Richard Garfield

Richard Channing Garfield, Jr. (born 26 June 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a mathematics professor and game designer who created the card games ', "Netrunner", "BattleTech", ' (originally known as "Jyhad"), "The Great Dalmuti", "Star Wars Trading Card Game", and the board game "RoboRally". He also created a variation of the game "Hearts" called "Complex hearts". The development of "Magic: The Gathering" is credited with popularising the collectible card game genre.

Biography

Garfield spent his childhood in many locations throughout the world as a result of his father's work in architecture. His family eventually settled in Oregon when he was twelve. While always having an interest in puzzles and games, his passion for games began when he was introduced to "Dungeons & Dragons".cite web | url = http://www.thedicetower.com/interviews/int049.htm | title = Interviews by an Optimist # 49 - Richard Garfield | author = Vasel, Tom | date = 2005-06-19] Garfield designed his first game by the time he was 13.cite web | url = http://www.polkonline.com/stories/122798/lif_magic.shtml | title = Just like magic | work = PolkOnline | author = Zurcher, Christopher | date = 1998-12-27]

In 1985, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in computer mathematics. He joined Bell Laboratories, then decided to continue his education and attended the University of Pennsylvania, and studied combinatorial mathematics.

He began designing "" as a Penn graduate student. A group of playtesters, comprising mostly fellow Penn students, formed around the developing game.cite web | url = http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/rb10 | title = Legendary Difficulties | work = Latest Developments | author = Elias, Skaff | date = 2002-03-08 ] While searching for a publisher for RoboRally, which he designed in 1985, Garfield found Peter Adkison of Wizards of the Coast, who expressed interest in "Magic".

Garfield studied under Herbert Wilf and earned a Ph.D. in combinatorial mathematics from Penn in 1993. He became a professor of mathematics at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.

"Magic: The Gathering" launched in 1993. Playtesters began independently developing expansion packs, which were then passed to Garfield to edit. Garfield left academia to join Wizards of the Coast as a full-time game designer in June 1994. He was a primary play tester for the "Dungeons & Dragons" 3rd edition bookset, released by Wizards in 2000. He eventually left Wizards to become an independent game designer.

He still sporadically contributes to "".cite web | url = http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr192 | title = City Planning, Part I | work = Making Magic | author = Rosewater, Mark | authorlink = Mark Rosewater | date = 2005-09-05 | accessdate = 2007-04-27] More recently, he has created the board games "Pecking Order" (2006) [cite web | url = http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/22347 | title = Pecking Order | work = BoardGameGeek | accessdate = 2007-05-06] and "Rocketville" (2006). The latter was published by Avalon Hill, a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast. [cite web | url = http://www.hasbro.com/media/default.cfm?page=release&release=423 | title = AVALON HILL WELCOMES BACK RICHARD GARFIELD; Rocketville Set to Blast-Off on March 10 | date = 2006-02-07] He has shifted more of his attention to computer games.

Games designed

A partial list of games designed by Richard Garfield:

* "" (1993), collectible card game
* "RoboRally" (1994), board game
* "" (1994), collectible card game
* "The Great Dalmuti" (1995), card game
* "Netrunner" (1996), collectible card game
* "BattleTech CCG" (1996), collectible card game
* "" (1997), card game
* "Filthy Rich" (1998), board game
* "Twitch" (1998), card game
* "Star Wars Trading Card Game" (2002), collectible card game
* "Pecking Order" (2006), board game
* "Rocketville" (2006), board game
* "Stonehenge" (2007), board game anthology
* "Spectromancer" (2008), online collectible card game

References

*cite web | url = http://www.amigo-spiele.de/upload/magic_pressemappe_2004_1200.pdf | title = Immer für eine Überraschung gut: Richard Garfield: Der Mann hinter Magic | format = PDF | language = German | work = Amigo Spiele | date = 2004-01-30

External links

*bgg designer|14