List of board game designers

A game designer is a person who invents games at the conceptual level.^[1] Outstanding board game designers are recognized annually by awards such as the Spiel des Jahres and the As d'Or.^[2] The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design, a division of the Game Manufacturers Association, inducts outstanding individuals into the Hall of Fame.^[3]

The Origins Awards are presented by Game Manufacturers Association for outstanding work in the tabletop gaming industry.^[4] The Charles S. Roberts Award and the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame recognize excellence in manual, tabletop games, with a focus on conflict simulations.^[5] Mensa Select is an annual award given by American Mensa to five board games that are "original, challenging and well designed".^[6][7]

The following is a list of notable board game designers. Role-playing games are not included in this list, but can be found in Role playing game designers.

Designer	Notable games	Honors	Ref.
Scott Abbott	Trivial Pursuit		[8]
Robert Abbott	Baroque chess (aka Ultima), Crossings, and Epaminondas		[9][10]
F. O. Alexander	Monopoly		[11]
Ted Alspach	Suburbia and Werewords	Mensa Select	[12][13]
Robert Angel	Pictionary		[14]
Richard Baker	Axis & Allies Miniatures and Axis & Allies Naval Miniatures: War at Sea		[15][16]: 29
Rich Banner	Europa		[17]
Antoine Bauza	7 Wonders, Mia London, Ghost Stories, and Takenoko	Kennerspiel des Jahres	[18][19][20]
		Deutscher Spiele Preis
		As d'Or Jeu de l'Année
Michael Bennighof	U.S. Navy Plan Orange, Celtic Age, Panzer Grenadier, and Great War at Sea	Origins Award (3)	[21]
Richard Berg	War of the Ring and The Campaign for North Africa and Gondor: The Siege of Minas Tirith	Hall of Fame	[3]
Brian Blume	Panzer Warfare and Warriors of Mars		[22]
Christophe Boelinger	Dungeon Twister		[23][24]
Ty Bomba	When Dragons Fight and The Sedan Campaign of 1870: An Analysis	Charles S. Roberts Award (2)	[25]
		Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame
Rob Bontenbal	Um Reifenbreite	Spiel des Jahres	[26]
Richard Borg	Call my Bluff	Spiel des Jahres	[27]
Milton Bradley	The Checkered Game of Life (aka The Game of Life)		[28]
Darwin Bromley	Empire Builder	Hall of Fame	[3]
James Cooke Brown	Careers		[29]
Rich Burlew	The Order of the Stick Adventure Game: The Dungeon of Dorukan		[30]
Kris Burm	GIPF, ZÈRTZ, DVONN, TAMSK, YINSH, and PÜNCT	Mensa Select (3)	[31][13]
Alfred Mosher Butts	Scrabble		[32]
Allan B. Calhamer	Diplomacy		[33]
Mike Carr	Fight in the Skies and Don't Give Up the Ship		[34]
Bruno Cathala	Kingdomino, Shadows Over Camelot, and Five Tribes	Hall of Fame	[3][35][36]
		Spiel des Jahres (2)
Frank Chadwick	Europa	Hall of Fame	[3][16]
Coleman Charlton	The Lonely Mountain		[37]
Banana Chan	Betrayal at House on the Hill 3rd edition		[38]
Robert N. Charrette	Bushido and BattleTech	Hall of Fame	[3]
Vlaada Chvátil	Codenames, Space Alert, and Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization	Hall of Fame	[3][35]
		Spiel des Jahres (2)
Naomi Clark	Consentacle	IndieCade Impact Award	[39][40]
Stephen V. Cole	Starfire, Asteroid Zero-Four, Cerberus, Valkenburg Castle, and Star Fleet Battles		[16]: 141
Leo Colovini	Clans, Cartagena, and Inkognito	Hall of Fame	[41]
Miles Copeland Jr.	The Game of Nations		[42][43]
Liz Danforth	Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game	Hall of Fame	[3]
