Alex Randolph

Alex Randolph, right, and German AI researcher Christoph Endres.

Alexander Randolph (4 May 1922 – 28 April 2004) was an American designer of board games and writer. Randolph's game creations include TwixT, Breakthru, Inkognito (with Leo Colovini),[1] Raj, Ricochet Robot, and Enchanted Forest (with Michael Matschoss).[2]

Randolph was a son of self-described "rich parents" who attended private school in Switzerland. [3] He spent his early years in various occupations, including military intelligence and as an advertising copy editor in Boston.

Game Developer

In 1961, Randolph moved to Japan and became a professional game developer, performing initial work on TwixT. During this time he became a dan player in shogi.

In 1962, Randolph (along with Sid Sackson) was commissioned to start a new game division for Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (also known as 3M). Through 3M, Randolph created and published such games as Breakthru, Evade, Oh-Wah-Ree, and TwixT.[4]

Randolph moved to Venice, Italy in 1968, continuing his career as a game developer with the company Venice Connection established with Dario De Toffoli and Leo Colovini.[5]

Randolph died aged 82 in Venice on 28 April 2004.[4]

In 2016, as a testimony to his great career, Fabulous Games published ADDX - the first ever digital game from Alex Randolph: https://apps.facebook.com/addx-game/

Awards

Spiel des Jahres

Game of the Year
1982 for Enchanted Forest
Children's Game of the Year
1989 for Gute Freunde
1997 for Leinen Los!
Special Awards
1996 Most Beautiful Game for Venice Connection
1988 Most Beautiful game for Inkognito

Origins Awards Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame
2011 induction as a designer
2011 induction of TwixT

Digital Game

2016 ADDX https://apps.facebook.com/addx-game/

References

  1. ↑ part of interview from 1988 http://brettboard.dk/lib/talks/alex6.htm
  2. ↑ Review of enchanted forest from about.com http://boardgames.about.com/od/childrensgamervws/fr/enchantedforest.htm
  3. ↑
  4. 1 2 Whitehill, Bruce (5 February 2011). "Alex Randolph—A Life of Games". The Big Game Hunter. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  5. ↑ Game designer page on Studiogiochi website http://www.studiogiochi.com/en/autori/alex-randolph.html

External links


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