Louis Zocchi | |
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 Zocchi at his GameScience booth at Gen Con Indy 2007. | |
| Occupation | dice manufacturer |
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Louis Zocchi is a gaming hobbyist, former game distributor and publisher, and maker and seller of polyhedral game dice. In 1986, he was elected to the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame. [1]
Lou Zocchi was one of the first editors for Avalon Hill's magazine, The General , and a regular contributor during its first 11 years of publication. [2] He also playtested such early wargames as Bismark , Afrika Korps , Jutland , Stalingrad , and a number of titles Avalon Hill did not publish. [2] Zocchi was the first U.S. distributor to sell nothing but adventure games. [2] As a board wargame designer, his credits include Luftwaffe, The Battle of Britain , Alien Space , and Flying Tigers , as well as the 3-, 5-, 14-, 24-, and 100-sided die. [2] Zocchi contributed to the series of books by Guidon Games that began in 1971 with Chainmail . [3] : 6 Zocchi produced the superhero RPG Superhero: 2044 in 1977. [3] : 73, 145
In 1975, Zocchi wrote and published a book, How to $ell Your Wargame Design , to help other designers sell their games. [4]
Zocchi also designed and published the Star Fleet Battle Manual (1977) miniatures rules, which he licensed from Franz Joseph, and in 1979 Zocchi's friend Stephen Cole licensed the rights from Joseph to publish the Star Fleet Battles game. [3] : 114 Zocchi also distributed the Wee Warriors line after 1977. [3] : 10 Zocchi helped Judges Guild with their financial difficulties in the early 1980s by paying them $350 every time they gave him the rights to reprint their out-of-print supplements. [3] : 68 Mike Hurdle of Holly Springs, Mississippi purchased Zocchi Distribution in February 1998.[ citation needed ]
Zocchi and his company GameScience [5] have published a number of games over the years (many designed by Zocchi), but are best known for making dice and inventing the Zocchihedron (100-sided) die.
Zocchi has designed a few games himself, including Hardtack , and Battle Wagon Salvo.
In 1987, Zocchi was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming's Hall of Fame. [2] He was honored as a "famous game designer" by being inducted into the Game Designers Hall of Fame and featured as the king of clubs in Flying Buffalo's 2009 Famous Game Designers Playing Card Deck. [6]
GameScience is still trading, and (as of 2015 [update] ) Zocchi is still active in the gaming community.
He later joined the AL.S.D.F. force and held the rank of Colonel. [2]
Most dice, according to Zocchi, do not roll accurately because of flawed manufacturing processes. The dice favor certain numbers and are more likely to land on those numbers. Zocchi believes the "superstition" of many gamers who use specific dice to roll high and others to roll low results from the fact that major dice manufacturers smooth out the straight edges of their dice in machines much like rock tumblers. The result is that plastic dice originally molded evenly are unevened and unbalanced, making them more likely to land on some numbers than on others.
Zocchi demonstrates the imperfections of dice with statistical results (showing uneven distribution of rolled die values) and with photographs of uneven die edges, faces and vertices. His demonstrations are sales pitches for his precision edged dice (with sharp edges) manufactured by his company, GameScience. Tests by Jason Mills in 1987 and published in White Dwarf magazine showed that his Zocchihedron had a significantly uneven number distribution. [7] Right after that article came out, Zocchi adjusted the numbering of the Zocchihedron to correct the distribution and claims that the d100 now rolls rightly, whereas the original Zocchihedron had all the mid-range numbers clustered at the equator. The modified layout assigns one number from each tens-cluster to each ring of numbers around the die.[ clarification needed ] Only white dice with black numbers use the older number distribution. Corrected dice are manufactured in other colors. However, while this "correction" will prevent the Zocchihedron from biasing against very high and very low numbers, the distribution of the individual numbers themselves will remain to be proven by tests.
Due to safety concerns, the 4-sided die (or d4) produced by GameScience has truncated points.
