Richard Garfield#Other Games

Garfield was born in Philadelphia and spent his childhood in many locations throughout the world as a result of his father's work in architecture. His family eventually settled in Oregon when he was twelve. Garfield is the great-great-grandson of U.S. President James A. Garfield and his grand-uncle Samuel Fay invented the paper clip.{{cite book|last1=Varney|first1=Allen|title=Dragon Magazine #242|date=December 1997|page=120|url=http://annarchive.com/files/Drmg242.pdf}} He is also the nephew of Fay Jones, who, already an established artist, illustrated one Magic card for him.{{cite web|last1=Rosewater|first1=Mark|title=Blogatog: Stasis|url=http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/18001767848/stasis-has-always-been-one-of-my-favorite-cards-and-i}}

While Garfield always had an interest in puzzles and games, his passion was kick-started when he was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons.{{cite web | url = http://www.thedicetower.com/interviews/int049.htm | title = Interviews by an Optimist # 49 - Richard Garfield | author = Vasel, Tom | date = 2005-06-19 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070814065856/http://www.thedicetower.com/interviews/int049.htm | archive-date = 2007-08-14 }} Garfield designed his first game when he was 13.{{cite web | url = http://www.newschief.com/article/19981227/ARTICLES/311309066 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090715205631/http://www.newschief.com/article/19981227/ARTICLES/311309066 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2009-07-15 | title = Just like magic | work = PolkOnline | author = Zurcher, Christopher | date = 1998-12-27 }}

In 1985,26.5248 Garfield received a Bachelor of Science degree in computational mathematics. After college, he joined Bell Laboratories, but soon after decided to continue his education and attended the University of Pennsylvania, studying combinatorial mathematics for his PhD. Garfield studied under Herbert Wilf and earned a Ph.D. in combinatorial mathematics from Penn in 1993. His thesis was On the Residue Classes of Combinatorial Families of Numbers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=23159|title=Richard Garfield - the Mathematics Genealogy Project}} Shortly thereafter, he became a Visiting Professor{{Cite web|url=https://whitmanwire.com/arts/2012/11/26/magic-the-gathering-a-games-origins-and-influence-at-whitman-college/|title = Magic: The Gathering––A Game's Origins and Influence at Whitman College}} of mathematics at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.{{Cite book | contribution=Dungeons & Dragons | title=Hobby Games: The 100 Best | last=Garfield | first=Richard | editor-last=Lowder | editor-first=James | editor-link=James Lowder | publisher=Green Ronin Publishing | year=2007 | pages=86–89 | isbn=978-1-932442-96-0}}

While searching for a publisher for RoboRally, which he designed in 1985, Wizards of the Coast began talking to Garfield through Mike Davis, but Wizards was still a new company and felt the game would be too expensive to produce.{{Cite book|author=Shannon Appelcline|title=Designers & Dragons|publisher=Mongoose Publishing|year=2011| isbn= 978-1-907702-58-7}}{{rp|278}} Peter Adkison of Wizards of the Coast expressed interest in a fast-playing game with minimal equipment, something that would be popular at a game convention.{{cite web |url= https://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/238b|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130314232528/http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/238b|url-status= dead|archive-date= March 14, 2013|title= The Creation of Magic: the Gathering|last1= Garfield|first1= Richard|date= March 12, 2013 |publisher= Wizards of the Coast|access-date=22 June 2013}} Adkison asked if Garfield could develop a game with lower production costs than RoboRally, with the idea of making such a game more portable and easy to bring to conventions; Garfield thought of an idea that came from combining a card game with collecting baseball cards and spent a week creating a full game from that rough idea.{{rp|278}}

Garfield had been creating card games since at least 1982, starting with a card game called Five Magics that was inspired by Cosmic Encounter, and his work with this new card game built on his existing older prototypes.{{rp|278}} Garfield thus combined ideas from two previous games to invent the first trading card game, Magic: The Gathering. At first, Garfield and Adkison called the game Manaclash and worked on it in secret during a lawsuit filed by Palladium Games against Wizards. They were able to protect the game's intellectual property by using the shell company Garfield Games.{{rp|278}} Garfield began designing Magic as a Penn graduate student. Garfield's playtesters were mostly fellow Penn students.{{cite web | url = https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/rb10 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020614062453/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/rb10 | url-status = dead | archive-date = June 14, 2002 | title = Legendary Difficulties | work = Latest Developments | author = Elias, Skaff | date = 2002-03-08 }}

Magic: The Gathering launched in 1993. Playtesters began independently developing expansion packs, which were then passed to Garfield for his final edit. In June 1994, Garfield left academia to join Wizards of the Coast as a full-time game designer. Garfield managed the hit game wisely, balancing player experience with business needs and allowing other designers to contribute creatively to the game. With his direction, Wizards established a robust tournament system for Magic, something that was new to hobby gaming.

