Alan R. Moon
Encyclopedia
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 game
s. 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
.
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and currently living in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Despite his nationality, he is generally considered to be one of the foremost designers of German-style board game
German-style board game
German-style board games, frequently referred to in gaming circles as Euro Games or Euro-style, are a broad class of tabletop games that generally have simple rules, short to medium playing times, indirect player interaction and abstract physical components...
s. Many of his games can be seen as board game variations on the travelling salesman problem
Travelling salesman problem
The travelling salesman problem is an NP-hard problem in combinatorial optimization studied in operations research and theoretical computer science. Given a list of cities and their pairwise distances, the task is to find the shortest possible tour that visits each city exactly once...
.
Alan R. Moon initially worked for Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. Its logo contained its initials "AH", and it was often referred to by this abbreviation. It also published the occasional miniature wargaming rules, role-playing game, and had a popular line of sports simulations...
and later Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...
. He started his own publishing company, White Wind in 1990. He now publishes his games through other companies, such as Ravensburger
Ravensburger
Ravensburger Spieleverlag GmbH is a German game company. It is a leader in the European puzzle market.-History:The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier with seat in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began publishing in 1883 with his first author contract...
and Days of Wonder
Days of Wonder
Days of Wonder is a board game publisher based in the United States and France. Founded in 2002, Days of Wonder distributes its games to 25 countries. It specialises in German-style board games and have branched out to include some online games. Days of Wonder has published games in English,...
.
Selected list of games
- a full list is available from Moon's website in the external links section.
- CapitolCapitol (board game)Capitol is a German-style building game set in the ancient Roman Empire, designed by Aaron Weissblum and Alan R. Moon. The game was published by Schmidt Spiele in 2001...
with Aaron Weissblum (2001, Spiel des JahresSpiel des JahresThe Spiel des Jahres is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the stated purpose of rewarding excellence in game design, and promoting top-quality games in the German market. It is thought that the existence and popularity of the award is one of the major drivers of the quality...
nominated, Deutscher Spiele PreisDeutscher Spiele PreisThe Deutscher Spiele Preis is an important award for boardgames. It was started in 1990 by the German magazine "Die Pöppel-Revue", which collects votes from the industry's stores, magazines, professionals and game clubs. The results are announced every October at the Spiel game fair in Essen,...
5th place) - Das Amulett with Aaron Weissblum (2001, Spiel des Jahres nominated, Deutscher Spiele Preis 10th place)
- DiamantDiamant (game)Diamant is a multiplayer card game designed by Alan R. Moon and Bruno Faidutti, published in 2005 in Germany by Schmidt Spiele, with illustrations provided by Jörg Asselborn, Christof Tisch, and Claus Stephan....
with Bruno FaiduttiBruno FaiduttiBruno Faidutti is an historian and sociologist, living in France, who is best known as an author of board games. His best known games include Knightmare Chess , Mystery of the Abbey and Citadels . He is also involved in the boardgaming community with his "Ideal Games Library" website and...
(2005) - Down with the KingDown with the King (game)Down With the King is a political card game for 2-6 players produced by Avalon Hill in 1981.Each player takes the role of a noble in the fictional nation of Fandonia during the European "Baroque age" , and by diplomacy, betrayal, and political maneuvering, attempts to depose the current monarch,...
with Glenn and Kenneth Rahman (1981) - ElfenlandElfenlandElfenland is a German-style board game designed by Alan R. Moon and published by Amigo Spiele in German and Rio Grande Games in English in 1998....
(1998, Spiel des Jahres winner, Deutscher Spiele Preis 3rd place) - Get the Goods with Mick Ado (1990, Spiel des Jahres nominated, Deutscher Spiele Preis 4th)
- San Marco (2001, Spiel des Jahres nominated, Deutscher Spiele Preis 7th place)
- Ticket to RideTicket to Ride (board game)Ticket to Ride is a railway-themed German-style board game designed by Alan R. Moon and published in 2004 by Days of Wonder. The game is also known as Zug um Zug , Les Aventuriers du Rail , Aventureros al Tren , Wsiąść do pociągu , and Menolippu .The game won the 2004 Spiel des Jahres, the Origins...
(2004, Spiel des Jahres winner) - Union Pacific (1999, Spiel des Jahres nominated, Deutscher Spiele Preis 3rd place)
- Capitol