Products Tunnels and Trolls Founded 1970 | Founder Rick Loomis Type of business Private | |
 | ||
Industry Role-playing game publisher, Play-by-mail game moderator Key people Rick Loomis, Steve MacGregor Headquarters Scottsdale, Arizona, United States Video game Tunnels & Trolls: Crusaders of Khazan | ||
Flying buffalo
Flying Buffalo Incorporated (FBI) is a Scottsdale, Arizona game company that publishes role playing games, card games, gaming materials, and runs Play-by-mail games.
Contents
History
In 1970 Rick Loomis invented a game called Nuclear Destruction, a play-by-mail game, for which he moderated multiplayer games. He soon had more than 200 players in multiple games, and asked fellow soldier Steve MacGregor to write a computer program to moderate the games; they began renting time on a computer near Fort Shafter, using the name Flying Buffalo devised by Loomis. After leaving the military in 1972, Loomis and MacGregor incorporated their PBM company as Flying Buffalo, Inc., or FBI. Loomis and MacGregor pooled their savings to purchase a Raytheon 704 minicomputer to run PBM turns. Loomis acquired Nuclear War and began publishing it in 1972, soon becoming one of Flying Buffalo's best sellers. Nuclear Destruction is widely considered to be the first commercial play-by-mail (PBM) game. In 1976 the company started running a space exploration/conquest PBM game titled Starweb.
Flying Buffalo has also published games outside of PBM, starting off with the card game Nuclear War. In 1975 they published Tunnels and Trolls, a fantasy role playing game generally similar to Dungeons & Dragons. Later products included background materials for fantasy role playing games, which became the "Catalyst" series. They also produce a range of unusual dice (such as a set that tells you what toppings to order on your pizza), and currently hold the printing rights to the Ace of Aces and Lost Worlds flip book systems. The company also ran a gaming store at various locations in Tempe, Arizona until 1985.
In 1992, the fiction book Mage's Blood and Old Bones: A Tunnels & Trolls Shared World Anthology was published by Flying Buffalo. Following the dissolution of TSR in 1997, Flying Buffalo remains the oldest pen-and-paper role-playing game publisher in the world.
List of games
Awards
Flying Buffalo has had a long history in the gaming industry and has won numerous awards.
Origins Hall of Fame award is given to game designers whose contributions are considered to be the best in their field. Flying Buffalo has had a number of their writers and designers win this award.