> Inventor Resources> Designer Interviews

Allen, Mitchell H. (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Mitchell H. Allen, whose Forsooth was a finalist in the 2005 About.com Deduction Game Design Competition. In Forsooth, players compete to uncover the truth about the distribution of wealth in the other player's region.

Anderson, Stanley E. (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Stanley E. Anderson, whose Jewels in the Sand was a finalist in the 2005 About.com Deduction Game Design Competition. Anderson said his game started "as an idea that I called at the time 'Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe.'"

Borg, Richard and Moon, Alan R. (2005)
An interview with Alan R. Moon and Richard Borg, the designers of Warriors, a card game that started its life being based on the board game Risk.

Branham, Frank (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Frank Branham, a game designer (Nodwick Card Game, Warhamster Rally, the upcoming Battle Beyond Space) whose own personal collection includes many of the oddest games ever published.

Breese, Richard (2000)
This feature about the award-winning board game Aladdin's Dragons includes a conversation with game designer Richard Breese.

Daviau, Rob (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Rob Daviau, who has worked on many games for Hasbro over the past several years, including (to one extent or another) Heroscape, Star Wars Epic Duels, and Risk 2210 AD.

DeMers, Scott (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Scott DeMers, who says he likes "games that minimize, or even completely remove, luck yet retain enough variability that the game does not have a standard strategy." His entry in the 2005 About.com Deduction Game Design Competition, Coup D'Etat, finished second.

DiLorenzo, Frank (2000)
The head of an independent boardgame company, Frank DiLorenzo of R&R Games, talks about the party game Time's Up! and much more.

DiLorenzo, Frank (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Frank DiLorenzo, the head of R&R Games, publishers of Time's Up, Smarty Party and the upcoming You Must Be an Idiot. They also manufacture Hide & Seek Safari, a very cool toy/game

Ernest, James (1999)
Cheapass Games published its first board game in 1997; company head honcho and chief game designer James Ernest talks about why he does what he does.

Ernest, James (2000)
The designer of Cheapass Games talks about Save Doctor Lucky, Secret Tijuana Death Match, Don of Time, The Great Brain Robbery, Devil Bunny Hates the Earth, and U.S. Patent No. 1.

Ernest, James (2001)
James Ernest talks about the games Girl Genius - The Works; Witch Trial; Before I Kill You, Mr. Bond; Diceland; Unexploded Cow; and more.

Faidutti, Bruno (2000)
An interview with Bruno Faidutti, the designer of the games Citadels, Democrazy, Corruption, and many more.

Faidutti, Bruno (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Bruno Faidutti, one of the most prolific game designers working today. His ludography includes Citadels, Mystery of the Abbey, and Boomtown.

Glassco, Bruce (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Bruce Glassco, the designer of Betrayal at House on the Hill whose game Double Blind was a finalist in the 2005 About.com Deduction Game Design Competition.

Glenn, Stephen (2005)
An interview with Stephen Glenn, the designer of the trivia game You Must Be an Idiot!.

Glumpler, Heinrich (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Heinrich Glumplerm whose Hide and Guess, in which players use chess pieces to create a secret and then guess their opponent's secret, was a finalist in the 2005 About.com Deduction Game Design Competition. He's also had several published games.

Green, Don (2000)
An interview with game designer Donald Green; his board game Octi won the 2000 Games Magazine award for Best Abstract Strategy Game.

Haferkamp, Kai (2001)
Kai Haferkamp discusses his board game Ghost Chase, including details on important questions -- like why the ghost is named Max.

Horn, Randy (1999)
The man behind the outrageous party game Zobmondo!! explains how he went about creating a best-seller.

Lee, Felix (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Felix Lee, whose entry into the 2005 About.com Deduction Game Design Competition, The Green Pipe, was a finalist. Players are challenged to find the holes in their opponent's secret pipeline before the opponent finds the holes in yours.

Matthews, Jason and Gupta, Ananda (2006)
An interview with Jason Matthews and Ananda Gupta, designers of the Cold Ward board game Twilight Struggle.

McNally, Tony (2000)
Tony McNally, designer of the self-published airline game Plane Thinking, talks about how it came to be.

Moon, Alan R. (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Alan R. Moon, a two-time winner of the Spiel des Jahres (Germany's Family Game of the Year).

Moon, Alan R. and Weissblum, Aaron (2001)
Alan R. Moon and Aaron Weissblum talk about the development process for the acclaimed board game San Marco, a game of territorial control.

Moravick, Joan (2000)
A conversation with Joan Moravick, the designer of two award-winning party games, Finish Lines and Paired Up.

Petty, Mike (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Mike Petty, whose word-based game, Don-Cha, was a finalist in the 2005 About.com Deduction Game Design Competition. Petty has designed and self-published numerous games, including the hilarious party game What's It To Ya?

Premo, Patrick M. (1999)
An interview with the owner of Fast-Action Games and designer of numerous sports table games.

Sackson, Sid (Webnoir.com)
Sid Sackson, one of the fathers of moden boardgame design, talks about Acquire, Focus, and the game industry.

Smith, Erik (2006)
An interview with Erik Smith, co-designer of the board game Pizza Box Football.

Solomon, Eric W. (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Eric W. Solomon, who has designed numerous published games, my favorite of which was published by Milton Bradley in 1982 as Conspiracy (it has also been published as The Sigma File, Casablanca, Dossier and Agent).

Sullivan, Dan (1999)
An interview with the creator of the board game Infection, along with links to other medical board games.

Teuber, Klaus (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Kalus Teuber. Even if he had never designed another game, Teuber would rank as one of the greatest game designers of all time just for The Settlers of Catan. But his ludography also includes about three dozen non-Catan publised games.

Tidball, Jeff (1999)
This game designer talks about his Cults Across America board game.

Tralins, Keith (2006)
An interview with Keith Tralins, designer of Lost: The Board Game.

Tummelson, Jay (2000)
Not a game designer himself, Jay Tummelson has had a profound impact on English-speaking board gamers by reprinting many of today's best German games.

Van Ness, Craig (2006)
This photo gallery includes many comments from Craig Van Ness, the lead designer for Milton Bradley / Hasbro's game HeroScape.

Walsh, Tim (1997)
From About.com's Inventors Guide, a conversation with the creator of Tribond and Blurt. Learn how he sold over one million games.

Whitcher, David E. (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with David E. Whitcher, whose Depth Charge is a finalist in the 2005 About.com Deduction Game Design Competition. In the game, players conduct naval exercises on Lake Ashtapada to test what the new crewmen have learned about using sonar.

Wiersma, Rene (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Rene Wiersma, whose Liar! won the 2005 About.com Deduction Game Design Competition. Liar! challenges players to determine the identity of a card placed face down in the middle of the table.

Young, Jeremy (Four Questions - 2005)
Four questions with Jeremy Young, a busy guy. He's an integral part of three game publishers: Uberplay, Inspiration Games, and SimplyFun. Between them, those companies have published nearly three dozen games in just over three years.