Zev Shlasinger is a scriptwriter,
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 ...
and game publisher. He is primarily known for founding
Z-Man Games, which became the publisher of the ''
Pandemic
A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...
'' series of board games, as well as being the sole publisher for the English editions of popular Eurogames, such as ''
Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a French defensive wall, fortified city in the Departments of France, department of Aude, Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the department.
...
'' and ''
Terra Mystica
''Terra Mystica'' is a Euro-style board game for two to five players designed by Helge Ostertag and Jens Drögemüller. The game was first published by Feuerland Spiele in Germany in 2012, and was later published in English and French by Zman Ga ...
''.
Early life
Zev Shlasinger became interested in board games and
board wargames
A board wargame is a wargame with a set playing surface or board, as opposed to being played on a computer or in a more free-form playing area as in miniatures games. The modern, commercial wargaming hobby (as distinct from military exercises, ...
while in school.
Screenwriter
After school, Shlasinger turned to screenwriting, creating the script for ''Flesh-Eating Mothers'', a horror movie in which a virus turns suburban housewives into cannibals. Critics generally panned the movie and the script with comments like "amateurish", "knowingly bad script", and "So woodenly acted and scripted that gore scenes are laughable rather than frightening."
In 1994, Shlasinger wrote the script for the murder mystery movie ''Playback''.
Z-Man Games
In 2000, Shlasinger founded Z-Man Games, primarily to republish the discontinued
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. The genre was introduced with ''Magic: The G ...
(CCG) ''
Shadowfist''. From there, Shlasinger's company published other CCGs such as ''WWF Raw Deal'', and became the English-language licensee of several popular
Eurogames.
Z-Man Games became the publisher of the ''Pandemic'' series of games in 2008, which subsequently won the 2009
''Golden Geek Best Family Board Game'', as well as being a finalist for the 2009 ''
Spiel des Jahres''.
In 2009, Shlasinger was the Special Guest at UK Games Expo in Birmingham.
In 2011, Sophie Gravel, owner of
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
-based publisher/distributor Filosofia, bought Z-Man Games, and Shlasinger left in 2016, to join
WizKids
NECA/WizKids, LLC (commonly known as simply WizKids) is an American company based in New Jersey that produces tabletop games. WizKids is best known for its collectible miniatures games (CMGs) Mage Knight, HeroClix, MechWarrior, and HorrorCli ...
as Head of Board Game Operations.
References
American game designers
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
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