Antoine Bauza (born 25 August 1978) is a French

game designer Game design is the process of creating and shaping the mechanics, systems, rules, and gameplay of a game. Game design processes apply to board games, card games, dice games, casino games, role-playing games, sports, Wargame (video games), war ga ...

. He designs

board games A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

games and

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

as well as being an author of children's books.

Life and career

Bauza was born on 25 August 1978. As a teenager, he was very interested in

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as 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 ...

s, and wanted to become a

video game design Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...

er. However, Bauza decided not to pursue video games as a career because he did not want to move away to

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, where video game companies were hiring at the time. He instead decided to become a teacher. After reconnecting with friends who started to hold their own game nights, Bauza began making his first board game prototypes in 2003 during his free time while studying at the Institut Universitaire de Formation des Maîtres. An avid board game player, Bauza decided to start making board games in 2007. In 2010, he began working on board games full-time. In January 2025, his game '' 7 Wonders'' was incorporated as one of twenty-five games into the BoardGameGeek Hall of Fame

Board games

* ''Chabyrinthe'' * ''Draftosaurus'' * ''Ghost Stories'' * ''Hurry’Cup'' * ''Bakong'' * ''Pocket Rockets'' * ''Monster Chase!'' * ''Pony Express'' * '' Hanabi'' * ''7 Wonders'' * ''7 Wonders Duel'' * ''Rockband Manager'' * ''Mystery Express'' * ''

Dojo A is a hall or place for immersive learning, experiential learning, or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts. The term literally means "place of the Tao, Way" in Japanese language, Japanese. History The word ''d� ...

'' * ''Dr. Shark'' * ''Witty Pong'' * '' Takenoko'' * ''

Ali Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until his assassination in 661, as well as the first Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib an ...

'' * '' Tokaido'' * ''Namiji'' * ''The Little Prince: Make Me a Planet'' * '' Terror in Meeple City'' * ''Samurai Spirit'' * ''Victorian Masterminds'' * ''Welcome back to the dungeon'' *Last Bastion

Role-playing games

* ''Exil'' * '' Final Frontier'' * '' Little Wizards''

Video games

* ''Furry Tales'' * ''World of Lovecraft''

Awards

* ''Meeples' Choice Award'' (2010) for 7 Wonders * ''

Deutscher Spiele Preis __NOTOC__ The Deutscher Spielepreis (, ''German Game Prize'') (DSP) 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, profes ...

'' (2011) for 7 Wonders * '' Kennerspiel des Jahres'' (2011) for 7 Wonders * ''

As d'or The As d'Or (''Golden Ace'') is a games award given out by a jury at the Festival International des Jeux in Cannes, France. The awards were established in 1988 "to highlight the best games offered at the Festival and help festival-goers and the ...

Jeu de l'année'' (2012) for Takenoko * ''

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 an ...

'' (2013) for Hanabi * Fairplay À la carte Award (2013) for Hanabi (in German)

References

External links

Antoine Bauza's designer page at BoardGameGeek

Antoine Bauza's designer page at RPGGeek

Antoine Bauza's website

Interview with Antoine Bauza (Little Metal Dog)

Interview with Antoine Bauza (Meeple Town)

Designer Spotlight: Antoine Bauza
Board game designers Living people 1978 births French game designers {{France-artist-stub