Tom Lehmann (born July 1, 1958) has worked as an economist, programmer, boardgame publisher, and technical writer, but is best known as a game designer. [1] [2] [3] His card game Race for the Galaxy won several awards. [4]
Tom Lehmann was the publisher and designer of Prism Games. [5] [6] [7] His first published game was in 1992. [8] [2] His works include Fast Food Franchise , Time Agent, 2038 (with Jim Hlavaty), 1846 , Magellan/Pizarro & Co., Jericho, To Court the King , Phoenicia, Race for the Galaxy , and New Frontiers. [2] [5] [9] He is now a freelance game designer, and has been a full time game designer since the early 2000s, publishing games internationally. [8] [5] He has also worked with Matt Leacock on expansions for Pandemic, as well as Res Arcana. [8]
Lehmann began work on a card game version of Puerto Rico , both working on his own and with the designer Andreas Seyfarth. When his version was not used as part of San Juan , he continued to develop his game, combining it with a previous design for a space-themed customizable card game. The final result was published as Race for the Galaxy by Rio Grande Games. [10]
Race for the Galaxy was an Origins Awards finalist in the "Traditional Card Game" category. [11] Lehmann also received critical acclaim for the game, which has been called one of the best card games by New Indian Express. [12] Meeple Mountain said it had "masterful design" and was still playable 12 years after its initial release. [13]
In 2014, Lehmann designed Roll for the Galaxy with Wei-Hwa Huang, which Financial Times listed in its "Five of the best board games" list in 2023. [14] [15] This version uses a mechanic system involving six-sided dice. [15] Dice Tower Dish said it fixed the perceived issues with complexity some players had with the original game. [16] Lehmann created the Jump Drive expansion in 2016, based on his game The City from Amigo, for new Roll for the Galaxy players. [17]
Lehmann also produced the 2018 standalone addition New Frontiers which allowed players to conquer new worlds and colonize them. [18] In 2022, he published his dice-building game Dice Realms. [8] [19]
Lehmann has also contributed design ideas to other published games, including Outpost , San Juan , Pandemic: The Cure, the revised edition of Pandemic , and Pandemic Legacy: Season 1.[ citation needed ]