Charles Darrow	Monopoly		[44][45]
Rob Daviau	Pandemic Legacy - Season 1, Axis & Allies: Pacific, Risk 2210 A.D., Betrayal at House on the Hill, Heroscape Master Set: Rise of the Valkyrie, Return to Dark Tower, SeaFall, and Risk Legacy	As d'Or Grand Prix	[46]
Franz-Benno Delonge	TransAmerica and Fjords	Spiel des Jahres	[47][13]
		Mensa Select
Marco Donadoni	Zargo's Lords, Iliad, Magic Wood, and Ra: Strategy Among Hexagons	Spiel des Jahres	[48]
Rüdiger Dorn	Dragonheart, Istanbul, Luxor, Los Mampfos, and Karuba	Spiel des Jahres	[2][16]: 350
Jim Dunnigan	PanzerBlitz, The American Civil War: 1861–1865, The Ardennes Offiensive, Barbarossa: The Russo-German War 1941–45, 'CA': Tactical Naval Warfare in the Pacific 1941–43, Desert War: Tactical Warfare in North Africa, Destruction of Army Group Center, The East is Red: The Sino Soviet War, El Alamein: Battles in North Africa, 1942, Empires of the Middle Ages, The Fast Carriers, Firefight: Modern U.S. and Soviet Small Unit Tactics, Foxbat & Phantom, Fulda Gap, The Game of France, 1940, The Great War in the East, Invasion America, Jutland, Kursk: Operation Zitadelle, Leipzig: The Battle of Nations, Napoleon at Waterloo, Outdoor Survival, Panzergruppe Guderian, Wacht am Rhein	Hall of Fame	[49][50][3]
		Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame
James Ernest	Kill Doctor Lucky and Tak	Hall of Fame	[3][16]: 415
Bruno Faidutti	Mystery of the Abbey	Spiel des Jahres	[51]
Stefan Feld	The Castles of Burgundy, Trajan, and Civolution	Hall of Fame	[3][52][35]
		As d'Or Grand Prix
Matt Forbeck	Genestealer, Warzone, and The Great Rail Wars	Origins Awards (3)	[53]
Friedemann Friese	Power Grid and Fearsome Floors		[54]
Mac Gerdts	Imperial, Concordia, and Antike	Hall of Fame	[55]
Suzanne Goldberg	Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective	Spiel des Jahres	[56]
Donald Green	OCTI		[57]
Chris Haney	Trivial Pursuit		[8]
Daryl Hannah	Love It or Hate It and LIEbrary		[58][59][60]
Elizabeth Hargrave	Wingspan	Spiel des Jahres	[61][62][63]
David A. Hargrave	Arduin and The Arduin Adventure		[64][16]: 315–318
Jeb Havens	Uk'otoa		[65]
Andria Hayday	DragonStrike		[66]
Rob Heinsoo	Dreamblade and Castle Ravenloft	Origins Award	[67][68]
Arnold Hendrick	Crypt of the Sorcerer, Barbarian Prince, Demonlord, Star Viking, and Grav Armor		[69][70][71]
Dirk Henn	Alhambra, Metro, and Wallenstein	Spiel des Jahres	[72][73][13]
		Mensa Select
Ephraim Hertzano	Rummikub	Spiel des Jahres	[74]
John Hill	Squad Leader and Johnny Reb	Hall of Fame	[3]
Maureen Hiron	Continuo	Hall of Fame	[3][13]
		Mensa Select
Jeremy Holcomb	The Duke	Mensa Select	[13][75]
Steve Jackson	Ogre and Car Wars	Hall of Fame	[3][76]
Jennell Jaquays	Dark Tower	Hall of Fame	[3]
John Jefferys	A Journey Through Europe		[77]
Tom Jolly	Cargo, Diskwars, and G.O.O.T.M.U.		[16]: 345
Jervis Johnson	Blood Bowl, Epic 40,000, Necromunda, and Age of Sigmar		[78]
Philippe Keyaerts	Evo, Vinci, and Olympos	As d'Or Grand Prix	[79][80]
Michael Kiesling	Azul, Asara, The Palaces of Carrara, Heaven & Ale, and Tikal	Spiel des Jahres (2)	[35][13]
		As d'Or Jeu de l'Année
		Mensa Select
Reiner Knizia	Ra, Modern Art, Samurai, Ribbit, FITS, Keltis, Mmm!, L.A.M.A. (L.L.A.M.A.), Ingenious, My City, and The Lord of the Rings	Spiel des Jahres	[3][35] [81][13]
		Hall of Fame
		Kinderspiel des Jahres
		Mensa Select
John Kovalic	Dork Tower	Hall of Fame	[3]
