Gaming Icons R.I.P.
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
When arguably the two most famous American-born gaming icons, Bobby Fischer and Gary Gygax, passed away within less than two months, I thought it might be neat to create a geeklist about some others.
(I guess I sort of got carried away with the idea. Oh, well. I had fun with it.)
Did I make any mistakes or miss anyone, especially those from other countries?
Minimum requirements:
1. A year of death (and hopefully a month and day), except possibly for those who died over 500 years ago with proper estimated dates.
2. The person should have been a game designer, a famous game player, a game artist, a game company founder or executive, or have some minimal notoriety such as a wikipedia entry, a somewhat prominent obituary, an important book or magazine entry, or something similar. (Those solely connected with video games should not be included and only those with prominent role-playing game connections should probably be included. Those who had a negative influence such as by banning games should also probably be excluded.)
(And no, I'm not going to rearrange the list alphabetically...)
-
26.
Board Game: Chess
[Average Rating:7.10 Overall Rank:251]
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Anna Komnene (December 1, 1083 – 1153) was a Byzantine princess and scholar who in a biography of her father Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos made the first Greek reference to chess. She mentioned that chess was invented by the Assyrians and that European crusaders may have been exposed to the game through her father, causing the game to be brought to England.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100 – c. 1155) was a clergyman who helped develop the tales of King Arthur by adding information about Merlin, Excalibur, Avalon, and Uther Pendragon which helped inspire a number of games.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Chretien de Troyes (c. 1100? – c. 1183) was a French poet and troubadour who like Geoffrey of Monmouth also contributed to the King Arthur story by adding Lancelot, the Holy Grail, and the Fisher King to the story and thus helped inspire a number of games.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Robert de Boron, also known as Robert de Beron (? – c. 1220?) was a French poet who furthered the Arthurian legend by giving Sir Percival’s Holy Grail myth a Christian dimension as the vessel that Joseph of Arimathea used to collect the blood of Jesus' body from the cross and thus helped inspire a number of games.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Alfonso X (November 23, 1221 – April 4, 1284) was a Spanish monarch who ruled as the King of Castile, León, and Galicia from 1252 until his death. He also was elected German King in 1257. The Alfonso X manuscript Libro de los juegos, completed in 1283, describes rules for a number of dice and tables games in addition to its extensive discussion of chess.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
John of Wales (1220 - 1290) was a Franciscan who is attributed to writing what may be the oldest chess morality around 1250.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Dante Alighieri, also known as Dante, (c. May 1265 - September 14, 1321) was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages who writings helped inspire a few games.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Jacobus de Cessolis, also known as Jacopo da Cessole, (c. 1250 – c. 1322) was a Dominican monk in Lombardy and Italian author of the most famous morality book on chess in the Middle Ages. Around 1300, he used chess as the basis for a series of sermons on morality. His book was the basis for William Caxton's The Game and Playe of the Chesse, one of the first books printed in English.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-Amuli, also known as Muhammad ibn Mahmud Amuli (1300-1352) was a medieval Persian physician who wrote that chess was invented in India. He was also the first person to describe Tamerlane Chess.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Luo Guanzhong, also known as Luo Ben (c. 1330 - c. 1400) was a Chinese author who is attributed to writing the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms which inspired the game Sangokushi Taisen and Romance of the Three Kingdoms games.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Johannes von Rheinfelden (1340 - c. 1400) was a Dominican monk from Freiburg im Breisgau in extreme southwestern Germany. He wrote the oldest known European description of playing cards.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – October 25, 1400?) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat who alluded to a game called Tables that was played with three dice and playing pieces. He is best remembered for writing The Canterbury Tales and is sometimes called the father of English literature.
-
-
38.
Board Game: Chess
[Average Rating:7.10 Overall Rank:251]
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Emir Timur, also known as Tamerlane or Timur the Lame (1336 – February 19, 1405) was a 14th century Turco-Mongol who conquered much of Western and Central Asia and founded the Timurid Empire and Timurid dynasty which survived until 1857. He may have invented the namesake game Tamerlane Chess which was related to conventional chess and shatranj.
-
-
39.
