Dario De Toffoli

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Dario De Toffoli
Dario De Toffoli.jpg
Born1953 (age 71–72)
Venice, Italy
Occupations
  • Board game designer
  • gamebook author
  • games player
  • tournament organiser
Known forFounder of Studiogiochi

Dario De Toffoli (4 August 1953) is an Italian board game designer, gamebook author, and games player who founded the games company Studiogiochi and established many games events. Born in 1953 Venice, [1] after an early career as a chemist he entered the world of games. Winner of over 60 medals at the Mind Sports Olympiad, [2] He won the 2002 [3] and 2012 Pentamind Competition [4] for the best games all-rounder in the world. In 2006, he won a special award for his contribution to games which includes contribution to all aspects of games. [5]

Contents

Contribution to games

The Personalità Ludica dell'Anno (PLDA) award the prize to the games personality of the year. In 2006, instead of the normal competition the PLDA made a lifetime achievement award to Dario De Toffoli for his "career" in games. [5] [6]

In the 1990s De Toffoli and his company staged the first five Italian Festivals of games, [7] the largest in Italy. Other significant events established by De Toffoli include the Mind Sports player competition Giocatore dell'Anno [1] and the Venice International Backgammon Tournament. [8]

De Toffoli also established one of the few board game design competitions: the Premio Archimede (the Archimedes Prize), dedicated to Alex Randolph, [9] an international competition where along with the prize the winner has their game displayed in the Swiss museum of games. [10]

As a player

Scrabble in Italian

De Toffoli was one of the top players in Scrabble in Italian. The world championship in Italian Scrabble was not founded until 2008 before that there were Majors. De Toffoli had multiple top three finishes in these competitions and won the Masters in 1997. [11]

Backgammon

De Toffoli wrote two books on backgammon in Italian: the rules of the game and the big book of backgammon [12] In the latter, he is credited with bringing to light that the origins of backgammon went back 500 years further than had previously been reported. [13] He is also a successful backgammon player having won numerous competitions and produced a book on the subject for La Stampa newspaper. [14] He is a top class player having world rating of over 1500 at the end of the 2009 season. [15]

However, De Toffoli's impact on the game is most significant through his involvement in establishing the European backgammon scene. The Venice International Backgammon Tournament established by De Toffoli [8] was one of the first two major backgammon tournaments in Europe along with the Nordic Open Backgammon Tournament. [16] The tournament is one of the most important in the world [17] and forms part of the European Backgammon Tour [18]

Poker

De Toffoli wrote the first book on Texas Hold'em in Italian [5] [19] and has since then co-written two more of the only books in Italian on poker with Max Pescatori. [20] Dario is primarily known for being a leading technician [21] in the game being asked for views on poker [22] and as a TV commentator [5] as he has yet to win a major cash tournament. In 2008, De Toffoli became the Amateur Poker World Champion [23] an event that is not played for money. [24]

Italian Series of Poker (Italian Championships)

Not only knowledgeable in theory, De Toffoli is also a successful live poker tournament player, having won several times at the Italian Series of Poker Championship, where he currently is the leading player with the most cash tournaments [25] and related titles won as Italian poker champion:

Results extracted from: "Dario De Toffoli, on". thehendonmob.com. Retrieved 17 August 2025.

Games all-rounder

As an all-round games player, De Toffoli has won championships in games ranging from Oware [26] to world championships in two new games: Continuo [27] in 2002 and David Parlett's Hare and Tortoise [28] in 2010. He has won over 60 medals at the Mind Sports Olympiad. [2] In 2002 he became the oldest winner of the Pentamind World championship, [2] [3] an event to find the best games all-rounder in the world. [29] This victory was achieved in the middle of Demis Hassabis [30] 5 victories to whom he had earlier managed to finish second against. [31]

Games journalist

De Toffoli has contributed hundreds of articles and puzzles for newspapers and magazines. His contributions include for Giochi Magazine , [32] Il Gazzettino [33] and for La Stampa newspaper. [34]

Game and puzzle book author

As well as strategic books De Toffoli is one of the leading authorities on games [35] having written "the encyclopedia of games" and the "1001 games for everyone". His works also include several puzzle books and a book on draughts.

