''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy
board games
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 ...
and
tabletop role-playing game
A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participan ...
s. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s. The magazine is no longer published, but the rights holders maintain a web presence using its final title ''Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer''.
History
''The Space Gamer'' (''TSG'') started out as a
digest
Digest may refer to:
Biology
*Digestion of food
*Restriction digest
Literature and publications
*''The Digest'', formerly the English and Empire Digest
*Digest size magazine format
* ''Digest'' (Roman law), also known as ''Pandects'', a digest ...
quarterly publication of the brand new
Metagaming Concepts
Metagaming Concepts, later known simply as Metagaming, was a company that published board games from 1974 to 1983. It was founded and owned by Howard Thompson, who designed the company's first game, ''Stellar Conquest''. The company also invente ...
company in March 1975.
Howard M. Thompson
Howard M. Thompson is an American wargame designer and founder of Metagaming Concepts. His first game was ''Stellar Conquest'', a popular and well-designed simulation of interstellar warfare.
Thompson is most famous for his idea to publish small ...
, the owner of Metagaming and the first editor of the magazine, stated "The magazine had been planned for after our third or fourth game but circumstances demand we do it now" (after their first game, ''
Stellar Conquest
''Stellar Conquest'' is a science fiction board game designed by Howard M. Thompson that was published in 1974.Preface to the third printing, Stellar Conquest rule book, Howard Thompson, June 1978. It is a prototype of the 4X strategy game genre. ...
''). Initial issues were in a plain-paper digest format. By issue 17, it had grown to a
full size