:''This page primarily is meant to list non-video game designers. Please see list of computer and video game industry people for a list of well-known video game designers.'' A

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

is a person who invents

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

s at the conceptual level. Most game designers are "unsung"; for example, no one knows who invented

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

or Hearts. However, there are many public figures in game design, including commercial game developers and game-inventing

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

s. Some game designers include:

Role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...
designers

* Salem Alanzi *

Dave Arneson David Lance Arneson (; October 1, 1947Minnesota Department of Health. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2004. – April 7, 2009) was an American game designer best known ...

- Co-designer of ''

Dungeons and Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). ...

'', an early influential

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

Frank Chadwick Frank Chadwick is an American multiple-award-winning game designer and ''New York Times'' best selling author. He has designed hundreds of games, his most notable being the role-playing games ''En Garde!'', '' Space: 1889'' and ''Twilight 2000' ...

- Co-founder of

Game Designers' Workshop Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was a wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers. History Game Designers' Workshop was originally established June 22, 1973. The founding m ...

(GDW) and designer of over 50 war and role-playing games, including ''

Twilight 2000 ''Twilight: 2000'' is a 1984 post-apocalyptic military tabletop role-playing game published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW). Set in the aftermath of World War III (the "Twilight War"), the game operates on the premise that the United States/NATO ...

'' and the ''

Assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

'' series * Troy Christensen - Designer of '' Phantasm Adventures'', a 1980s

published in Japanese and English *

John Horton Conway John Horton Conway (26 December 1937 – 11 April 2020) was an English mathematician active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions to many branches ...

Monte Cook Monte Cook is an American professional tabletop role-playing game designer and writer, best known for his work on ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Role-playing industry career Early years Cook has been a professional game designer since 1988, worki ...

Jim Dunnigan James F. Dunnigan (born 8 August 1943) is an author, military-political analyst, Defense and State Department consultant, and Wargaming, wargame designer currently living in New York City. Career Dunnigan was born in Rockland County, New York. A ...

- Founder of SPI Games and designer of over 100 wargames, including the ''PanzerBlitz/Panzer Leader'' system *

James Ernest James Ernest is an American game designer and juggler, best known as the owner and lead designer of Cheapass Games. Career Prior to founding Cheapass Games, Ernest worked as a juggler at various venues, including Camlann Medieval Village, and a ...

- president and lead game designer for

Cheapass Games Cheapass Games is a game company founded and run by game designer James Ernest, based in Seattle, Washington. Cheapass Games operates on the philosophy that most game owners have plenty of dice, counters, play money, and other common board game ...

Richard Garfield Richard Channing Garfield (born June 26, 1963) is an American mathematician, inventor and game designer. Garfield created ''Magic: The Gathering'', which is considered to be the first collectible card game (CCG). ''Magic'' debuted in 1993 and its ...

collectible card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with ''Magic: The Gathering'' in ...

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Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...

'') and

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

designer *

Andrew Greenberg Andrew Greenberg is a game designer of tabletop role-playing games and role-playing video games. Career Greenberg was one of White Wolf Publishing's original developers on '' Vampire: The Masquerade'' (1991). He was the line editor for ''Vamp ...

Ed Greenwood Ed Greenwood (born July 21, 1959) is a Canadian fantasy writer and the original creator of the ''Forgotten Realms'' game world. He began writing articles about the Forgotten Realms for ''Dragon'' magazine beginning in 1979, and subsequently sold ...

Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an ...

- Co-designer of ''

'', an early influential

* Larry Harris *

Stieg Hedlund Stieg Hedlund (born 1965) is a computer and video game designer, artist, and writer with over 25 years of experience. He has worked on more than 30 games in the video game industry. He is best known for his work in action RPGs, and has also wo ...

- Started out in pen-and-paper games before moving on to electronic games *

Steve Jackson (UK) Steve Jackson (born 20 May 1951) is a British game designer, writer, game reviewer and co-founder of UK game publisher Games Workshop. History Steve Jackson began his career in games in 1974 as a freelance journalist with ''Games & Puzzles'' ...

Jeff Kinney Jeffrey Patrick Kinney (born February 19, 1971) is an American author and cartoonist, best known for the children's book series ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid''. He also created the child-oriented website ''Poptropica''. Early life Jeff Kinney was born ...

