Hexagames was a German game publisher in

Dreieich Dreieich () is a town in the Offenbach district in the of Darmstadt in Hessen, Germany. The town is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area and is located roughly south of downtown Frankfurt am Main. With a population of more than 40,000 i ...

, which existed from 1982 to 1992. It was one of the most famous German game publishers of the 1980s, notable for publishing games such as ''

Lines of Action Lines of Action (or LOA) is an abstract strategy board game for two players invented by Claude Soucie. The objective is to connect all of one's pieces into a single group. The game was recommended by the Spiel des Jahres in 1988. Rules Goal The ...

'' (1988) and ''

Cosmic Encounter ''Cosmic Encounter'' is a science fiction–themed strategy board game designed by "Future Pastimes" (collectively, Peter Olotka, Jack Kittredge and Bill Eberle, with Bill Norton) and originally published by Eon Games in 1977. In it, each playe ...

'' (1992).

History

''Hexagames'' was created by Langden Hensley, with the

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

being registered by the

German Patent and Trademark Office The German Patent and Trade Mark Office (german: Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt; abbreviation: DPMA) is the German national patent office, with headquarters in Munich, and offices in Berlin and Jena. In 2006 it employed 2556 people, of which ab ...

in late 1982. In 1982, he and Jürgen Hagedorn released the game '' Long Short'', developed by Hensley. After the game publisher Bütehorn went bankrupt around 1982, Hexagames included several of their games in its program. Hagedorn retired from Hexagames in 1988. Joe Nikisch, the founder of the board game company , was responsible for the product range of Hexagames as product manager beginning in 1986. After the dissolution of Hexagames in 1992, the Berlin games manufacturer Sala took over some of the games under the ''Salagames'' label''.'' Salagames also disappeared from the market after about two years and in 1994 some Hexagames games were republished by Abacusspiele. In 1994, Hensley lost the "Hexagames" trademark, which was re-registered by the publishers "BOB Marketing & Sales GmbH" in Langen. Some Hexagames games were later published by other publishers: ''

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...

'' (1995), and '' Karriere Poker'' (1996).

Awards

Several Hexagames games received various awards or been nominated for

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): * Spiel des Jahres ** 1987: '' The 1st Million'' by

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 ...

(nominated) ** 1988: ''

'' by Claude Soucie (nominated) ** 1989: '' Uisge'' (1984) by (special award for "Most Beautiful Game") ** 1989: '' Abilene'' (1985) by Roland Siegers (nominated) ** 1990: '' Dino'' by Reinhold Wittig (nominated) *

Deutscher Spiele Preis __NOTOC__ The Deutscher Spielepreis (, ''German Game Prize'') is an important award for boardgames. It was started in 1990 by the German magazine ''Die Pöppel-Revue'', which collects votes from the industry's stores, magazines, professionals ...

** 1990: ''

Römer The Römer (German surname, "Roman") is a medieval building in the Altstadt of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and one of the city's most important landmarks. The Römer is located opposite the Old St. Nicholas church and has been the city hall ('' ...

'' by Rudolf Ross (7th place) ** 1992: ''

'' by Bill Eberle,

Peter Olotka Peter Olotka is a game designer who has worked primarily on board games, most notably Cosmic Encounter. Career In 1972, Peter Olotka, Jack Kittredge, Bill Eberle, and Bill Norton came together as the game design cooperative Future Pastimes. S ...

, Jack Kittredge, and Bill Norton (6th place) * ** 1992: '' Res Publica'' by

Reiner Knizia Reiner may refer to: *Reiner (crater), a crater on the Moon, named after Vincentio Reiner *Reiner Braun, a fictional List_of_Attack_on_Titan_characters, character in the anime/manga series ''Attack on Titan'' People with the given name Reiner *Rein ...

(1st place) ** 1992: ''

Musketeers A musketeer (french: mousquetaire) was a type of soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern warfare particularly in Europe as they normally comprised the majority of their infantry. The musketeer was a pre ...

'' by

Franz Josef Lamminger Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) Franz is a German name and cognate of the given name Francis. Notable people named Franz include: Nobility Austria-Hungary * Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (1708–1765) * Francis II, Holy ...

(4th place)

Other notable games

* ''

Conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

'' by Donald Benge (1984) * ''

Black Monday Black Monday refers to specific Mondays when undesirable or turbulent events have occurred. It has been used to designate massacres, military battles, and stock market crashes. Historic events *1209, Dublin – when a group of 500 recently arriv ...

'' (1988) * '' Karrierepoker'' by Klaus Grähnke and Brian Walker (1988) * '' McMulti'' by James J St Laurent (1988) * '' Can't Stop Express'' by Sid Sackson (1989) * ''

Digging Digging, also referred to as excavation, is the process of using some implement such as claws, hands, manual tools or heavy equipment, to remove material from a solid surface, usually soil, sand or rock on the surface of Earth. Digging is actu ...

'' by Reiner Knizia (1990) * ''

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

'' by Peter Pfeifer and Waltraud Pfeif (1991)

References

{{reflist Board game publishing companies German companies disestablished in 1992 German companies established in 1982 Companies based in Hesse Defunct companies of Germany