List of game designers

:"This page primarily is meant to list non-video game designers. Please see list of computer and video game industry people for a list of well-known video game designers."

A game designer is a person who invents games at the conceptual level. Most game designers are "unsung"; for example, no one knows who invented Chess or Hearts.

However, there are many public figures in game design, including commercial game developers and game-inventing mathematicians.

Some game designers include:

* Dave Arneson - Co-designer of "Dungeons and Dragons", an early influential role-playing game
* Frank Chadwick - Co-founder of GDW and designer of over 50 war and role-playing games, including "Twilight 2000" and the "Assault" series
*John Horton Conway
*Monte Cook
* Jim Dunnigan - Founder of SPI Games and designer of over 100 wargames, including the "PanzerBlitz/Panzer Leader" system
* James Ernest - president and lead game designer for Cheapass Games
* Richard Garfield - collectible card game ("") and board game designer
*Andrew Greenberg
*Ed Greenwood
*Gary Gygax - Co-designer of "Dungeons and Dragons", an early influential role-playing game
*Larry Harris
*Stieg Hedlund - Started out in pen-and-paper games before moving on to electronic games
*Steve Jackson (UK)
* Steve Jackson - Designer of "Ogre", "The Fantasy Trip", "Car Wars", "GURPS", "Hacker", "Illuminati" and others
*Cliff Johnson
*Albert Lamorisse
*Andrew Looney
*Alan R. Moon
*Henrique Olifiers
*Martin H. Samuel
*Mike Selinker
*Jonathan Tweet
*Michael J. Varhola
*Mark H. Walker
*Jordan Weisman
*Tom Wham
*Skip Williams
*K. Douglas Woolsey
*Cliff Bleszinski - Lead designer on Gears of War and the sequel, Gears of War 2.
*Glen Schofield - Lead designer on Dead Space

Board game designers

* William Attia ("Caylus", "Caylus Magna Carta")
* David Barnes ("Triagonal")
* Milton Bradley - creator of "The Checkered Game of Life" and founder of Milton Bradley Company
* Richard Breese ("Aladdin's Dragons", "Keythedral", "Reef Encounter")
* Kris Burm ("Batik", "GIPF", "ZÈRTZ", "DVONN", "TAMSK", "YINSH", "PÜNCT")
* Allan B. Calhamer - Designer of "Diplomacy"
* Michael Cieslinski ("Pursue the Pennant", "DYNASTY League Baseball")
* Leo Colovini ("Clans", "Carolus Magnus", "Cartagena", "Doge", "The Bridges of Shangri-La", "Magna Grecia", "Inkognito")
* Franz-Benno Delonge ("Big City", "Manila", "Dos Rios", "TransAmerica", "Fjords")
* Rudiger Dorn ("The Traders of Genoa", "Louis XIV", "Goa")
* Stefan Dorra ("For Sale", "Pick Picnic", "Medina", "Tonga Bonga", "Linie 1", "Turn the Tide", "Intrige")
* Bruno Faidutti ("Citadels", "Mystery of the Abbey","Terra")
* Friedemann Friese ("Power Grid", "Fearsome Floors", "Fresh Fish")
* Mac Gerdts ("Imperial", "Antike")
* Paul J. Gruen
* Dirk Henn ("Alhambra", "Atlantic Star", "Metro", "Wallenstein", "Timbuktu")
* Philippe Keyaerts ("Evo", "Vinci")
* Reiner Knizia ("Ra, Modern Art, Tigris and Euphrates, Samurai, Lost Cities, Schotten Totten, Blue Moon, The Lord of the Rings")
* Wolfgang Kramer ("El Grande", "Java", "Mexica", "Tikal", "Princes of Florence", "Torres")
* Alan R. Moon ("Capitol", "Elfenland", "Union Pacific", "Ticket to Ride")
* Christian T. Petersen ("Twilight Imperium", "A Game of Thrones (board game) ", "World of Warcraft (board game)")
* Paul Randles ("Pirate's Cove", "Key Largo")
* Alex Randolph ("Twixt", "Raj", "Geister", "Enchanted Forest", "Inkognito", "Ricochet Robots")
* Ken Rolston, part of the core team at West End Games
* Charles S. Roberts - Designer of first commercial board wargame ("Tactics II") and founder of Avalon Hill
* Martin H. Samuel "(Eclipse, Hijara, Malaika, Mojo, Mozaic, Quirky, Rhumb Line, Serpentine, StarSlide, Triplexity, Zambezy)" - owner of Games Above Board.
* Sid Sackson ("Acquire", "Can't Stop", "Kohle, Kies & Knete")
* Michael Schacht ("Web of Power", "Dschunke", "Industria", "Hansa")
* Karl-Heinz Schmiel ("Attila", "Die Macher")
* Emiliano Sciarra ("Bang!")
* Andreas Seyfarth ("Manhattan", "Puerto Rico")
* Daniel Stahl ("Pirate's Cove")
* Jerry Taylor ("Hammer of the Scots, Crusader Rex")
* Klaus Teuber ("The Settlers of Catan", "Adel Verpflichtet", "Entdecker","Löwenherz")
* Martin Wallace ("Liberte", "Age of Steam", "Struggle of Empires", "Princes of the Renaissance")
* Klaus-Jürgen Wrede ("Carcassonne")

ee also

* List of video game designers