Albert Lamorisse Albert Lamorisse (; 13 January 1922 – 2 June 1970) was a French filmmaker, film producer, and writer of award-winning short films which he began making in the late 1940s. He also invented the strategic board game ''Risk'' in 1957. Life Lamor ...

Andrew Looney Andrew J. Looney (born November 5, 1963) is a game designer and computer programmer. He is also a photographer, a cartoonist, a video-blogger, and a marijuana-legalization advocate. Andrew and Kristin Looney together founded the games company Loo ...

* Marc Miller Co-founder of GDW and designer / writer of Traveller and several board games *

Mark Rein-Hagen Mark Rein-Hagen, stylized as Mark Rein•Hagen (born 1964), is an American role-playing, card, video and board game designer best known as the creator of '' Vampire: The Masquerade'' and its associated ''World of Darkness'' games. Along with Jo ...

Mike Selinker Mike Selinker is an American game designer, puzzle maker, and the founder and president of Lone Shark Games. Credits Selinker's design credits include ''Pirates of the Spanish Main'' and ''Fightball'' with James Ernest, ''Axis & Allies Revised E ...

C.A. Suleiman C.A. Suleiman is a writer, game designer, and musician who has worked primarily in dark fantasy and horror for role-playing games and fiction. Through the course of his career, he has been a guest of honor or attending professional at over 140 conve ...

Jonathan Tweet Jonathan Tweet (born 1965) is an American game designer who has been involved in the development of the role-playing games ''Ars Magica'', ''Everway'', ''Over the Edge (game), Over the Edge'', ''Talislanta'', the third edition of ''Dungeons & Dra ...

Michael J. Varhola Michael O. Varhola (born September 24, 1966) is an author, publisher, and lecturer. He has written numerous books, games, and articles, and founded game development company and manufacturer Skirmisher Publishing LLC. He also served as the assista ...

* Mark H. Walker *

Jordan Weisman Jordan Weisman is an American game designer, author, and serial entrepreneur who has founded five game design companies, each in a different game genre and segment of the industry. Biography Weisman graduated from Francis W. Parker High School, ...

Tom Wham Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

Skip Williams Ralph Williams, almost always referred to as Skip Williams, is an American game designer. He is married to Penny Williams, who is also involved with the games industry. He was the co-creator of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' 3rd Edition and the longtime au ...

Word game designers

Erik Agard Erik Agard is a crossword solver, constructor, and editor. He is the winner of the 2018 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT), a frequent contributor to the The New York Times crossword puzzle, ''New York Times'' crossword puzzle, a crosswo ...

Will Shortz William F. Shortz (born August 26, 1952) is an American puzzle creator and editor and crossword puzzle editor for ''The New York Times''. Early life and education Will Shortz was born and raised on an Arabian horse farm in Crawfordsville, Indi ...

Board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...
designers

William Attia William is a male given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norm ...

('' Caylus'', '' Caylus Magna Carta'') *

Alfred Butts Alfred Mosher Butts (April 13, 1899 – April 4, 1993) was an American architect, famous for inventing the board game ''Scrabble'' in 1938. Personal life Alfred Mosher Butts was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, on April 13, 1899, to Allison B ...

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Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...

'') *

Milton Bradley Milton Bradley (November 8, 1836 – May 30, 1911) was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and ...

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The Checkered Game of Life ''The Game of Life'', also known simply as ''Life'', is a board game originally created in 1860 by Milton Bradley as ''The Checkered Game of Life'', the first ever board game for his own company, the Milton Bradley Company. ''The Game of Life'' ...

''), founder of

Milton Bradley Company Milton Bradley Company or simply Milton Bradley (MB) was an American board game manufacturer established by Milton Bradley in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production of McLoughlin Brothers, formerly the ...

* Inka Brand ( Rajas of the Ganges,

Village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

, Exit Series) * Markus Brand ( Rajas of the Ganges,

, Exit Series) *

Richard Breese Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...

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Aladdin's Dragons ''Aladdin's Dragons'' is a 2000 bidding-based board game by Richard Breese. It is a reimplementation of his 1998 game '' Keydom''. Gameplay Each player controls a number of servants. The objective of the game is for each player to obtain as many ...