Wolfgang Kramer	El Grande, Java, Mexica, Tikal, The Princes of Florence, Blox, Asara, The Palaces of Carrara, Auf Achse, Top Secret Spies, Princes of Florence, and Torres	Hall of Fame	[3][35][82]
		Spiel des Jahres (5)
		As d'Or Prix du Jury
Robert J. Kuntz	Kings & Things and Lankhmar	Charles S. Roberts Award	[83][16]: 9
Vital Lacerda	The Gallerist		[52][84]
Albert Lamorisse	Risk		[85]
Eric M. Lang	Blood Rage and Rising Sun	Hall of Fame	[3][52][35]
Serge Laget	Shadows over Camelot and Du Balai!	Spiel des Jahres	[86]
		As d'Or Jeu de l'Année
Ryan Laukat	Above and Below and Near and Far		[87]
Matt Leacock	Pandemic, Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age, Pandemic Legacy - Season 1, and Pandemic Legacy: Season 2, Forbidden Island	As d'Or Grand Prix	[3][88][89][13]
		Spiel des Jahres
		Hall of Fame
		Mensa Select
Tom Lehmann	To Court the King	As d'Or Grand Prix	[90][91]
Ted Leonsis	Only In New York		[92]
Sam Lewis	Dragonriders of Pern, BattleTroops, Renegade Legion, and Classic BattleTech		[93][94]
Paul Lidberg	A Line in the Sand		[16]: 23
Edwin S. Lowe	Yahtzee and BINGO!		[95]
Lizzie Magie	The Landlord's Game		[96]
Gérard Mathieu	Supergang	Super As d'Or	[97]
Mike Mearls	Castle Ravenloft		[16]: 302
Samaira Mehta	Coder Bunnyz		[98][99]
Tom Meier	Thunderbolt Mountain	Hall of Fame	[3]
Heinz Meister	Karambolage, Bärenstark, and Burg Schlummerschatz	Kinderspiel des Jahres	[100]
Michael Menzel	Andor, Legends of Andor, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Shogun, Thurn and Taxis, Stone Age, Havana, and Catan	Spiel des Jahres	[101][102][103]
		As d'Or Jeu de l'Année
Marc Miller	Double Star	Hall of Fame	[3]
Joseph Miranda	Renaissance of Infantry		[104]
George Howard Monks	Halma and Basilinda		[105]
Alan R. Moon	Elfenland and Ticket to Ride	Spiel des Jahres (2)	[3][106][107]
		Hall of Fame
Linda Mosca	Battle of the Wilderness: Gaining the Initiative, May 5-6, 1864; Rocroi; Gondor: The Siege of Minas Tirith; King Arthur; Chinese Farm; Terrible Swift Sword; and Russian Civil War 1918–1922		[108]
Abraham Nathanson	Bananagrams		[109]
Douglas Niles	A Line in the Sand		[16]: 23
Greg Novak	Guilford Courthouse		[110][111]
Philip Orbanes	Monopoly: The Mega Edition		[112]
David Parlett	Hare and Tortoise	Spiel des Jahres	[113]
Celia Pearce	Candy Crusher		[114][115]
Christian T. Petersen	Twilight Imperium, A Game of Thrones, and World of Warcraft: The Board Game		[35]
Alexander Pfister	Broom Service, Great Western Trail, and Isle of Skye	Kinderspiel des Jahres (2)	[116][117]
Lawrence Pinsky	Blitzkrieg		[118]
Lewis Pulsipher	Valley of the Four Winds, Dragon Rage, Swords & Wizardry, and Britannia	ENNIE	[119][120]
Jack Radey	Kanev: Parachutes Across the Dnepr and Korsun Pocket: Little Stalingrad on the Dnepr – January 25th to February 17th, 1944		[121]
Paul Randles	Pirate's Cove and Key Largo		[122][123]
Alex Randolph	Enchanted Forest, Inkognito, Ricochet Robots, Gute Freunde (Good Friends), and Oh-Wah-Ree	Kinderspiel des Jahres (2)	[3][124][125][126]
		Hall of Fame
David J. Ritchie	Arena of Death, Attack Force, Barbarossa, and Lost Victory		[3][127]
Charles S. Roberts	Tactics II	Hall of Fame	[128][129]
Laura Robinson	Balderdash		[130][131]
Uwe Rosenberg	Agricola and Nova Luna	Spiel des Jahres	[3][52][35]
		Hall of Fame
Alex Randolph	Gute Freunde (Good Friends), TwixT, Breakthru, Hol's der Geier, Inkognito, Ricochet Robot, and Enchanted Forest	Kinderspiel des Jahres	[132]
