Tom Lehmann (born July 1, 1958) has worked as an economist, programmer, boardgame publisher, and technical writer, but is best known as a game designer.[1] His card game Race for the Galaxy won several awards.[2]

Career

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Tom Lehmann was the publisher and designer of Prism Games.[3][self-published source] His first published game was in 1992.[4] His works include Fast Food Franchise, Time Agent, 2038 (with Jim Hlavaty), 1846, Magellan/Pizarro & Co., Jericho, To Court the King, Phoenicia, Race for the Galaxy,[5] and New Frontiers.[3] He is a freelance game designer, and has been a full time game designer since the early 2000s.[4] Lehmann now designs games for the international market.[3] He has also worked with Matt Leacock on expansions for Pandemic, as well as Res Arcana.[4]

Lehmann began work on a card game version of Puerto Rico, both working on his own and with the designer Andreas Seyfarth, but when his version was not used as part of San Juan he continued to develop his game, combining it with a previous design for a space-themed customizable card game until it was published as Race for the Galaxy by Rio Grande Games.[6] The game was an Origins Awards finalist in the "Traditional Card Game" category.[7] Lehmann received acclaim for Race for the Galaxy which has been considered one of the best card games.[8] Lehmann designed the 2014 dice version of the game called Roll for the Galaxy with Wei-Hwa Huang.[9] This version uses a mechanic system involving six-sided dice.[10] Lehmann created the Jump Drive expansion in 2016, based on his game The City from Amigo, for new Roll for the Galaxy players.[11] Lehmann also prouced the 2018 standalone addition New Frontiers which allowed players to conquer new worlds and colonize them.[12]

He designed the 2022 dice-building game Dice Realms.[4]

Published games

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  • Fast Food Franchise (1992, Prism Games)
  • Time Agent (1992, Prism Games)
  • Suzerain (1993, Prism Games)
  • Age of Exploration (1994, Prism Games)
  • 2038 - co-designed with Jim Hlavaty (1995, Prism Games)
  • Throneworld (1997, Prism Games)
  • Magellan/Pizarro & Co. (2002, Hans im Glück, Rio Grande Games)
  • Meine Würfel, deine Würfel (My Dice, Your Dice) - a dice game included with 55 (2005, Abacus)
  • 1846 - an 18XX game (2005, Deep Thought Games, LLC; 2016, GMT Games)
  • Jericho (2006, Abacus)
  • To Court the King (2006, Amigo Spiele and Rio Grande Games; 2015 Japanese Edition with new art: Cosaic)
  • Phoenicia (2007, Rio Grande Games/JKLM Games)
  • Race for the Galaxy (2007, Rio Grande Games)[5]
  • The Gathering Storm (Race for the Galaxy expansion 1) (2008, Rio Grande Games)
  • Middle Kingdom (2008, Z-Man Games)
  • New Society (included in the St. Petersburg expansion) (2008, Rio Grande Games)
  • Rebel vs Imperium (Race for the Galaxy expansion 2) (2009, Rio Grande Games)
  • Pandemic: On the Brink (Pandemic expansion) - co-designed with Matt Leacock (2009, Z-Man Games)
  • The Brink of War (Race for the Galaxy expansion 3) (2010, Rio Grande Games)
  • The City (2011, Amigo Spiele)
  • Outpost Kicker Expansion (included in the 2011 Outpost reprint) (2011, Stronghold Games)
  • Starship Merchants - co-designed with Joe Huber (2012, Toy Vault)
  • Pandemic: In the Lab (Pandemic expansion) - co-designed with Matt Leacock (2013, Z-Man Games)
  • Alien Artifacts (Race for the Galaxy expansion arc 2) (2013, Rio Grande Games)
  • Roll through the Ages: the Iron Age (2014, Eagle-Gryphon Games, Pegasus Spiele; 2018, revised edition)
  • Ciúb (2014, Amigo Spiele)
  • Roll for the Galaxy - co-designed with Wei-Hwa Huang (2014, Rio Grande Games)
  • Pandemic: State of Emergency (Pandemic expansion) - co-designed with Matt Leacock (2015, Z-Man Games)
  • Ambition (Roll for the Galaxy expansion) - co-designed with Wei-Hwa Huang (2015, Rio Grande Games)
  • Favor of the Pharaoh (2015, Bezier Games)[13]
  • Xeno Invasion (Race for the Galaxy expansion arc 3) (2015, Rio Grande Games)
  • Pandemic: The Cure - Experimental Meds (Pandemic: The Cure expansion), co-designed with Matt Leacock (2016, Z-Man Games)
  • Jump Drive (2017, Rio Grande Games)
  • New Frontiers (2018, Rio Grande Games)
  • Res Arcana (2019, Sand Castle Games)[5]
  • Rivalry (Roll for the Galaxy expansion) - co-designed with Wei-Hwa Huang (2019, Rio Grande Games)
  • The Expanded City and Eco Expansion (expansions published along with the revised English edition of The City) (2019, Eagle-Gryphon Games)
  • Lux & Tenebrae (Res Arcana expansion) (2019, Sand Castle Games)
  • Dice Realms (2022, Rio Grande Games)[14]

Lehmann has also contributed design ideas to other published games, including Outpost, San Juan, Pandemic: The Cure, the revised edition of Pandemic, and Pandemic Legacy: Season 1.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Board Game Geek page on race for the galaxy retrieved 2 December 2020
  3. ^ a b c Lehmann, Tom (2007). "Tigris & Euphrates". In Lowder, James (ed.). Hobby Games: The 100 Best. Green Ronin Publishing. pp. 319–321. ISBN 978-1-932442-96-0.
  4. ^ a b c d Eggett, Christopher John (2022-12-01). "Talking Tabletop: Dice Realms with Thomas Lehmann". Tabletop Gaming. Warners Group Publications. Archived from the original on 2023-11-22. Retrieved 2023-11-22. The interview is also available here from PressReader and verifies the interviewer is Christopher John Eggett.
  5. ^ a b c "The best games from Thomas Lehmann 🇺🇸". The best board games at Tibi. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  6. ^ Batty, Ward (2008-03-12). "Game". Boise Weekly. p. 38. ProQuest 367265827.
  7. ^ "Origins Awards Finalists Announced". ICv2. 2008-04-28. Archived from the original on 2023-11-22. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  8. ^ Sukumaran, Arjun (2020-08-27). "A new game of galaxies: In New Frontiers, 2-5 players compete to expand their galactic empires in various ways". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 2023-11-22. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  9. ^ Harford, Tim (2023-04-21). "The never-ending brilliance of board games: When the pandemic struck, sales of Catan soared as people looked for something fun to do at home". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2023-09-24. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  10. ^ Monagle, Matthew (2021-12-02). "The 20 Best Board Games For Adults". /Film. Archived from the original on 2023-11-22. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  11. ^ Niebling, William (2016-12-16). "'Race for the Galaxy: Jump Drive': Stand-Alone Game by Thomas Lehmann". ICv2. Archived from the original on 2023-11-22. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  12. ^ "Rick And Morty Get Szechuan Sauce, Black Mirror Goes Social, And More In Tabletop Gaming News". Gizmodo. 2018-11-24. Archived from the original on 2023-11-22. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  13. ^ Niebling, William (2017-02-16). "Review: 'H.P. Lovecraft's Kingsport Festival: The Card Game' (Game)". ICv2. Archived from the original on 2023-11-22. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  14. ^ "Dice Realms Review". Tabletop Gaming. Warners Group Publications. 2022-09-28. Archived from the original on 2023-11-22. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
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Category:1958 births Category:Board game designers Category:Living people