Wolfgang Kramer: http://www.kramer-spiele.de

Wolfgang Kramer (born June 29, 1942 in Stuttgart) is a German board game designer.

Kramer formerly worked as an operations manager and computer scientist, but since 1989 he has worked full-time on game design. He has designed over 100 games, many which have been nominated for or have won the Spiel des Jahres. He frequently collaborates with other designers, notably Michael Kiesling and Richard Ulrich.

A common feature of German-style board games, where plaerys' scores are recorded on a track around the edge of the board, is known in Germany as the Kramerleiste in honour of Wolfgang Kramer. Kramer himself first used this method of scre-tracking in his 1984 game, Heimlich & Co.

Kramer is also an author of mystery novels. His works include "Der Palast der Rätsel" (The Palace of Mysteries) and "Die Rätsel der Pyramide" (The Mysteries of the Pyramid).

Notable games
2005 Hacienda
2005 Verflixxt! (with Michael Kiesling) - nominated, Spiel des Jahres
2004 Maharaja - nominated, Spiel des Jahres
2000 Java (with Michael Kiesling)
2000 Torres (with Michael Kiesling) - winner, Spiel des Jahres; 2nd place, Deutscher Spiele Preis
2000 Princes of Florence (with Richard Ulrich) - 3rd place, Deutscher Spiele Preis
2000 Pete the Pirate - winner, Deutscher Spiele Preis children's game
1999 Tikal (together with Michael Kiesling) - winner, Spiel des Jahres and Deutscher Spiele Preis
1996 El Grande (with Richard Ulrich) - winner, Spiel des Jahres and Deutscher Spiele Preis
1994 6 Nimmt! - winner, Deutscher Spiele Preis
1991 Corsaro - winner, Spiel des Jahres children's game
1987 Auf Achse - winner, Spiel des Jahres
1984 Heimlich & Co. - winner, Spiel des Jahres

Reiner Knizia: http://www.knizia.de

Reiner Knizia is a prolific German-style board game designer. Born in Germany in 1957, he developed his first game at the age of six. He has a PhD in mathematics, and, after working as a quantitative analyst ("quant") is now a full-time game designer. Knizia has been living in England since 1993.

Knizia is highly represented on the Internet Top 100 Games List, with sixteen games rated in the top 100, and six within the top 20. He is considered to be one of the best game designers of all time. It is sometimes alleged that his sole weakness in design is that his themes are rarely connected to the structure; the themes sometimes feel "pasted on". Since game design is a mostly abstract art, this is not considered a major detraction against the quality of his games.

Knizia's trademark game mechanic is that of scoring only for the player's weakest performance among some number of categories, for example in Tigris and Euphrates or Ingenious.

His mother's favorite game is Lost Cities.

Reiner Knizia started developing games for his play-by-mail game zine Postspillion, founded in 1985. The zine still exists and the game Bretton Woods (also a Reiner Knizia design), started in 1987, is still going.

According to Dr. Knizia, his most successful game (as of 3/05), is Lord of the Rings (published in 17 languages, selling over 1 million copies).

Some of Knizia's games
Africa
Amun-Re
Atlanteon
Auf Heller und Pfennig (released in English as Kingdoms)
Battle Line
Beowulf - The Legend
Blue Moon
Colossal Arena (released in English as Titan: the Arena)
Einfach Genial (released in English as Ingenious, released in Dutch as Genious, released in Spanish as Genial)
Free Ride Poker (released by TrayGames for online play)
Gold Rush
High Society
Lord of the Rings
Lost Cities
Medici
Merchants of Amsterdam
Minotaur Lords
Modern Art
Ra
Razzia!
Royal Turf
Samurai
Scarab Lords
Schotten Totten
Stephensons Rocket
Taj Mahal
Through the Desert
Tigris and Euphrates
Times Square
Traumfabrik, released in English as Hollywood Blockbuster
Zirkus Flohcati

Klaus Teuber: http://www.klausteuber.de

Klaus Teuber (born 1952) is a well-known German designer of board games. He has won the Spiel des Jahres award four times, for Settlers of Catan, Barbarossa, Drunter und Drüber and Adel Verpflichtet.

Games
Settlers of Catan (and its many expansions)
Löwenherz (aka Domaine)
Entdecker
Drunter und Drüber
Adel Verpflichtet
Barbarossa

Alan R. Moon: http://www.alanrmoon.com

Alan R. Moon is an author of board games, born in Southampton, England, and currently living in the United States. Despite his nationality, he is generally considered to be one of the foremost designers of German-style board games. Many of his games can be seen as board game variations on the travelling salesman problem.

Alan R. Moon initially worked for Avalon Hill and later Parker Brothers. He started his own publishing company, White Wind in 1990. He now publishes his games through other companies, such as Ravensburger and Days of Wonder.

Alan R. Moon has won the Spiel des Jahres in 1998 with his game Elfenland and in 2004 with Ticket to Ride. Alan R. Moon received a nomination for the Spiel des Jahres in 1996 for Reibach & Co. (published in English as Get the Goods), in 1999 for Union Pacific, in 2001 for Capitol, San Marco, and Das Amulett.

Alan R. Moon received the following awards from the Deutscher Spiele Preis: 2001 - 5th Place - Capitol; 2001 - 7th Place - San Marco; 2001 - 10th Place - Das Amulett; 1999 - 3rd Place - Union Pacific; 1998 - 3rd Place - Elfenland; 1996 - 4th Place - Get the Goods; 1996 - 5th Place - Reibach & Co.

