Ephraim Hertzano was a board game

Board game

A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...

 designer born in Romania. He immigrated to Israel where he founded the games company Hertzano. Hertzano's most famous game creation is Rummikub

Rummikub

Rummikub is a tile-based game for two to four players.-History:...

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Biography

Hertzano was a Jewish Israeli.

Hertzano originally made his living selling toothbrushes and other plastic accessories as well as cosmetics

Cosmetics

Cosmetics are substances used to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and...

.

Hertzano started developing the tile game Rummikub in the 1940s, in Romania, when card-playing was outlawed under the Communist regime.

Hertzano moved to Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 in the 1940s after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, continuing the development on Rummikub in the backyard of his house in Bat Yam, and eventually became a professional game developer after publishing it to the markets.

Rummikub was the best-selling game in the United States in 1977.

Hertzano founded the company Lemada Light Industries Ltd

Lemada

Lemada Light Industries Inc. is an Israeli game manufacturer. It was founded in 1978 by Mariana and Micha Hertzano, the children of Ephraim Hertzano , and it is still run by the Hertzano family. The head office is located in Arad....

 in 1978.

Awards

Spiel des Jahres

Spiel des Jahres

The Spiel des Jahres is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the stated purpose of rewarding excellence in game design, and promoting top-quality games in the German market. It is thought that the existence and popularity of the award is one of the major drivers of the quality...

Game of the Year

1980 for Rummikub

Spel van het Jaar

Game of the Year

1983 for Rummikub