Francis Tresham (game designer)

British board game designer (1936–2019)

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]

Published board games

1825
1829
1829 Mainline
1830
1853
Civilization
Revolution: The Dutch Revolt 1568–1648
Shocks & Scares
Spanish Main
The Game of Ancient Kingdoms

References

^ "MicroProse, Inc. Announces Acquisition of Creator of Civilization(TM) Board Game". Press Release. MicroProse inc. 2 December 1997.^{[dead link]}
^ "Blackwater Station : Personal". www.18xx.net.
^ 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.
^ "Uk Games Expo Hall of Fame". www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
^ "18XX Legend – Francis Tresham – passed away". 23 October 2019.