Bruno Faidutti (born 23 October 1961) is a

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and sociologist, living in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, who is best known as a

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

Early life and education

Bruno Faidutti studied law, economics, and sociology, eventually earning a doctorate in history by writing about the scientific debate in the Renaissance on the reality of the unicorn. His favorite authors are

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), th ...

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

, and

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

, his favorite movie,

Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (, ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Russian origin. He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. Works by Andrei Tarkovsky, His films e ...

's '' Andrei Roublev''. He came into the world of hobby gaming through ''

Cosmic Encounter ''Cosmic Encounter'' is a science fiction–themed strategy board game designed by "Future Pastimes" (collectively, Peter Olotka, Jack Kittredge and Bill Eberle, with Bill Norton) and originally published by Eon Games in 1977. In it, each playe ...

'' and roleplaying games, and was one of the first French ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

'' players.

Career

Bruno Faidutti has created and published over 40 board and card games. His best known games include ''

Knightmare Chess ''Knightmare Chess'' is a fantasy chess variant published by Steve Jackson Games (SJG) in 1996. It is a translation of a French game ''Tempête sur l'échiquier'' (''Storm on the Chessboard''), designed by Pierre Cléquin and Bruno Faidutti. ...

'' (1991) and '' Citadels'' (2000), as well as ''

Mystery of the Abbey ''Mystery of the Abbey'' is a board game designed by Bruno Faidutti, illustrated by Julien Delval, Emanuel Roudier and Cyrille Daujean as graphic designer. Originally published in French by MultiSim in 1998 under the name ''Meurtre à l'Abb ...

'' (1993, 2003). 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. In the United States, his

Eurogame A Eurogame, also called a German-style board game, German game, or Euro-style game (generally just referred to as board games in Europe), is a class of tabletop games that generally feature indirect player interaction, lack player elimination, ...

''Corruption'' was released by

Atlas Games Atlas Games is a company which publishes role-playing games, board games and card games. Its founder and current president is John Nephew. History When Atlas Games did not have the finances to publish '' On the Edge'' (1994), they partnered with J ...

in 1999. His '' Citadels'' was released in 2000 by

Fantasy Flight Games Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) is a game developer based in Roseville, Minnesota, United States, that creates and publishes role-playing game, role-playing, board game, board, card game, card, and dice game, dice games. As of 2014, it is a division of ...

, who later released his game ''Red November'' in 2008.

Selected list of games

*''

'', 1991 (with

Pierre Cléquin Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

) *'' Citadels'', 2000 *''

Castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

'', 2000 (with Serge Laget) *'' Dragon's Gold'', 2001 *'' China Moon'', 2003 *''

'', 2003 (with Serge Laget) *'' Queen's Necklace'', 2003 (with Bruno Cathala) *''

Key Largo Key Largo () is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected by U.S. Highway ...

'', 2005 (with Paul Randles and

Mike Selinker Mike Selinker ( ) is an American game designer, puzzle maker, and the founder and president of Lone Shark Games. Credits Selinker's design credits include '' Pirates of the Spanish Main'' and '' Fightball'' with James Ernest, ''Axis & Allies Rev ...

) *''

Diamant The Diamant rocket (French for "diamond") was the first exclusively French expendable launch system and at the same time the first satellite launcher not built by either the United States or USSR. As such, it has been referred to as being a key ...

'' (''aka Incan Gold''), 2005 (with Alan R. Moon) *''

Ad Astra is a Latin phrase meaning "to the stars". The phrase has origins with Virgil, who wrote in his ''Aeneid'': "''sic itur ad astra''" ('thus one journeys to the stars') and "''opta ardua pennis astra sequi''" ('desire to pursue the highhard to r ...

'', 2009 (with Serge Laget) *''Mascarade'', 2013 *'' Warehouse 51'', 2015 *''

Raptor Raptor(s) or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of avian and non-avian dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunt ...

'', 2015, (with Bruno Cathala) *'' Waka Tanka'', 2016 *''

HMS Dolores HMS or hms may refer to: Education * Habib Medical School, of the Islamic University in Uganda * Hartley–Melvin–Sanborn Community School District of Iowa, United States * Harvard Medical School of Harvard University * Heidelberg Middle Scho ...

'', 2016, (with Eric M. Lang) *'' Tonari'', 2019

References

External links

Bruno Faidutti's website
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faidutti, Bruno Board game designers Chess variant inventors Living people 1961 births French sociologists Atlas Games people French male writers French game designers