Tim Trant (tim@eecg.toronto.edu)

I'm 33 years old and single. At work, I'm a computer systems administrator (in effect, although by title I'm some grade of Programmer/Analyst) for the Computer Group in Electrical Engineering at the University of Toronto, managing various groups of Sun workstations. In Real Life, my major hobby is (board)games of various types. I've been interested in wargames, particularly at the tactical level (but NOT ASL), for 15+ years, and have become more interested in less complicated "fuzzy" games just since 1992 or so. The change was sparked by postings on rec.games.board about various neat-sounding European products, as I was looking for games which could/would be played with my "non-gaming" relatives during weekend evenings at our TV-less summer cottage. I found Ravensburger's Amazing Labyrinth and Scotland Yard locally, and both were well-received. Then I got Hare and Tortise (from Games People Play in Boston, after a sister moved down near Boston) and I was hooked.

I've had the most fun lately with racing games, specifically Um Reifenbreite (a.k.a. Demarrage or Homas Tour) and Formule De, with Daytona 500 and The Really Nasty Horse Racing Game due for some attention next. Modifying and adding to the Formule De rules, in e-mail partnership with Carl Schnurr, was my first published (in Sumo) game design work. I've just completed a quite-successful ten-race Formule De series, which was played with eight converted wargaming friends, so I expect that my next project will be firming up some alternative series rules for the game. Some other favourite games include Modern Art, Elfenroads, Tal der Koenige, and (on the wargame side) SPQR.

How's that?

Tim

August 15, 1994

The Game Cabinet - editor@gamecabinet.com - Ken Tidwell