Alexander Randolph (4 May 1922 – 27 April 2004) was an American designer of board games and writer. Alex Randolph's game creations include ''

TwixT TwixT is a two-player Abstract strategy game, strategy board game, an early entrant in the 1960s 3M bookshelf game series. It became one of the most popular and enduring games in the series. It is a connection game where players alternate tu ...

'', '' Breakthru'', '' Hol's der Geier'', '' Inkognito'' (with Leo Colovini), ''Raj'', '' Ricochet Robot'', and ''

Enchanted Forest In folklore and fantasy, an enchanted forest is a forest under, or containing, magic (fantasy), enchantments. Such forests are described in the oldest folklore from regions where forests are common and occur throughout the centuries to modern wor ...

'' (with Michael Matschoss).

Biography

Alexander Randolph was born on 4th May 1922 in Czechoslovakia where his parents spent four years coming from the USA. He was the son of self-described "rich parents". His father Samuel Alexander was an artist painter born in Odessa, Russian Empire (1878-1944) and his mother Mary (1882-1955) was an American sculptor. Alex and his half-brother Christopher Craig spent their childhood and teenage in Venice, Italy. They both attended a private school in Switzerland. The Randolph family owned the Palazzetto Stern along the Grand Canal in Dorsoduro in Venice from 1924 to ~1946-47. Alex spent his early years in various occupations, including military intelligence and as an advertising copy editor in Boston. In 1961, Alex Randolph moved to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and became a professional game developer, performing initial work on ''

''. During this time, he became a dan player in

shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a Strategy game, strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as chess, Western chess, chaturanga, xiangqi, Indian chess, and janggi. ...

. In 1962, Alex Randolph (along with

Sid Sackson Sid Sackson (February 4, 1920 in Chicago – November 6, 2002) was an American board game designer and collector, best known as the creator of the business game ''Acquire''. Career Sackson's most popular creation is probably the business game '' ...

) was commissioned to start a new game division for

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing 3M Company (originally the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company) is an American multinational conglomerate operating in the fields of industry, worker safety, and consumer goods. Based in the Maplewood suburb of Saint Paul, Minnesota, ...

(also known as 3M). Through 3M, Randolph created and published such games as '' Breakthru'', ''Evade'', '' Oh-Wah-Ree'', and ''TwixT''. Alex Randolph moved back to

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 1968, continuing his career as a game developer with the company Venice Connection established with Dario De Toffoli and Leo Colovini. Alex Randolph was married to Gertrude Eisenstadt (1921-2008), an American. Alex Randolph died aged 82 in Venice on 27 April 2004. His grave is in San Michele Cemetery in Venice until February 2029. Alex wrote 3 books. Also, two biographies were written on Alex : « Die Sonnenseite » by Philippe Evrard and « Alex Randolph : Artista e autore di giochi » by Cosimo Cardellicchio.

Recognition

In 2016, as a testimony to his career, Fabulous Games published ''ADDX'' – the first ever digital game from Alex Randolph. Following Randolph's death, the Nuremberg Museum set up a special permanent collection of Randolph's games titled the ''Alexander Randolph Viewing Collection''.

Awards

Spiel des Jahres The Spiel des Jahres (, 'Game of the Year') is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence an ...

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 Connectio''n :1988 Most Beautiful game for ''Inkognito''

Origins Awards Hall of Fame

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

References

External links

Alex Randolph's games
at

BoardGameGeek BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition t ...

A Talk with Alex Randolph (1988 interview)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Randolph, Alex 1922 births 2004 deaths Board game designers American designers American expatriates in Switzerland American expatriates in Japan