		Hall of Fame
Sid Sackson	Acquire, Can't Stop, Focus, and I'm the Boss!	Hall of Fame	[3][133]
		Spiel des Jahres
John Scarne	Teeko		[134]
Michael Schacht	Zooloretto	Spiel des Jahres	[135]
Craige Schensted	*Star, Star, and Y		[136]
Roger Schlaifer	Odds’R: The Odds On Everything Game		[137]
Leslie Scott	Jenga and Ex Libris		[138]
Duke Seifried	military and fantasy miniatures for wargames and fantasy role-playing games	Hall of Fame	[3]
Mike Selinker	Pirates of the Spanish Main, Axis & Allies: D-Day, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Risk Godstorm, and Stonehenge	Origins Awards (3)	[139][140][141]
Andreas Seyfarth	Manhattan, Thurn and Taxis, and Puerto Rico	Spiel des Jahres (2)	[142][143]
Bruce Shelley	1830: The Game of Railroads and Robber Barons		[144]
Hilary Shepard	Love It or Hate It and LIEbrary		[58][59][60]
Redmond Simonsen	After the Holocaust; Arena of Death; Bastogne: The Desperate Defense, December 1944; The Battle of Nations; Battlefleet Mars;Breakout & Pursuit: The Battle for France, 1944; Cemetery Hill; Chickamauga: The Last Victory, 20 September 1863; Desert War: Tactical Warfare in North Africa; and Dragonslayer	Hall of Fame	[3][145]
David Sirlin	Puzzle Strike: Bag of Chips		[146]
Lester W. Smith	Minion Hunter and Temple of the Beastmen		[147]
Daniel Stahl	Pirate's Cove		[148]
Jamey Stegmaier	Scythe	As d'Or Grand Prix	[149]
Jerry Taylor	Hammer of the Scots and Crusader Rex		[150]
Bernard Tavitian	Blokus	Super As d'Or	[151]
Klaus Teuber	Catan, Hoity Toity, Entdecker (Discoverer), Drunter und Drüber (Under and Over), Catan, Spinnengift und Krötenschleim (Spider Venom and Toad Slime), Barbarossa, and Löwenherz (Lionheart)	Hall of Fame	[2][152][3]
		Spiel des Jahres (4)
David A. Trampier	Titan	Hall of Fame	[3]
Ignacy Trzewiczek	Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island	Hall of Fame	[35]
Richard Ulrich	El Grande and Princes of Florence	Spiel des Jahres	[153]
		As d'Or Prix du Jury
Donald X. Vaccarino	Kingdom Builder	Spiel des Jahres	[154]
Dan Verssen	7th Sea	Charles S. Roberts Award	[155]
Martin Wallace	Railways of the World and Age of Steam		[156]
Tim Walsh	TriBond	Mensa Select	[157][158]
David G. Watts	Railway Rivals	Spiel des Jahres	[159]
Cole Wehrle	Root, Pax Pamir, Arcs, John Company, and Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile		[160]
Margaret Weis	Dragonlance	Hall of Fame	[3]
Jordan Weisman	Mage Knight and HeroClix	Hall of Fame	[3]
David Wesely	Braunstein		[161]
Tom Wham	The Awful Green Things from Outer Space		[162]
Lynn Willis	Godsfire, Olympica, Holy War, and Lords of the Middle Sea		[16]: 85–86, 90–91
Kevin Wilson	A Game of Thrones, Doom: The Boardgame, Descent: Journeys in the Dark, World of Warcraft: The Board Game, and Arkham Horror		[163]
Loren Wiseman	Caesar's Legions	Hall of Fame	[164][16]: 54
Reinhold Wittig	Spiel, Wir füttern die kleinen Nilpferde (We Feed the Little Hippos), Kula Kula, and Doctor Faust	Hall of Fame	[3]
		Spiel des Jahres (4)
Christian Wolf	Tutankhamen and Klondik	Kinderspiel des Jahres	[165]
		Super As d'Or
Teeuwynn Woodruff	BattleTech, Dreamblade, and Betrayal at House on the Hill		[166]
Klaus-Jürgen Wrede	Carcassonne	Spiel des Jahres	[167]
Nob Yoshigahara	Rush Hour	Mensa Select	[13][168]
Lou Zocchi	Zocchihedron die, Luftwaffe, The Battle of Britain, Alien Space, and Flying Tigers	Hall of Fame	[3]