'', '' Keythedral'', '' Reef Encounter'') *

Kris Burm Kris Burm is a Belgian game designer specializing in abstract board games. He is best known for his award-winning '' GIPF'' series of games. He was born in Antwerp, Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the K ...

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Batik Batik is an Indonesian technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a ''ca ...

'', '' GIPF'', ''

ZÈRTZ ''ZÈRTZ'' is the third game in the ''GIPF'' Project of seven abstract strategy games. The game features a shrinking board and an object that promotes sacrifice combinations. It is impartial: since neither player owns on-board pieces, maintain ...

'', ''

DVONN ''DVONN'' is a two-player strategy board game in which the objective is to accumulate pieces in stacks. It was released in 2001 by Kris Burm as the fourth game of the ''GIPF'' Project. ''DVONN'' won the 2002 International Gamers Award and the '' ...

'', ''

TAMSK ''TAMSK'' is a two-player board game designed by Kris Burm. It was originally published in 1998 as the second game in the ''GIPF'' Project series of abstract strategy games, although it was later dropped from the series in favor of TZAAR. Playe ...

'', ''

YINSH ''YINSH'' is an abstract strategy board game by game designer Kris Burm. It is the fifth game to be released in the ''GIPF'' Project. At the time of its release in 2003, Burm stated that he intended it to be considered as the sixth and last gam ...

'', ''

PÜNCT ''PÜNCT'' is a two-player strategy board game. It is the sixth release in the ''GIPF'' project of seven abstract strategy games, although it is considered the fifth game in the project. It was released in 2005. ''PÜNCT'' won the ''Games Maga ...

'') * Allan B. Calhamer (''

Diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

'') *

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 ...

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Clans A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

'', '' Carolus Magnus'', '' Cartagena'', ''

Doge A doge ( , ; plural dogi or doges) was an elected lord and head of state in several Italian city-states, notably Venice and Genoa, during the medieval and renaissance periods. Such states are referred to as " crowned republics". Etymology The ...

'', '' The Bridges of Shangri-La'', ''

Magna Grecia Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these re ...

'', '' Inkognito'') * Julian Courtland-Smith (''

Escape from Atlantis ''Escape from Atlantis'' is a board game that portrays the sinking of Atlantis and the attempts by the population to escape the sinking island. It was originally released in the United States under the title of ''Survive!'' and first published in ...

'') *

Franz-Benno Delonge Franz-Benno Delonge (1957 – 2 September 2007) was a designer of German-style board games. He has been nominated for multiple best game awards, including Spiel des Jahres and International Gamers Awards. '' TransAmerica'' won the Mensa best min ...

('' Big City'', ''

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

'', '' Dos Rios'', '' TransAmerica'', ''

Fjords In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

'') * Rudiger Dorn ('' The Traders of Genoa'', ''

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

'', ''

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

'') * Stefan Dorra (''

For Sale For Sale may refer to: Film * ''For Sale'' (1918 film), a silent film starring Gladys Hulette and Creighton Hale * ''For Sale'' (1924 film), a silent film starring Vera Reynolds * ''For Sale'' (1998 film), a French drama film Music * Beatles fo ...

'', '' Pick Picnic'', ''

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

'', '' Tonga Bonga'', ''

Linie 1 ''Linie 1'' is the second-most successful German musical after Bertolt Brecht’s Threepenny Opera. The title refers to Berlin's subway line U1. The musical was first performed by the ensemble of the GRIPS-Theater on 30 April 1986. In October 2 ...

'', '' Turn the Tide'', '' Intrige'') *

Bruno Faidutti Bruno Faidutti (born 23 October 1961) is a historian and sociologist, living in France, who is best known as a board game designer. Early life and education Bruno Faidutti studied law, economics, and sociology, eventually earning a doctorate in H ...

('' Citadels'', ''

Mystery of the Abbey ''Mystery of the Abbey'' is a board game designed by Bruno Faidutti, illustrated by Julien Delval, Emanuel Roudier and Cyrille Daujean as graphic designer. Originally published in French by MultiSim in 1998 under the name ''Meurtre à l'Abbay ...

'', ''

Terra Terra may often refer to: * Terra (mythology), primeval Roman goddess * An alternate name for planet Earth, as well as the Latin name for the planet Terra may also refer to: Geography Astronomy * Terra (satellite), a multi-national NASA scienti ...

