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Zev Shlasinger | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Game designer |
Zev Shlasinger is a scriptwriter, game designer and game publisher. He is primarily known for founding Z-Man Games, which became the publisher of the Pandemic series of board games, as well as being the sole publisher for the English editions of popular Eurogames, such as Carcassonne and Terra Mystica .
Zev Shlasinger became interested in board games and board wargames while in school. [1]
After school, Shlasinger turned to screenwriting, creating the script for Flesh-Eating Mothers, [2] a horror movie in which a virus turns suburban housewives into cannibals. Critics generally panned the movie and the script with comments like "amateurish", [3] "knowingly bad script", [4] and "So woodenly acted and scripted that gore scenes are laughable rather than frightening." [5]
In 1994, Shlasinger wrote the script for the murder mystery movie Playback. [6]
In 2000, Shlasinger founded Z-Man Games, primarily to republish the discontinued collectible card game (CCG) Shadowfist . From there, Shlasinger's company published other CCGs such as WWF Raw Deal, [7] and became the English-language licensee of several popular Eurogames. [8]
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, [9] as well as being a finalist for the 2009 Spiel des Jahres . [10]
In 2009, Shlasinger was the Special Guest at UK Games Expo in Birmingham. [11]
In 2011, Sophie Gravel, owner of Quebec-based publisher/distributor Filosofia, bought Z-Man Games, [12] and Shlasinger left in 2016, [13] to join WizKids as Head of Board Game Operations. [14]
A Eurogame, also called a German-style board game, German game, or Euro-style game, is a class of tabletop games that generally has complex rules, 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. He was born in West Germany in 1957 and earned a doctorate in Mathematics from the University of Ulm before designing games full time. He is frequently included on lists of the greatest game designers of all time. Many of his hundreds of designs are considered modern classics, and many have won or been nominated for significant gaming awards, including the Spiel des Jahres and the Deutscher Spiele Preis. His notable designs include Amun-Re, Blue Moon City, Ingenious, Keltis, Lord of the Rings, Medici, Modern Art, Ra, Taj Mahal, Tigris and Euphrates, and Through the Desert. Many of his designs incorporate mathematical principles, such as his repeated use of auction mechanics.
NECA/WizKids, LLC 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 HorrorClix, all of which make use of the company's Clix system, in which the changing combat statistics and abilities of each figure were indicated by a turnable dial inside the base underneath the figure. The company was founded in 2000 by Jordan Weisman, a veteran of the game company FASA. It was purchased by sports-card manufacturer Topps, Inc. in 2003.
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.
Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called the Essen Game Fair after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day public boardgame trade fair held in October at the Messe Essen exhibition centre in Essen, Germany. It began in 1983. With 1,021 exhibitors from 50 nations in 2016, SPIEL is the biggest fair for board games in the world. Many new games are released at the fair each year, especially European-style board games.
Tikal is a German-style board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling and published in 1999 by Ravensburger in German and by Rio Grande Games in English. Set in a Central American jungle, in Tikal players aim to discover artifacts, excavate, and maintain temple control to gain victory points.
Hare and Tortoise is a Eurogame designed by David Parlett in 1974 and first published by Intellect Games. In 1978 it was released by Ravensburger in Germany, and received generally positive reviews critically and won the 1979 Spiel des Jahres. It has since sold some 2 million units in at least ten languages. The current editions are published by Gibsons Games in the UK, Ravensburger in Germany and Rio Grande Games in the United States.
Twilight Struggle: The Cold War, 1945–1989 is a board game for two players, published by GMT Games in 2005. Players are the United States and Soviet Union contesting each other's influence on the world map by using cards that correspond to historical events. The first game designed by Ananda Gupta and Jason Matthews, they intended it to be a quick-playing alternative to more complex card-driven wargames.
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.
Z-Man Games is an American board game company, incorporated in 1999. It was named after its founder, Zev Shlasinger. The company is known for their Pandemic series of board games, as well as being the sole publisher for the English editions of popular Eurogames, such as Carcassonne and Terra Mystica.
Pandemic is a cooperative board game designed by Matt Leacock and first published by Z-Man Games in the United States in 2008. Pandemic is based on the premise that four diseases have broken out in the world, each threatening to wipe out a region. The game accommodates two to four players, each playing one of seven possible roles: dispatcher, medic, scientist, researcher, operations expert, contingency planner, or quarantine specialist. Through the combined effort of all the players, the goal is to discover all four cures before any of several game-losing conditions are reached.
Blue Moon City is a 2006 designer board game by Reiner Knizia. The game has similar artwork to, and some thematic connections with, the Blue Moon card game, also designed by Knizia. It is a city-building game with a heavy fantasy theme.
Mississippi Queen is a German board game published by Goldsieber Spiele in 1997 that simulates a paddlewheel race down the Mississippi River in 1871. The game was also published in English by Rio Grande Games, and won several awards including the Spiel des Jahres.
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and tabletop role-playing games published in 2011. For video games, see 2011 in video gaming.
Going Cardboard: A Board Game Documentary is a 2012 documentary about the American adoption of German-style board games, and includes coverage of the 2009 board game event Spiel in Essen, Germany, as well as interviews with many prominent game designers. The film was written, directed and produced by Lorien Green, who was introduced to board gaming by her husband. It was financed through the crowd funding service Kickstarter.
Um Reifenbreite is a bicycle racing themed board game for two to four players. It was invented by Rob Bontenbal.
Blue Orange is a French board game company based in Pont-à-Mousson, France. The company is often called Blue Orange international or Blue Orange Europe and mistaken for Blue Orange Games.
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