Hall of Fame

“In our Hall of Fame we find those people who have made critical contributions to gaming overall. We have those who elevated game design to an art and those who elevated the art found in game design. We have members who have made contributions to the business side of gaming, and those whose contributions have been less in design and production than in service to the industry as a whole. And we have the greatest fruits of their labors enshrined there as well.” — Michael Stackpole, Hall of Fame inductee.

Introduction to the Hall of Fame

Game design is a very old field, dating back to games such as Senet in ancient Egypt. What gaming means to everyone has evolved over the years. When the Hall of Fame first started in 1974, War Gaming was a very big part of the field. A few years later Role Playing Games came onto the scene. This was followed by an explosion in tabletop board gaming, then by Trading Card Games, Cooperative Games, Deck Builders, and many more categories as well as unique games that do not fit into any mold.

The Hall of Fame is intended to honor the contributions made by individuals over the years that have advanced the tabletop gaming field. The individuals included in the Hall have contributed over their careers to expanding the reach of gaming and created games that bring people together to enjoy the lifestyle of strategy, challenges, and fun. The Hall of Fame also honors specific games that showcase innovation and exceptional quality as well as endeavors that promote gaming such as publications and other media.

The Hall includes many industry legends, such as Dungeons and Dragons creators Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, Magic the Gathering creator Richard Garfield, and Reiner Knizia, one of the most prolific board and card game designers of all time. Not all of the inductees are well known, and gaming is not a field where there are a large number of household names among its elite. However, all of members of the Hall have helped elevate gaming to heights it had never achieved before. The contributions come from writers, artists, sculptors, publishers, and designers from many areas of tabletop gaming. Miniatures Gaming, Role Playing Games, Play-by-Mail Games, Board Games, Trading Card Games. Individuals from all of these areas are honored here.

The members of the Hall of Fame select new individuals and games for induction each year and the inductions take place at the Origins Game Convention in Columbus Ohio. While there are some exceptions, individuals are generally considered for induction after they have been in the field for 20 years, with work in any area of gaming or gaming related activities applying towards consideration. Products and media entries are considered after 10 years from the date of first publication or launch. Tactics, the first modern wargame, came out in 1952 and that year is used as the cutoff for induction as that started the modern core hobby era.

Below is a list of the current members of the Hall of Fame and the year they were inducted.

An asterisk indicates that sadly, the member has passed away.

Mike Elliott
AAGAD Hall of Fame Curator