'') *

Friedemann Friese Friedemann Friese (born June 5, 1970) is a German board game designer, currently residing and working in Bremen. His trademarks are his green-colored hair and games whose titles begin with the letter "F". The majority of his games, self-publish ...

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Power Grid An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...

'', '' Fearsome Floors'', ''

Fresh Fish Fresh Fish is an annual Swedish fashion show and competition for unestablished designers, which takes place in Gothenburg. The company Fresh Fish was founded in 2007 by Ali Davoodi with the idea of creating platforms for unestablished designers ...

'') *

Mac Gerdts Walther M. Gerdts, known as Mac Gerdts, is the designer of German-style board games such as '' Imperial'', ''Imperial 2030'', '' Antike'' and '' Hamburgum''. His games introduced the concept of a rondel rather than dice as a mechanism for play. ...

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Imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...

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Antike Antique, officially the Province of Antique (; krj, Probinsya kang Antique; hil, Probinsya sang Antique; tl, Probinsya ng Antique), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is San Jose de Buenavista, t ...

'') * Paul J. Gruen * Elizabeth Hargrave (

Wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

) *

Dirk Henn Dirk Henn (born 1960) is a German-style board game designer who was born in Bendorf, Germany. Dirk Henn is best known for his game '' Alhambra'', which won the Spiel des Jahres and placed 2nd in the Deutscher Spiele Preis in 2003. Game Company A ...

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Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ar, الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrāʾ, , ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the ...

'', ''

Atlantic Star The Atlantic Star is a military campaign medal, instituted by the United Kingdom in May 1945 for award to British Commonwealth forces who took part in the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous campaign of the Second World War. Two cla ...

'', ''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

'', ''

Wallenstein Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein () (24 September 1583 – 25 February 1634), also von Waldstein ( cs, Albrecht Václav Eusebius z Valdštejna), was a Bohemian military leader and statesman who fought on the Catholic side during the Th ...

'', ''

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...

'') * Steve Jackson (''

Ogre An ogre ( feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the wor ...

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The Fantasy Trip ''The Fantasy Trip'' (''TFT'') is a tabletop role-playing game designed by Steve Jackson (American game designer), Steve Jackson and originally published by Metagaming Concepts. In 2019, ''TFT'' was republished by Steve Jackson Games as ''The F ...

'', ''

Car Wars ''Car Wars'' is a vehicle combat simulation game developed by Steve Jackson Games. It was first published in 1980. Players control armed vehicles in a post-apocalyptic future. Game play In ''Car Wars'', players assume control of one or more ca ...

'', ''

GURPS The ''Generic Universal RolePlaying System'', or ''GURPS'', is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting. It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems w ...

'', ''

Hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

'', ''

Illuminati The Illuminati (; plural of Latin ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on ...

'') *

Philippe Keyaerts Philippe Keyaerts is a Belgian designer of German-style board games. His two first published games are '' Vinci'' and '' Evo''. Those two games use the mechanism of allowing the players to spend victory points to improve the characteristics of the ...

('' Evo'', '' Vinci'') *

Michael Kiesling Michael Kiesling (born 1957) is a German board game designer. Many of his games have been nominated for or have won the Spiel des Jahres, a German games award. He is best known for the 2018 Spiel des Jahres winner Azul and for co-authoring the b ...

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Azul Azul, meaning "blue" in Spanish and Portuguese, may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Azul'' (Los Piojos album), 1998 * ''Azul'' (Cristian Castro album), 2001 * Azul Azul, a Bolivian pop-dance music group ** "Azul" (song), the title song * " ...

, '' Heaven & Ale,

Tikal Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Co ...

'',

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

) *

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 ...

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Modern Art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

Tigris and Euphrates ''Tigris and Euphrates'' (german: Euphrat und Tigris) is a tabletop eurogame designed by Reiner Knizia and first published in 1997 by Hans im Glück. Before its publication, it was highly anticipated by German gamers hearing rumors of a " g ...

Samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

Lost Cities ''Lost Cities'' is a 60-card card game, designed in 1999 by game designer Reiner Knizia and published by several publishers. The objective of the game is to mount profitable expeditions to one or more of the five lost cities (the Himalayas, the ...