Games designer

As well as owning the company Studiogiochi, De Toffoli has personally designed and co-designed several board games, the most notable of which are Lex Arcana [36] and Vampiri in salsa rossa [5] role-playing based games. More recent games have had a more mainstream focus such as Sudoku and Kakuro board games and themed board games such as for the Totally Spies! cartoon series.

Games designed by De Toffoli include: [1]

Bibliography

Books written by De Toffoli include: [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "studiogiochi – Dario De Toffoli". www.studiogiochi.com. Archived from the original on 11 November 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "Profile of Dario De Toffoli". www.boardability.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  3. 1 2 "Dario De Toffoli – Gli autori di Sperling & Kupfer". Sperling & Kupfer editori. Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  4. ↑ "Pentamind World Championship".
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Giuria". plda.it.
  6. ↑ "Storia". plda.it.
  7. ↑ "La Stampa – Consultazione Archivio". Archiviolastampa.it. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  8. 1 2 "Venice 2001". www.backgammonmagazin.de. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  9. ↑ "Game designers association page on Premio Archemde results retrieved 4 March 2011". Archived from the original on 31 January 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  10. ↑ "Premio Archemde exhibition announcement".[ permanent dead link ]
  11. ↑ Aligam, Erwin. "Scrabble Italia". www.scrabbleitalia.com.
  12. ↑ "Libri: Backgammon: tutte le regole del gioco". backgammon.it. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013.
  13. ↑ "La parola ai "Numeri" di Dario De Toffoli". www.stampalternativa.it. Archived from the original on 28 September 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  14. ↑ Backgammon, La Stampa, December 1999
  15. ↑ "World Backgammon ratings matches for Dario De Toffoli". World Backgammon Ratings. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  16. ↑ "History of Nordic backgammon". Archived from the original on 4 February 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  17. ↑ "Nothing found for Pr3". www.play65.com. Archived from the original on 20 March 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  18. ↑ "Article on European Backgammon Tour". Archived from the original on 4 February 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  19. ↑ "Giocare e vincere a Poker". Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  20. ↑ ""A scuola di poker" per restare al passo – Repubblica.it". 13 November 2010.
  21. ↑ Sorrentino, Roberto "Ronnie". "Dario De Toffoli ed il multithinking process". www.pokeritaliaweb.org. Archived from the original on 13 February 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  22. ↑ "Clicca e fai poker Corriere della Sera". www.corriere.it.
  23. ↑ "Poker". www.boardability.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  24. ↑ David Spanier, Independent Pursuits: Poker, The Independent, 10 September 1998
  25. ↑ "Italian Series of Poker (ISOP) Number of cashes". thehendonmob.com.
  26. ↑ "Giochi Sforzeschi 2001- Risultati - Results". digilander.libero.it.
  27. ↑ "Continuo". www.boardability.com. Archived from the original on 6 July 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  28. ↑ "Hare and Tortoise". www.boardability.com. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  29. ↑ The Mind Sports Olympiad Supplement, The Pentamind, The Times, July 1997
  30. ↑ Boxer, Steve (9 September 2004). "Child prodigy stands by originality". The Guardian .
  31. ↑ "Interview article from 99 retrieved 1 March 2011". Mind Sports Worldwide. 23 September 1999. Archived from the original on 18 August 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  32. ↑ Giochi Magazine, May 1987 – March 1988
  33. ↑ "Example article by De Toffoli, Il Gazettino, 7 December 1988, Retrieved 4 March 2011" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  34. ↑ "La Stampa – Consultazione Archivio". www.archiviolastampa.it.
  35. ↑ "Recensione Libri: Dario De Toffoli - 'Il Grande Libro del Poker'". Poker News. 28 February 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  36. ↑ "Un Impero Senza Fine: Lex Arcana, recensione del GdR". brigata.it. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014.
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