Wizards finally released Garfield's RoboRally in 1994.{{rp|292}} Wizards published Garfield's Vampire: The Masquerade-based CCG Jyhad in 1994, but changed the name to Vampire: The Eternal Struggle in 1995 to avoid offense to Muslims.{{rp|219, 279}} Netrunner (1996) was Garfield's CCG based on Cyberpunk 2020, where he included an element that made it an asymmetrical game, so that the two players each had entirely different cards, abilities, and goals.{{rp|211, 281}} Wizards published the BattleTech Collectible Card Game in 1996, based on a design by Garfield.{{rp|126}} Peter Adkison was developing a Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG based on a design from Garfield and Skaff Elias, but left Wizards in December 2000 after Hasbro sold the D&D computer rights and cancelled the project.{{rp|290}}

In 1999, Garfield was inducted into the Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame alongside Magic. He was a primary play tester for the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition bookset, released by Wizards in 2000. He eventually left Wizards to become an independent game designer.

===As an independent designer===

He still sporadically contributes to Magic: The Gathering.{{cite web | url = https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr192 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060104153607/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr192 | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 4, 2006 | title = City Planning, Part I | work = Making Magic | author = Rosewater, Mark | author-link = Mark Rosewater | date = 2005-09-05 | access-date = 2007-04-27}}{{cite web | url = https://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/159 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110925012914/http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/159 | url-status = dead | archive-date = September 25, 2011 | title = C'mon Innistrad, Part I | work = Making Magic | author = Rosewater, Mark | author-link = Mark Rosewater | date = 2011-09-05 | access-date = 2011-12-16}} More recently, he has created the board games Pecking Order (2006){{cite web | url = https://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/22347 | title = Pecking Order | work = BoardGameGeek | access-date = 2007-05-06}} and Rocketville (2006). The latter was published by Avalon Hill, a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast.{{cite web | url = http://www.hasbro.com/media/default.cfm?page=release&release=423 | title = AVALON HILL WELCOMES BACK RICHARD GARFIELD; Rocketville Set to Blast-Off on March 10 | date = 2006-02-07 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071107020507/http://www.hasbro.com/media/default.cfm?page=release&release=423 | archive-date = 2007-11-07 }} He has shifted more of his attention to video games, having worked on the design and development of Schizoid and Spectromancer as part of Three Donkeys LLC. He has been a game designer and consultant for companies including Electronic Arts and Microsoft.

Garfield taught a class titled "The Characteristics of Games" at the University of Washington. It is now taught as part of the University of Washington's Certificate in Game Design.{{cite web | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urEa3QpLGBc | title = Richard Garfield's Net Worth | website = www.youtube.com | access-date = 2023-02-24}}

File:Spiel 2015 Essen - Der Freitag - Treasure Hunter (21879288099).jpg

A partial list of games designed by Garfield:

Card games:

• Turbo Hearts (1989)
• The Great Dalmuti (1995)
• Dilbert: Corporate Shuffle (1997)
• Twitch (1998)
• Ghooost! (2013)
• SpyNet (2016)
• Mindbug (2021)
• Creature Feature (2022)

Collectible card games:

• Magic: The Gathering (1993)
• Vampire: The Eternal Struggle (1994)
• Netrunner (1996)
• BattleTech (1996)
• Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1998)
• Xena: Warrior Princess (1998)
• C-23 (1998)
• Star Wars Trading Card Game (2002)

Board games:

• RoboRally (1994)
• Filthy Rich (1998)
• Pecking Order (2006)
• Rocketville (2006)
• Stonehenge (2007)
• King of Tokyo (2011) and spinoffs:
• King of New York (2014)
• King of Monster Island (2022)
• Treasure Hunter (2015)
• Bunny Kingdom (2017)
• The Hunger (2021)
• Founders of Reyvick (2024)

Other games:

• Spectromancer (2008), online card game
• Schizoid (2008), console action game
• Kard Combat (2011), iOS Game
• SolForge (2012), online digital card game
• Artifact (2018), digital trading card game
• KeyForge (2018), unique deck game
• Half Truth (2019), trivia board game co-created with Ken Jennings
• [https://www.amigo.games/game/com Carnival of Monsters] (2019), Kickstarted (failed) and eventually released through AMIGO Games
• Roguebook (2021), roguelike deck-building game
• Dungeons, Dice & Danger (2022), roll-and-write game

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite magazine|magazine=Inquest|title=A look at the man who made Magic|last=Reid|first=Zachary|page=12-16|date=April 1995}}
• {{Cite web |first=Nick |last=Zarzycki |date=2024-05-13 |title=The Creator Of 'Magic: The Gathering' Knows Exactly Where It All Went Wrong |url=https://defector.com/the-creator-of-magic-the-gathering-knows-exactly-where-it-all-went-wrong |access-date=2024-05-13 |website=Defector Media |language=en}}

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• {{MathGenealogy |id=23159}}
• {{cite web | url = http://www.amigo-spiele.de/upload/magic_pressemappe_2004_1200.pdf | title = Immer für eine Überraschung gut: Richard Garfield: Der Mann hinter Magic | language = de | work = Amigo Spiele | date = 2004-01-30}}

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