Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include Call of Cthulhu, based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft, RuneQuest Glorantha, Pendragon, based on Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur, and 7th Sea, "swashbuckling and sorcery" set in a fantasy 17th century Europe.
A Eurogame, also called a German-style board game, German game, or Euro-style game, is a class of tabletop games that generally has indirect player interaction and multiple ways to score points. Eurogames are sometimes contrasted with American-style board games, which generally involve more luck, conflict, and drama. They are usually less abstract than chess or Go, but more abstract than wargames. Likewise, they generally require more thought and planning than party games such as Pictionary or Trivial Pursuit.
The Spiel des Jahres 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 and popularity of the award was one of the major drivers of the quality of games coming out of Germany, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. A Spiel des Jahres nomination can increase the typical sales of a game from 500–3,000 copies to around 10,000, and the winner can usually expect to sell as many as 500,000 copies.
Reiner Knizia is a prolific German-style board game designer.
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the gaming industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.
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 renaissance-era Spain where the nobility fight for control of the nine regions. El Grande was praised for its area-control mechanism, and was awarded the Spiel des Jahres prize and the Deutscher Spiele Preis in 1996. Following its release, several expansions and an alternative version were published.
Days of Wonder is a board game publisher founded in 2002 and owned by Asmodee Group since 2014. Days of Wonder distributes its games to 25 countries. It specializes in German-style board games and has branched out to include some online games. Days of Wonder has published games in several languages including English, Dutch, French, German, Russian, and Greek. Days of Wonder was co-founded by Eric Hautemont, Mark Kaufmann and Yann Corno.
Modern Art is an auction game designed by Reiner Knizia and first published in 1992 by Hans im Glück in German. Players represent art dealers, both buying and selling works of art by five different fictional artists. At the end of each round, they sell the paintings they bought back to the "bank". More popular artists' works are worth more, and the value carries over into future rounds. Although the game is played entirely using cards, a board is used for scoring, so the game is sometimes referred to as a board game. 25 versions has been released for the game. It was also recommended for the 1993 Spiel des Jahres.
Lord of the Rings is a cooperative board game based on the high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Published in 2000 by Kosmos in Germany, Wizards of the Coast in the U.S., and Parker Brothers in the U.K., the game is designed by Reiner Knizia and features artwork by illustrator John Howe. In the game, each player plays a hobbit in the party, and the party will aim to destroy the One Ring. Upon its release, the game received a Spiel des Jahres special award. A slightly revised version was later published by Fantasy Flight Games.
TransAmerica is a railroad board game centered on the construction of railroad track in the United States. The game was created by Franz-Benno Delonge and developed by Team Annaberg. It is published in the United States by Rio Grande Games. In 2003 it was a Mensa Select recipient, and was nominated for the 2002 Spiel des Jahres award.
Rüdiger Dorn is a German-style board game designer who is married and has three children. He lives in Pfofeld near Nuremberg.
Medici is a German-style board game by Reiner Knizia. Players buy cards in an auction and match in series and in sets to end up with most points from those formations.
Blue Moon is a German collectible card game (CCG) designed by Reiner Knizia and published by Kosmos and Fantasy Flight Games in 2004.
Manhattan is a board game designed by Andreas Seyfarth. In the game, players aim to construct and control skyscrapers that will award points. Manhattan received generally positive reviews and won the 1994 Spiel des Jahres award.
Agricola is a Euro-style board game created by Uwe Rosenberg. It is a worker placement game with a focus on resource management. In Agricola, players are farmers who sow, plow the fields, collect wood, build stables, buy animals, expand their farms and feed their families. After 14 rounds players calculate their score based on the size and prosperity of the household.
Richard Borg is a game designer who has designed many wargames. In 2010, he was elected to the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame.
Biohazard Games is a company located in Columbia, Missouri that publishes role-playing games, most of them designed by Jeff Barber and Jim Heivilin. The company tends to work closely with Fantasy Flight Games.
Beowulf: The Legend is a 2005 designer board game by Reiner Knizia. The artwork is by John Howe. Game play uses cards and tokens. The play moves along a board, and players obtain gold and cards in order to eventually obtain victory points.
Stefan Feld is a German-style board game designer who lives in Gengenbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