Zocchi has invented and produced several "non-standard" dice. These are a 3-sided die, a 5-sided die, a 14-sided die, a 16-sided die, and a 24-sided die. All these except the 7-sided (d7) are available in high-impact translucent plastic. The 7 sided die Zocchi was invented by Bernard Beruter of Canada. [8]
Dice are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing games, and games of chance.
A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to study the nature of potential conflicts. Many wargames re-create specific historic battles, and can cover either whole wars, or any campaigns, battles, or lower-level engagements within them. Many simulate land combat, but there are wargames for naval and air combat, as well.
Zocchihedron is the trademark of a 100-sided die invented by Lou Zocchi, which debuted in 1985. Unlike other polyhedral dice, it takes the appearance of a ball with 100 flattened spots. It is sometimes called "Zocchi's Golfball".
War at Sea is a strategic board wargame depicting the naval war in the Atlantic during World War II, published by Jedko Games in 1975, and subsequently republished by Avalon Hill in 1976 and more recently by L2 Design Group in 2007.
Napoleon, subtitled "The Waterloo Campaign, 1815", is a strategic-level block wargame published by Gamma Two Games in 1974 that simulates the Battle of Waterloo. A number of versions of the game have been produced by Avalon Hill and Columbia Games.
Battle Cry is a board wargame based on the American Civil War, designed by Richard Borg and published by Avalon Hill in 2000.
Battle of the Bulge is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill (AH) in 1965 that simulates the World War II battle of the same name. General Anthony McAuliffe (ret.), who had been commanding officer at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, was a consultant during the game's development. The game proved popular and sold more than 120,000 copies, but was dogged by criticisms of historical inaccuracies, and was finally replaced by a completely new edition in 1981. A third edition in 1991 was released as part of the Smithsonian American History Series.
D-Day is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1961 that simulates the six months of the European Campaign of World War II from the Normandy Invasion to the crossing of the Rhine. It was the first wargame to feature the now ubiquitous hex grid map and cardboard counters, and was revised and re-released in 1962, 1965, 1971, 1977 and 1991.
Guidon Games produced board games and rulebooks for wargaming with miniatures, and in doing so influenced Tactical Studies Rules, the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons. The Guidon Games publishing imprint was the property of Lowrys Hobbies, a mail-order business owned by Don and Julie Lowry. About a dozen titles were released under the imprint from 1971 to 1973.
Gettysburg is a board wargame produced by Avalon Hill in 1958 that re-enacts the American Civil War battle of Gettysburg. The game rules were groundbreaking in several respects, and the game, revised several times, was a bestseller for Avalon Hill for several decades.
Stalingrad is a strategic-level board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1963 that simulates the first 24 months of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II. As one of the first board wargames it was extensively played and discussed during the early years of the wargaming hobby.
Tobruk, subtitled "Tank Battles in North Africa 1942", is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1975 that simulates tank combat in North Africa during World War II.
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 developed in 1954 following the publication and commercial success of Tactics. The board wargaming hobby continues to enjoy a sizeable following, with a number of game publishers and gaming conventions dedicated to the hobby both in the English-speaking world and further afield.
Gamescience is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements.
Alpha Omega is a science fiction board wargame published by Battleline Publications in 1977 that simulates combat between alien and human space fleets. Avalon Hill acquired the game and republished it in 1980.
Alien Space is a science fiction board wargame published by Gamescience in 1973 that simulates space combat as seen in the Star Trek television show.
The Battle of Britain is a board wargame published by Gamescience in 1968 that is a simulation of the Battle of Britain during World War II.
Luftwaffe, subtitled "The Game of Aerial Combat Over Germany 1943-45", is a board wargame originally published by Poultron Press in 1969 under a different title, then subsequently sold to Avalon Hill, who republished it in 1971. The game is an operational simulation of the American bombing campaign against Germany during World War II.
Eagle Day: The Battle of Britain is a board wargame published by Histo Games in 1973 that simulates the Battle of Britain. Reviewers noted its marked similarity to previously published wargames The Battle of Britain, and Luftwaffe, but found Eagle Day to be inferior to both.
Flying Tigers is a board wargame published by Gamescience in 1969 that simulates aerial combat over China by the Flying Tigers during World War II.