Time's Up for Frank DiLorenzo
Frank DiLorenzo, the man behind R&R Games, began his career as a game designer at the age of 12. Lacking disposable income to purchase games -- and not being satisfied with what was available anyway -- he decided to make his own games. "At the time, I was really into war and history," he said during a recent email interview. "So naturally I started with war games. (And) I disliked games that took too long to learn how to play, so I wanted mine to be simple to get into and lots of fun to play."
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| The party game Time's Up! is the latest release from Frank DiLorenzo's boardgame company, R&R Games. Graphic courtesy R&R Games. |
Over the next six months, DiLorenzo said we can expect a new family card game and the first Riddles & Riches expansion set to emerge from the R&R labs. Over the next five years: "Plenty of new fun games."
Following is the rest of our interview.
When did you first become interested in board and card games?
I've been playing games since I was a little kid. (Big family, we all love games.)
What were some of your first favorite board games?
Risk, Monopoly, Fu Manchu's Hidden Hoard, Diplomacy, Stratego.
Discuss R&R's board games with other gamers on the Board Games Forum. |
BattleCry, Vinci, Union Pacific, Mu (which is a card game... ah, well).
Please tell us about the process of designing a game.
I tend to start with a storyline and/or general theme and develop a game around it. I can whip a playable game idea out in about half an hour... piece of cake.
But then I have to refine it to make it really work. So I create a simple prototype, start playing and see how it runs. It's very much like sculpting in a way, because I tend to have a whole lot going on at first and then I pare it down bit by bit, chipping away the bad parts until I'm satisfied that I've got a fun game.
The actual process from start to finish can take months. You run with an idea for a while, then suddenly you see how to improve it, so you change it and you test that out, etc., etc. Often I have to shelve ideas and come back to them because other game ideas suddenly pop up and off I go on a tangent.
| NAVIGATE THIS BOARDGAMES ARTICLE | |
| Page 1 | Introduction and DiLorenzo's thoughts on the process of designing a game. |
| Page 2 | More about creating games; DiLorenzo comments on the development of Overthrone. |
| Page 3 | Time's Up wins a Mensa Award, plus comments on Sold! and Riddles and Riches. |
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