Francis Tresham (game designer)

Tresham in 2011

Francis Tresham (1936 – 23 October 2019) was a British board game designer who produced board games since the early 1970s. Tresham founded and ran games company Hartland Trefoil (founded 1971), a company well-known for its Civilization board game, until its sale to MicroProse in 1997.[1] His 1829 game was the first of the 18xx board game series[2] and some of his board games inspired Sid Meier computer games such as Railroad Tycoon.

Francis Tresham was the first to introduce a technology tree into his boardgames.[3] This idea had a large influence on later board and computer games.

He was managing director of Tresham Games, which produced 18xx-style board games. In 2013, he was one of the first inductees in the UK Games Expo Hall of Fame.[4] He died on 23 October 2019.[5]

  1. ^ "MicroProse, Inc. Announces Acquisition of Creator of Civilization(TM) Board Game". Press Release. MicroProse inc. 2 December 1997.[dead link‍]
  2. ^ "Blackwater Station : Personal". www.18xx.net.
  3. ^ Stewart Woods (2012). Eurogames – The Design, Culture and Play of Modern European Board Games. London: Mc Farland. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-7864-6797-6.
  4. ^ "Uk Games Expo Hall of Fame". www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  5. ^ "18XX Legend – Francis Tresham – passed away". 23 October 2019.