Ted Alspach is a board-game designer and the author of more than 30 books on graphics, publishing and the web. He is best known as the designer of the boardgames Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Suburbia, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, and Ultimate Werewolf. As a writer, he is best known for his Adobe Illustrator-related books, including Illustrator for Dummies and the best-selling Illustrator Bible series. Other books he has written include Photoshop Complete, Microsoft Bob, Internet E-mail Quick Tour, Acrobat Visual Quickstart Guide, and PageMaker Visual Quickstart Guide. Ted was employed by Adobe Systems as group product manager for Adobe Illustrator and the Creative Suite from 1999-2006.
Ted Alspach is the designer of the strategy game Seismic, published by Atlas Games, 2006, in which players lay tiles and claim highways in an attempt to create as many completed highway segments before the end of the game, avoiding periodic earthquake activity; the game Rapscallion which allows players to form the best possible poker hand by bidding for playing cards with bidding cards; Start Player published by Bezier Games, Z-Man Games, BeWitched Spiele and daVinci games, which is a set of cards for selecting who goes first in the next game, and Ted Alspach's Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition (from Bezier Games) which is a comprehensive werewolf-themed party game for up to 65 players. Beer & Pretzels from Bezier Games was released in October 2009, a beer & pretzels-style game where players toss coasters onto a table for money. Ultimate Werewolf: Compact Edition was published in early 2010, which is a single-deck version of Ultimate Werewolf that supports up to 34 players. Ultimate Werewolf: Classic Movie Monsters was also published in early 2010 as an expansion for Ultimate Werewolf. Announced for October 2010: Perpetual-Motion Machine, a card game where players construct an efficiency engine. He has also designed expansions for the popular Age of Steam and Steam board games, including 1830's Pennsylvania and Northern California, Mississippi Steamboats & Golden Spike, Soul Train & Disco Inferno, America & Europe, Barbados & St. Lucia, Jamaica & Puerto Rico, Vermont, New Hampshire & Central New England, Secret Blueprints of Steam plans 1&2, Essen Spiel 2008 Limited Edition & Secret Blueprints of Steam plan #3, Alabama Railways, Antebellum Louisiana & Four Corners, 1867 Georgia Reconstruction, South Carolina & Oklahoma Land Rush, and Beer & Pretzels: The Train Game Expansion.
Alspach is the creator of the online and print comic strip Board 2 Pieces, which is a humorous slant on boardgaming told by the game pieces themselves. The comic appeared twice a week at www.opinionatedgamers.com from 2010 to 2012. From 2006-through 2010, it appeared on Boardgamenews.com and previously appeared in a larger format each issue of Knucklebones magazine (before it closed).
The following are the books written by Ted Alspach, including original publication date (English versions only):
Macworld Illustrator 5.0/5.5 Bible 1994The Complete Idiot's Guide to QuarkXPress 1994The Complete Idiot's Guide to Photoshop 1994Microsoft Bob 1995Internet E-Mail Quick Tour 1995The Mac Internet Tour Guide 1995Macworld Illustrator 6 Bible 1996Official Kai's Power Tools Studio Secrets 1996The Complete Idiot's Guide to Word on the Macintosh 1996Photoshop 4 Complete 1997The Complete Idiot's Guide to PageMaker 1997Acrobat 3 Visual QuickStart Guide 1997Illustrator Filter Finesse 1997Illustrator 7 Bible 1997PageMaker 6.5 for Windows Visual QuickStart Guide 1997PageMaker 6.5 for Macintosh Visual QuickStart Guide 1997ImageReady Visual QuickStart Guide 1998Illustrator Effects Magic 1998PhotoDeluxe 2 Visual QuickStart Guide 1998Illustrator 7 Studio Secrets 1998Illustrator 8 Bible 1998PageMaker 6.5 Plus for Windows Visual QuickStart Guide 1999PDF with Acrobat 4 Visual QuickStart Guide 1999PhotoDeluxe Home Edition 4 for Windows Visual QuickStart Guide 2000Illustrator 9 for Dummies 2000Illustrator 9 Bible 2000PageMaker 7 for Windows and Macintosh Visual QuickStart Guide 2001Illustrator 10 Bible 2002Illustrator CS for Dummies 2003Illustrator CS Bible 2003Illustrator CS2 Bible 2005Illustrator CS3 Bible 2007Illustrator CS4 for Dummies 2008Illustrator CS4 Bible 2008Illustrator CS5 Bible 2010Board 2 Pieces: Of Dice and Meeples 2011Board 2 Pieces: Something Smells Gamey 2011One Night Ultimate Compendium 2017The following are the games and game expansions designed by Ted Alspach, including original publication date:
