ...
& Giorgio Sigon, ''A scuola di Poker'', Sperling & Kupfer, 2010, * Giampaolo Dossena & Dario De Toffoli, ''Enciclopedia dei giochi'', Mondadori, Milan, 2009, * Max Pescatori & Dario De Toffoli, ''Giocare e vincere a poker online'', Sperling &Kupfer, Milan, 2009, * Dario De Toffoli & Leo Colovini, ''Il grande libro degli scacchi'', * Dario De Toffoli, ''Il grande libro del Backgammon'', Stampa Alternativa, 2008, * Dario De Toffoli & Dario Zaccariotto, ''1001 Giochi per tutti'', Mondolibri, Milan, 2008, * Dario De Toffoli, Dario Zaccariotto & Leo Colovini, ''Brainquiz'', Sperling & Kupfer, Milan 2008, * Dario De Toffoli, Dario Zaccariotto & Margot De Rosa, ''Numeri'', Stampa Alternativa, Viterbo, * Dario De Toffoli, ''Il grande gioco del Poker'', Mondadori, Verona, 2008 * Dario De Toffoli, ''Il grande libro del Poker'', Sperling and Kupfer, Milan, 2007ISBN 978-88-2004-389-6 * Dario De Toffoli & Dario Zaccariotto, ''Cibo per la mente - Vol III'', Stampa Alternativa, Viterbo, 2007, * Dario De Toffoli & Dario Zaccariotto, ''KAFKA'', Sperling and Kupfer, Milan, 2007 * Dario De Toffoli & Dario Zaccariotto, ''Sfida al quadrato'', Sperling and Kupfer, Milan, 2006, * Dario De Toffoli & Dario Zaccariotto, ''Cibo per la mente II'', Stampa Alternativa, Viterbo, 2005, * Dario De Toffoli, ''Il giocatore consapevole'', Stampa Alternativa, Viterbo, 2004, * Dario De Toffoli & Dario Zaccariotto, ''Cibo per la mente I'', Stampa Alternativa, 2004, * Dario De Toffoli, ''Guida al poker'', Conde Nast, Milan, 2004 * Dario De Toffoli, ''Giochi'', Unicopli, Viterbo, 2003, * Dario De Toffoli, ''Backgammon, Tutte le regole del gioco, Nuovi Equilibri'', Stampa Alternativa, Viterbo, 2002, * Dario De Toffoli, ''Giocare e vincere a Poker'', Stampa Alternativa, 2002, * Dario De Toffoli, Dario Zaccariotto, Michele Comerci & Claudio Borgnino, ''Giocare con le parole'', La Scuola, Brescia, 2000 * Dario De Toffoli & Dario Zaccariotto, ''Dama'', Unicopli, Viterbo, 2000 * Dario De Toffoli, ''Nel mondo dei cruciverba'', Unicopli, Viterbo, 2000, * Dario De Toffoli, ''Scala quaranta, pinnacolo e dintorni'', Unicopli, Viterbo, 2000, * Dario De Toffoli, ''Backgammon'',
La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...
, 1999 * Dario De Toffoli, ''Giocare a Backgammon'', Arsenale, Venice, 1991 * Dario De Toffoli, ''Giocare a Scarabeo'', Sansoni Editore, Florence, 1985


References


External links


studiogiochi website

Video interview for la stampa alternativa
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Toffoli, Dario Italian backgammon players Italian poker players Scrabble players Board game designers Gambling writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)