, Schotten Totten,

Blue Moon A blue moon is an additional full moon that appears in a subdivision of a year: the third of four full moons in a season. The phrase in modern usage has nothing to do with the actual color of the Moon, although a visually blue Moon (the Moon a ...

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'') *

Wolfgang Kramer Wolfgang Kramer (born 29 June 1942 in Stuttgart) is a German board game designer. Early life As a young child, Wolfgang Kramer used to play games with his grandmother, and said he developed a positive attitude about games because "she always use ...

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El Grande ''El Grande'' is a German-style board game for 2-5 players, designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich, and published in 1995 by Hans im Glück in German, by Rio Grande Games in English, and by 999 Games in Dutch. The game board represents r ...

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Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

'', ''

Mexica The Mexica (Nahuatl: , ;''Nahuatl Dictionary.'' (1990). Wired Humanities Project. University of Oregon. Retrieved August 29, 2012, frolink/ref> singular ) were a Nahuatl-speaking indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of ...

'', ''

Princes of Florence ''The Princes of Florence'' is a German board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich published in 2000 by Alea in German and by Rio Grande Games in English. Players assume the roles of Florentine Princes who wish to design their ...

'', ''

Torres Torres may refer to: People *Torres (surname), a Spanish and Portuguese surname *Torres (musician), singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott **Torres (album), ''Torres'' (album), 2013 self-titled album by Torres Places Americas *Torres, Colorado, an un ...

'') *

Alan R. Moon Alan R. Moon (born 18 November 1951) is an author of board games, born in Southampton, England. He is generally considered to be one of the foremost designers of German-style board games. Many of his games can be seen as board game variations on ...

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Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

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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 ...

'', ''

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

'', '' Ticket to Ride'') *

Christian T. Petersen Christian T. Petersen is a game designer who has worked primarily on board games and role-playing games. Early life Christian T. Petersen was born in the United States, but grew up in Denmark; he was still in high school there when he founded P ...

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Twilight Imperium ''Twilight Imperium'' is a strategy board game produced by Fantasy Flight Games in the genre of science fiction and space opera. It was designed by Christian T. Petersen and was first released in 1997. The game is in its fourth edition (2017), wh ...

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A Game of Thrones (board game) ''A Game of Thrones'' is a strategy board game created by Christian T. Petersen and published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2003. The game is based on the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of high fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin. It was f ...

'', '' World of Warcraft (board game)'') *

Paul Randles Paul Joseph Randles (December 16, 1965 – February 10, 2003) was an American game designer who designed German-style board games. Early life Paul Randles was a native of Seattle, Washington. Career Randles began his career in game development ...

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Pirate's Cove ''Pirate's Cove'' (German: ''Piratenbucht'') is a board game designed by Paul Randles and Daniel Stahl, originally published in Germany in 2002 by Amigo Spiele, illustrated by Markus Wagner and Swen Papenbrock. In 2003, Days of Wonder repub ...

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Key Largo Key Largo ( es, Cayo Largo) is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected b ...

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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 ...

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Twixt TwixT is a two-player Abstract strategy game, 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 tu ...

'', '' Raj'', '' Geister'', ''

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. ...

'', '' Inkognito'', '' Ricochet Robots'') *

Ken Rolston Ken Rolston is an American computer game and role-playing game (pen and paper), role-playing game designer best known for his work with West End Games and on the computer game series ''The Elder Scrolls''. In February 2007, he elected to join th ...

, part of the core team at

West End Games West End Games (WEG) was a company that made Board game, board, Role-playing game, role-playing, and wargaming, war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York City, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Its product line ...

Charles S. Roberts Charles Swann Roberts (February 3, 1930 – August 20, 2010, Baltimore, Maryland) was a wargame designer, railroad historian, and businessman. He is renowned as "The Father of Board Wargaming", having created the first commercially successful m ...

('' Tactics II'' (first commercial board wargame)), founder of

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' ...

Uwe Rosenberg Uwe Rosenberg (born 27 March 1970) is a German game designer and the co-founder of Lookout Games. He initially became known for his card game ''Bohnanza'', which was successful both in Germany and internationally. He is known for complex economic ...