Age of Steam Expansion: Bay Area (self-published)2005Seismic (Atlas Games) 2006Age of Steam Expansion: 1830's Pennsylvania / Northern California (self-published) 2006Age of Steam Expansion: Disco Inferno / Soul Train (Bezier Games) 2006Start Player: A Kinda Collectible Card Game (Bezier Games) 2006Age of Steam Expansion: Mississippi Steamboats / Golden Spike (Bezier Games) 2007Age of Steam Expansion: America/Europe (Bezier Games) 2007Age of Steam Expansion: Barbados / St. Lucia (Bezier Games) 2007Age of Steam Expansion: Jamaica / Puerto Rico (Bezier Games) 2007Ultimate Werewolf: Whitebox Edition (Bezier Games) 2007Rapscallion (Bezier Games) 2008Smarty Party - Gamers' Expansion (Bezier Games) 2008Age of Steam Expansion: Secret Blueprints of Steam (Bezier Games) 2008Ubongo Extrem Crazy Expansion (Bezier Games) 2008Age of Steam Expansion: Vermont, New Hampshire & Central New England (Bezier Games) 2008Age of Steam Expansion: Special 2008 Spiel Limited Edition: Essen Spiel & Secret Blueprints of Steam Plan #3 2008Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition (Bezier Games) 2008Start Player (Z-Man Games, daVinci Games) 2008FITS Expansion #1: MOTS: More of the Same (Bezier Games) 2009FITS Expansion #2: LOTS: Letters on the Spaces (Bezier Games) 2009FITS Expansion #3: BOTS: Big Obnoxious Terrible Spaces (Bezier Games) 2009Start Spieler (BeWitched Spiele) 2009Age of Steam Expansion: 1867 Georgia Reconstruction, South Carolina & Oklahoma Land Rush (Bezier Games) 2009Age of Steam Expansion: Alabama Railways, Antebellum Louisiana & Four Corners (Bezier Games) 2009Age of Steam Expansion: Beer & Pretzels (Bezier Games) 2009Beer & Pretzels (Bezier Games) 2009Beer & Pretzels: Purple Coaster Expansion (Bezier Games) 2009Ultimate Werewolf: Classic Movie Monsters (Bezier Games) 2010Ultimate Werewolf: Compact Edition (Bezier Games) 2010Perpetual Motion Machine (Bezier Games) 2010Age of Steam Expansion: California Gold Rush & Underground Railroad (Bezier Games) 2010Age of Steam Expansion: Amazon Rainforest & Sahara Desert (Bezier Games) 2010Age of Steam Expansion: Atlantis & Triland (Bezier Games) 2010Age of Steam Expansion: Sharing & Really Friendly Sharing (Bezier Games) 2010Ticked Off (R&R Games) 2011TieBreaker (Bezier Games) 2011Ultimate Werewolf: Night Terrors (Bezier Games) 2011Ultimate Werewolf Artifacts (Bezier Games) 2011Age of Steam Expansion: Australia & Tasmania (Bezier Games) 2011Age of Steam Expansion: African Diamond Mines & Taiwan Cube Factories (Bezier Games) 2011Age of Steam Expansion: Outer Space & Reversteam (Bezier Games) 2011Age of Steam Expansion: Orient Express & Disoriented Express (Bezier Games) 2011Mutant Meeples (Bezier Games, Pegasus Spiele) 2012Enter the Passage (Bezier Games) 2012Suburbia (Bezier Games, Lookout Games) 2012Kniffel das KartenSpiel (Schmidt Spiele) 2013Ultimate Werewolf: Urban Legends (Bezier Games) 2013You Suck (Bezier Games) 2013Suburbia Inc (Bezier Games) 2013One Night Ultimate Werewolf (with Akihisa Okui) (Bezier Games) 2014Ultimate Werewolf (Bezier Games) 2014Ultimate Werewolf: Deluxe Edition (Bezier Games) 2014Ultimate Werewolf: Wolfpack (Bezier Games) 2014Castles of Mad King Ludwig (Bezier Games) 2014Start Player Express (Bezier Games) 2014One Night Ultimate Werewolf Daybreak (with Akihisa Okui) (Bezier Games) 2015One Night Ultimate Werewolf Bonus Pack 1 (with Akihisa Okui) (Bezier Games) 2015Suburbia 5 Star (Bezier Games) 2015One Night Revolution (Indie Boards & Cards) 2015Castles of Mad King Ludwig Secrets (Bezier Games) 2015One Night Ultimate Vampire (Bezier Games) 2016One Night Ultimate Bonus Pack 2 (Bezier Games) 2016America (with Friedemann Friese) (Bezier Games) 2016Colony (with Toryo Hojo and Yoshihisa Nakatsu) (Bezier Games) 2016One Night Ultimate Alien (Bezier Games) 2017One Night Ultimate Bonus Pack 3 (Bezier Games) 2017Werewords (Bezier Games) 2017Ultimate Werewolf: Hunting Party (Bezier Games) 2017The Palace of Mad King Ludwig (Bezier Games) 2017
