Alex Randolph
Alex Randolph ( born May 4, 1922 in Arizona, † April 27, 2004 in Venice) was the inventor of more than a hundred board games ( game designer ).
With games like Twixt, Sagaland, incognito, Hol 's the vulture, Raging Robots, tempo, small snail and many other part award-winning ideas Randolph has delighted generations of small and large players.
Because his games were in high demand, he could reach from the producers that his name was mentioned on the packaging as a game designer. His example sat in the sequence by many. " The grand seigneur of games culture was particularly true in Germany as a guru in the industry ," said the mirror.
Life
Randolph was born in Arizona and grew up on a ranch on the Colorado River. He was educated by an Austrian nanny, so he had good knowledge of German and attended a Swiss boarding school, where he learned French, Spanish and Italian. Then he studied German literature and philosophy. During the Second World War, Randolph was an agent of the U.S. intelligence and decrypted enemy codes. Then he wrote novels and copywriting in Boston. Games Randolph has invented an early age; but he did not think that you could sell them also. Approximately 1959 attention was drawn to one of his hanging on the wall self-developed games of its customers. After Pan - Kai - a game with Pentomino stones - was published in 1961 by the publisher Phillips, he concentrated on his hobby, invent the games. Randolph then lived in Vienna and developed in 1961 at the Café Hawelka the game Twixt, which published in 1962 and became a bestseller.
From the money he had taken by Twixt, he financed himself to learn a study trip to Japan to there Shogi, a variant of chess. He loved classic brain games played and enthusiastic chess and Go. Many of his published at that time games are tactical games for two. Randolph lived for seven years in Japan, before he eventually moved mid 1970 to Venice.
Randolph now developed more family games, such as 1981 Enchanted Forest 1985 pace, little snail, 1988 Get 's the vultures and incognito, 1989 Good friends. Sagaland was game of the year in 1982 and developed with Leo Colovini game incognito received the special award for " beautiful game " in 1988, Good friends the special " child's play" by the jury for the game of the year.
Randolph received the 1992 Special Prize 's 70th birthday and for his life's work as a game designer at the German game prize.
In 1995 he founded together with Tom Kremer, Phil E. Orbanes and Mike Meyers the U.S. game publisher Winning Moves. That same year, Randolph founded with Leo and Dario de Toffoli Colovini the Italian publishing Venice Connection.
Also in 1996 and 1997 receives Randolph for the Games Venice Connection or cast off! the special " Beautiful Game " and the special " child's play" by the jury for the game of the year. In 1999, the successful game appears Raging robot.
Randolph died in his adopted hometown of Venice at the age of almost 82 years; to the end he has been working on new game ideas.
According to him, since 2005, awarded by the Game Designer Association SAZ Media Award is named Alex.
Awards
- Game of the Year 1979: Twixt: Selection List
- 1981: Sagaland: Selection List
- 1982: Enchanted Forest ( with Michel Matschoss ): Game of the Year
- 1982: Ghosts: Selection List
- 1984: Claim: shortlist
- 1985: Iago shortlist
- 1986: Top Secret: Selection List
- 1986: Code 777 ( from a story by Robert Abbott): Selection List
- 1988: Get 's the vulture: Selection List
- 1988: incognito ( with Leo Colovini ): Special Prize " Beautiful Game "
- 1989: Good friends: special " child's play"
- 1990: The Battle of the hot cold buffet: Selection List
- 1992: The Forbidden City ( with Johann Rüttinger ): Selection List
- 1994: The Easter Island ( with Leo Colovini ): Selection List
- 1996: Sisimizi: Selection List
- 1996: Venice Connection: Special Price " Beautiful Game "
- 1997: Cast off! Special " child's play"
- 2001: Rüsselbande: nominated for Children's Game of the Year
- 2001: Honorary Zunftmeister