Ludography
10 Days in Africa (2003) with Aaron Weissblum
10 Days in the USA (2003) with Aaron Weissblum
Airlines (1990)
Andromeda (1999)
Black Spy (1981)
Canal Grande (2002) with Aaron Weissblum
Capitol (2001) with Aaron Weissblum
Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire (1996)
Clippers (game) (2002)
Clocktowers (2004) with Aaron Weissblum
Das Amulett (2001) with Aaron Weissblum
Diamant (2005) with Bruno Faidutti
Elfengold (1991)
Elfenland (1998)
Elfenroads (1992)
Elfenwizards (1995)
Employee of the Month (2004) with Aaron Weissblum
Europa Tour (2003) with Aaron Weissblum
Fishy (1991)
For a Few Orcs More (2003) with Bruno Faidutti
Fortress Europa (1980) with Richard Hamblen and John Edwards
Freight Train (1993)
Gespenster (1990)
Get the Goods (1990) with Mick Ado
Good Dog Carl: the Game (1999) with Mark Hauser
Gracias
Im Schatten des Sonnenkönigs
Immer oben auf!
King of the Elves
King's Breakfast
Knights of the Rainbow
Lumberjack
Madeline and the Gypsies
Mammoth Hunters
Mush
New England
Oasis
Pony Express
Rainbows
Richard Scarry's Busytown Poles & Ladders Game
Rutschpartie mit Winnie the Pooh
San Marco
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
Santa Fe
Santa Fe Rails
Slow Freight
Stop it!
Superstar Lineup Talking Football
Ticket to Ride
Ticket to Ride Europe
Time Pirates
Tricks
U.F.O.s
Union Pacific
Walk The Dogs
War at Sea 2
Warriors
Where's Bob's Hat?
Wongar

Bruno Faidutti: http://www.faidutti.com/

Bruno Faidutti (23 October 1961) is an historian and sociologist, living in France, who is best known as a author of board games. His best known games include Knightmare Chess (1991), Mystery of the Abbey (1993, 2003) and Citadels (2000). He is also involved in the boardgaming community with his "Ideal Games Library" website and personal "Game of the Year" prize.

Many of his games are the results of collaboration with other designers. "Six Degrees of Bruno Faidutti" is a parlour game linking game designers, based on the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Ludography

Sole designer
Valley of the Mammoths, 1991, Ludodélire
Corruption, 1999, Jeux Descartes
Citadels, 2000, Multisim (later published by other publishers including Millennium, Hans im Glück and Fantasy Flight Games)
Bongo (game), 2000, Heidelberger Spieleverlag
Dragon's Gold, 2001, Jeux Descartes
Valley of the Mammoths, 2001, Jeux Descartes
China Moon, 2003, Eurogames
Terra, 2003, Days of Wonder
Babylon, 2004, Cocktail Games

Collaborations with Pierre Cléquin
Baston, 1983, Jeux Actuels
Knightmare Chess, 1991, Ludodélire
Knightmare Chess, 1996, Variantes
Knightmare Chess 2, 1998, Variantes

Collaborations with Serge Laget
Meurtre à l'Abbaye, 1996, Multisim
Castle, 2000, Jeux Descartes
Mystery of the Abbey, 2003, Days of Wonder (a redevelopment of Meurtre à l'Abbaye)

After an original idea by Karl-Heinz Schmiel
Democrazy, 2000, Jeux Descartes (after Das Regeln wir schon)

Collaborations with Michael Schacht
Draco & Co, 2001, Jeux Descartes
Fist of Dragonstones, 2002, Days of Wonder

Collaborations with Leo Colovini
Vabanque, 2001, Winning Moves
[
Collaborations with Alan R. Moon
De l'Orc pour les Braves, 2003, Asmodée
Diamant, 2005, Schmidt Spiele

Collaborations with Bruno Cathala
Queen's Necklace, 2003, Days of Wonder
Boomtown, 2004, Asmodée
Igloo Igloo, 2004, Goldsieber
Mission: Red Planet, 2005, Asmodée

Collaborations with Gwénaël Book
Knock! Knock!, 2004, Asmodée

Collaborations with Paul Randles and Mike Selinker
Key Largo, 2005, Tilsit Editions

Don Bone: http://sagacity.aires.com.au

One of the few Australian Euro Game Designers. Author of Sunda to Sahul and Freya's Folly.

Andreas Seyfarth: http://www.aleaspiele.de/Pages/Seyfarth/

Andreas Seyfarth (November 6, 1962) is a German-style board game designer, most notably he created Puerto Rico, consistently ranked as the best board game ever [1]. In 2002 the game was awarded first place for the prestigious Deutscher Spiele Preis (German for German Game Prize). Seyfarth also received the crown jewel of board-game awards, the Spiel des Jahres (German for Game of the Year) in 1994 for his game Manhattan. His wife Karen also helps design and critique many of his games.

Games
Thurn and Taxis (2006)
San Juan (2004)
Puerto Rico Expansion (2004)
Puerto Rico (2002)
Manhattan (1994)
Waldmeister (1994)
Spiel des Friedens (1993)
Zorro (1993)
Zorro: The Fight Against Alcalde (1990)