Board Game: Tarot
[Average Rating:6.70 Overall Rank:1576]
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan (September 23, 1392 - August 13, 1447) was ruler of Milan from 1412 to 1447. The Visconti-Sforza tarot deck was a 15th century Tarot deck and one of the oldest known to exist. He and his successor Francesco Sforza commissioned this deck of cards known as Trionfi ("triumphs", i.e. trump) and were used in everyday playing.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
The Master of the Playing Cards (? - c. 1460) was the first major master in the history of printmaking. He was a German, or possibly Swiss, engraver who was active in southwestern Germany from the 1430s to the 1450s. He has been called the first personality in the history of engraving. His name has been lost to history. He is known only through his 106 engravings which includes a set of playing cards in five suits.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Master E. S, also known as Master of 1466 (c. 1420 – c. 1468) was an unidentified German engraver, goldsmith, and printmaker of the late Gothic period that made playing cards. His name is derived from the monogram, E. S., which appears on eighteen of his prints.
-
-
42.
Board Game: Tarot
[Average Rating:6.70 Overall Rank:1576]
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Francesco I Sforza (July 23, 1401 - March 8, 1466) was an Italian condottiero, the founder of the Sforza dynasty in Milan, Italy. The Visconti-Sforza tarot deck was a 15th century Tarot deck and one of the oldest known to exist. He and his successor Francesco Sforza commissioned this deck of cards known as Trionfi ("triumphs", i.e. trump) and were used in everyday playing. Francesco Sforza is mentioned several times in Niccolò Machiavelli's book The Prince.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Sir Thomas Malory (c. 1405 – March 14, 1471) was an English writer who complied and wrote Le Morte d'Arthur which helped inspire a number of games.
-
-
44.
Board Game: Tarot
[Average Rating:6.70 Overall Rank:1576]
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Bonifacio Bembo (c. 1420 - c. 1490) was an Italian painter and miniaturist of the early-Renaissance period. Francesco Sforza (1401-1466) commissioned him to create the Brera-Brambilla set of tarot cards.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Martin Schongauer, also known as Bel Martino and Martino d'Anversa (c. 1448 – February 2, 1491) was a German engraver and painter who made playing cards. He established the system of depicting volume by means of cross-hatching and the burin technique which meant that more impressions could be taken before the plate became worn out.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
William Caxton (c. 1418 – c. March 1492) was an English merchant, diplomat, writer, and printer. He was the first English person to work as a printer and the first person to introduce a printing press into England. He was also the first English retailer of books. It is believed that his 1474 book The Game and Play of the Chess was one of the first three books printed in English. In 1485, he was the first to publish Le Morte d'Arthur, the best-known work of English-language Arthurian literature.
-
-
47.
Board Game: Chess
[Average Rating:7.10 Overall Rank:251]
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Francesc Vicent (1450 - c. 1512) was a Spanish author who wrote the first treaty about chess in 1495. Unfortunately, no copies of this work has survived since the Peninsular War. Due to this writing, he has been considered the founder of modern chess, as his work spread throughout Europe. Boardgamegeek appears to date the invention of chess to 1475 as a poem from this year indicates that innovation of the queen which has been attributed to him or his region of Valencia. He later fled to Italy due to the Spanish Inquisition.
-
-
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 - May 2, 1519) was an Italian artist and scientist who artwork and ideas inspired a few games.
-
-
49.
Board Game: Artiste
[Average Rating:0.00 Unranked]
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Raphael Sanzio, also known as Raffaello (1483 – April 6, 1520) was a famous Italian Renaissance painter and architect whose artwork centuries later was used in games such Il Principe, Oltremare - Merchants of Venice, and Here I Stand.
-
-
50.
Board Game: Artiste
[Average Rating:0.00 Unranked]
Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
-
Albrecht Dürer (May 21, 1471 - April 6, 1528) was a German artist from Nuremberg. He has been regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance. His artwork has been used for numerous games and game publications.
-
-
|
|
Portland
Oregon
Unspecified
Missouri
By date of death.
(If the exact day is not known, I think the person is assumed to have passed away on the first day of the known month or year.)
Villeurbanne
Thumbs up to you anyway!
Unspecified
Missouri
Yeah, I went a bit crazy at one point. I probably need to split this geeklist into two or more parts at this point, but it is difficult to know if certain people should be on the primary geeklist or a secondary one. For example, certain artists or cartoonists may have contributed to several mass-marketed or obscure games. Where should I place them? What about chess, poker, and bridge players who are famous but perhaps not really, really famous?
Villeurbanne
But, wel, I guess the work to make to separate lists would be tremendous…