Name Sid Sackson | Role Game designer | |
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Died November 6, 2002, New York City, New York, United States Books A Gamut of Games, The book of classic board ga, Card games around th, Beyond Competition: Six Dyna, Beyond solitaire | ||
Sleuth review with tom vasel sid sackson s classic signature series 1
Sid Sackson (February 4, 1920, Chicago – November 6, 2002) was an American board game designer and collector, best known as the creator of the business game Acquire.
Contents
- Sleuth review with tom vasel sid sackson s classic signature series 1
- Venture review with tom vasel sid sackson s classic signature series 3
- Career
- Honors
- Games
- The No Game
- References
Venture review with tom vasel sid sackson s classic signature series 3
Career
His most popular creation is probably the business game Acquire. Other games he designed include Can't Stop and Focus (Domination), which won the prestigious German Spiel des Jahres game design award in 1981.
Other notable works include his books, especially A Gamut of Games and Card Games Around the World; both titles include a large array of rules for games both new and old, and Sackson himself invented a number of the games covered by these works.
For several years in the mid-1970s, Sid Sackson wrote a monthly column for Strategy & Tactics magazine called “Sackson on Games” in which he reviewed games (other than wargames).
Sackson's book collection was arranged in groups of five books so he would know if a book was missing and which one it was.
Sackson collected games throughout his life; at the time of his death, his collection was estimated at over 18,000 titles. Many of those were unique, sent to him by hopeful game developers who wanted Sackson's advice. At one point in his life, Sackson turned down an offer to bring his collection elsewhere for permanent safekeeping; the games were sold at a series of auctions after his death, breaking up the collection. Sackson’s personal papers are stored at The Strong in Rochester, New York.
Honors
Sackson was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design's Hall of Fame, along with Acquire, in 2011.
He was honored as a "famous game designer" by being featured as the king of diamonds in Flying Buffalo's 2011 Famous Game Designers Playing Card Deck.
Games
Some of Sackson's notable games include:
One of Sackson's lesser-known works was a 1977 book entitled "Beyond Competition" which contained six original pencil-and-paper games designed to be played by multiple players who could only win as a group through cooperation in achieving a mutual goal.
The No Game
The No Game is a party game with only one real rule. Sid Sackson wrote about it in A Gamut of Games, but it undoubtedly existed beforehand.
Play is as follows:
While simple in concept, it is surprisingly hard to remove the word 'No' from one's vocabulary; see lipograms for a literary equivalent.