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Agricola Agricola, the Latin word for farmer, may also refer to: People Cognomen or given name :''In chronological order'' * Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40–93), Roman governor of Britannia (AD 77–85) * Sextus Calpurnius Agricola, Roman governor of the mid ...

'', '' Bohnanza'') *

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 ...

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Acquire ''Acquire'' is a multi-player mergers and acquisitions themed board game. It is played with tiles representing hotels that are arranged on the board, play money and stock certificates. The object of the game is to earn the most money by developi ...

'', '' Can't Stop'', '' Kohle, Kies & Knete'') *

Michael Schacht Michael Schacht (born 1964 in Wiesbaden) is a German game designer, graphician and owner of the small publishing company ''Spiele aus Timbuktu''. Life and work Schacht studied graphic design at the FH Darmstadt. About 15 years he worked as Art Di ...

('' Web of Power'', '' Dschunke'', '' Industria'', '' Hansa'') * Andreas Schmidt ('' Heaven & Ale'') *

Karl-Heinz Schmiel Karl-Heinz is a German given name, composed of Karl and Heinz but with a hyphen dash. Notable people with that name include: * Hilarios Karl-Heinz Ungerer, German Bishop * Karl-Heinz Feldkamp (born 1934), football coach and former player * Karl-H ...

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Attila Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European traditio ...

'', '' Die Macher'') *

Emiliano Sciarra Emiliano Sciarra (born December 6, 1971 in Civitavecchia, Rome, Italy) is a game designer of board games, card games and videogames. He is the author of '' Bang!'', a Wild West themed card game published by daVinci Editrice. Biography He has be ...

('' Bang!'') *

Andreas Seyfarth Andreas Seyfarth (born 6 November 1962) is a German-style board game designer, who is most famous for creating ''Puerto Rico (game), Puerto Rico'', which is highly ranked on BoardGameGeek. In 2002, the game was awarded first place for the presti ...

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Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

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Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

'') * Daniel Stahl (''

'') * Vital Lacerda ('' Vinhos'', '' Kanban EV'', '' CO2: Second Chance'', '' The Gallerist'') * Gertrude Strohm ("Popping the Question"; "Novel Fortune Telling") *

Jerry Taylor Jerome Cogburn Taylor (born August 2, 1963) is an American environmental activist, policy analyst, and game designer. Taylor cofounded the Niskanen Center, a Washington, D.C. based think tank that, among other things, advocates for market enviro ...

('' Hammer of the Scots, Crusader Rex'') *

Klaus Teuber Klaus Teuber (born June 25, 1952) is a German former dental technician and designer of board games. He is best known for designing the strategy board game Catan. Career Teuber won the Spiel des Jahres ("Game of the Year") award four times: for ...

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The Settlers of Catan ''Catan'', previously known as ''The Settlers of Catan'' or simply ''Settlers'', is a multiplayer board game designed by Klaus Teuber. It was first published in 1995 in Germany by Franckh-Kosmos Verlag (Kosmos) as ''Die Siedler von Catan''. Pl ...

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Entdecker ''Entdecker'' (, German language, German for "Discoverer") is a German-style board game designed by Klaus Teuber and published in 1996 in games, 1996 by Goldsieber in German language, German. Although the game won 2nd prize in the Deutscher Spiel ...

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Löwenherz ''Löwenherz'' (; German for "Lionheart") is a German-style board game designed by Klaus Teuber and published in 1997 by Goldsieber in German and by Rio Grande Games in English. A revised edition, titled ''Löwenherz: Der König kehrt zurück'' ...

'') * Martin Wallace ('' Liberte'', '' Age of Steam'', ''

Struggle of Empires Struggle may refer to: Film and TV * Struggle (2003 film), ''Struggle'' (2003 film), an Austrian film * Struggle (2013 film) * Struggle (TV series), ''Struggle'' (TV series), 2007 Chinese TV series Music * Struggle (Nonpoint album), ''Struggle'' ...

'', '' Princes of the Renaissance'') *

Klaus-Jürgen Wrede Klaus-Jürgen Wrede (born 1963 in Meschede, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German board game creator, the creator of the best-selling ''Carcassonne'' and ''Downfall of Pompeii''. Early life Born to music-teacher parents in Meschede, Germany, Wrede g ...

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Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...

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Role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ... designers

Word game designers

Board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ... designers

See also

Role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...
designers

Board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...
designers