Wolfgang Kramer is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 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.

Kramer formerly worked as an operations manager and computer scientist

Computer scientist

A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....

, but since 1989 he has worked full-time on game design

Game design

Game design, a subset of game development, is the process of designing the content and rules of a game in the pre-production stage and design of gameplay, environment, storyline, and characters during production stage. The term is also used to describe both the game design embodied in a game as...

. He has designed over 100 games, many which have been nominated for or have won the 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...

. He frequently collaborates with other designers, notably Michael Kiesling

Michael Kiesling

Michael Kiesling is a German board game designer. Many of his games have been nominated for or have won the Spiel des Jahres, a German games award.He is best known for co-authoring the board game trilogy Tikal, Java and Mexica with Wolfgang Kramer....

 and Richard Ulrich

Richard Ulrich

Richard Ulrich is a German board game designer. Many of his games have been nominated for or have won the Spiel des Jahres, a German games award.He is best known for co-authoring the board game El Grande with Wolfgang Kramer.-External links:...

.

A common feature of German-style board games, where players' scores are recorded on a track around the edge of the board, is known in Germany as the Kramerleiste in honour of Wolfgang Kramer. Kramer himself first used this method of score-tracking in his 1984 game, Heimlich & Co.

Kramer is also an author of mystery novels. His works include Der Palast der Rätsel (The Palace of Mysteries) and Die Rätsel der Pyramide (The Mysteries of the Pyramid).

Notable games

• 2005 Hacienda
• 2005 Verflixxt! (with Michael Kiesling) - nominated, Spiel des Jahres
• 2004 Maharaja - nominated, Spiel des Jahres
• 2002 Mexica
  Mexica (board game)
  Mexica is a board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling and published in 2002 by Ravensburger in German and Rio Grande Games in English. Mexica was awarded 5th prize in the 2002 Deutscher Spiele Preis....
  
    (with Michael Kiesling)
• 2000 Java
  Java (board game)
  Java is a German-style board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling and published in 2000 by Ravensburger in German and by Rio Grande Games in English. It is illustrated by Franz Vohwinkel....
  
  (with Michael Kiesling)
• 2000 Torres
  Torres (board game)
  Torres is a German-style board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling and published in 1999 by FX Schmid in German and by Rio Grande Games in English. The game strongly influenced Kramer and Kiesling's Mask Trilogy of games, but is not considered to be a part of the trilogy...
  
  (with Michael Kiesling) - winner, Spiel des Jahres; 2nd place, Deutscher Spiele Preis
• 2000 Princes of Florence (with Richard Ulrich) - 3rd place, Deutscher Spiele Preis
• 2000 Pete the Pirate - winner, Deutscher Spiele Preis children's game
• 1999 Tikal
  Tikal (board game)
  Tikal is a German-style board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling and published in 1999 by Ravensburger in German and by Rio Grande Games in English...
  
  (together with Michael Kiesling) - winner, Spiel des Jahres and Deutscher Spiele Preis
• 1996 El Grande
  El Grande
  El Grande is a German-style board game for 2-5 players, designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich, and published in 1995 by Hans im Glück in German, by Rio Grande Games in English, and by 999 Games in Dutch. The game board represents renaissance-era Spain where the nobility fight for control...
  
  (with Richard Ulrich) - winner, Spiel des Jahres and Deutscher Spiele Preis
• 1994 6 Nimmt!
  6 Nimmt!
  6 Nimmt! / Take 5! is a counting card game designed by Wolfgang Kramer in 1994 and published by Amigo Spiele. The French version is distributed by Gigamic. This game allows 2-10 players who start with ten randomly numbered cards. These are played in turns onto four card stacks with the goal of...
  
  - winner, Deutscher Spiele Preis
• 1991 Corsaro - winner, Spiel des Jahres children's game
• 1987 Auf Achse
  Auf Achse
  Auf Achse is a logistics-themed board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and published in 1987 by FX Schmid. The game won the Spiel des Jahres award. In 1992, a junior edition was released; and in 1994 a rummy-like card game spinoff was released...
  
  - winner, Spiel des Jahres
• 1984 Heimlich & Co. - winner, Spiel des Jahres

External links

• Kramer's games website
• Special K: Wolfgang Kramer, a discussion of Kramer's career