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Rick Loomis

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See also: Rick Loomis (photojournalist)

Rick Loomis
Loomis at Gen Con Indy 2014
Born(1946-08-24)August 24, 1946[1]
Scottsdale, Arizona
DiedAugust 23, 2019(2019-08-23) (aged 72)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationGame designer

Rick Loomis (August 24, 1946[1] – August 23, 2019) was an American game designer, most notable as the founder of game publisher Flying Buffalo,[2] which he managed until his death.

Career[edit]

Early years[edit]

Richard F. Loomis was born and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona and attended Coronado High School.[3][4] He served in the United States Army for three years starting in 1969, and was stationed at Fort Shafter in Oahu, Hawaii.[5]: 34 [6] He had discovered the wargame Gettysburg by Avalon Hill in a toystore, and in 1970 had invented a game called Nuclear Destruction which—unlike most tabletop games at that time—included hidden movement; in January 1970, Loomis began sending mail to readers who advertised in The General for play-by-mail (PBM) opponents, with an offer to moderate multiplayer games of Nuclear Destruction.[5]: 34  Before long Loomis had over 200 players across multiple games, and requested fellow soldier Steve MacGregor to write a computer program to moderate these games; they started renting time on a computer near Fort Shafter, using the name Flying Buffalo devised by Loomis.[5]: 34 [7] In 1972, he was discharged from the Army and went to college part time, eventually earning an accounting degree from Arizona State University.[3]

Founding Flying Buffalo[edit]

After leaving the military in 1972, Loomis and MacGregor incorporated their PBM company as Flying Buffalo, Inc., or just FBI.[5]: 34  Loomis and MacGregor pooled their savings to purchase a Raytheon 704 minicomputer to run PBM turns.[5]: 35  Loomis claims to have been the first person ever to buy a computer solely to play games on it.[8] According to Shannon Appelcline,

The computer cost $14,000 and came with 4k of memory, a teletype input, and a tape reader and punch for mass storage. For years afterward games were saved as rolls of paper tape hung from nails on a wall.[9]

Loomis acquired Nuclear War and began publishing it in 1972, soon becoming one of Flying Buffalo's best sellers.[5]: 35 [10]

Ken St. Andre asked Loomis to sell 40 copies of Tunnels & Trolls at Origins in July 1975, and when those sold out Flying Buffalo acquired the rights to the game and published their own second edition in December 1975.[5]: 36  Loomis wrote Buffalo Castle (1976) based on a suggestion from a friend to make a dungeon adventure book that allows the player to choose an answer and turn to another page.[5]: 36  Buffalo Castle was an introduction to Tunnels & Trolls, a basic dungeon for a warrior of level 1-2.[11]: 226  Loomis came up with the idea for Grimtooth's Traps, which Flying Buffalo published in 1981.[5]: 37 

"[Rick Loomis] is generally recognized as the founder of the PBM industry."

— The Editors of Space Gamer Magazine, 1985.[12]

Loomis designed the Origins Award-winning play-by-mail game Starweb (1976).[8] Nuclear Escalation, a card game released in 1983, had been the subject of a potential ban on all war related toys when two MPs of the UK Labour Party called the game "a nasty twist on the toy industry". Loomis was interviewed as part of this discussion saying "the game is intended to be humorous ... the subject is so serious that you have to laugh about it because otherwise you'd cry."[13]

When the company's lease on their headquarters ran out in 1985, Loomis moved the offices of Flying Buffalo to a farmhouse he had inherited in Scottsdale, Arizona.[5]: 39  Also in 1985, Loomis tied for first place for "Best PBM Moderator" with Mike Williams (of Rebel Enterprises) in the 1st Annual Paper Mayhem Awards in the November/December 1985 issue of Paper Mayhem.[14]

Loomis was elected on August 19, 1978 to serve as a temporary officer for the President and Treasury of the Association of Game Manufacturers (which was renamed soon after to the Game Manufacturers Association or GAMA).[5]: 36  He was one of the founding members of GAMA and served as its President on multiple occasions.[15][16] He was one of the few remaining Emeritus Directors (alongside Will Niebling and Michael Stackpole) on the board.[17]

In 1988, Loomis received the AAGAD Hall of Fame award at the Origins Game Fair.[18]

Later years[edit]

Flying Buffalo published The Origins Metagame in 2002 for the Origins convention, and Loomis later created Poker decks specifically for the convention.[5]: 40  When it was discovered that Outlaw Press, who were publishing supplements for Tunnels & Trolls, had been using art without permission, Loomis revoked their Tunnels & Trolls license.[5]: 41 

In 2013, Flying Buffalo announced a new version of Tunnels & Trolls;[19][20] the Kickstarter raised over $125,000. Loomis also wrote a new section for his solo Buffalo Castle that was added to the deluxe version of that adventure.[21] The game had a wide release in 2015.[22]

In 2015, Flying Buffalo announced the Kickstarter for the 50th Anniversary edition Nuclear War Card Game;[23] the cards were updated to the full color and it included a third new population deck. The Kickstarter raised over $156,000.[24] The edition had a wide release in 2016.[25]

In March 2019 Flying Buffalo announced the Kickstarter for the Combined Edition of Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes. It combined the text of the 1983 Flying Buffalo edition with the additional text of the 1986 Sleuth edition, corrected errata, and added 20 new pages of content with new illustrations. It earned $31,904 (over a goal of $10,000) and had 886 backers.[26]

Health and death[edit]

In January 2019, Loomis was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer.[27] In an email he said that he was very optimistic as his cancer was "very treatable".[28] On August 17, he was moved to the intensive care unit and could not receive visitors until August 21. A GoFundMe page and a Bundle of Holding offer (Catalyst 2019) were set up to solicit donations for his medical bills. On August 23, 2019, a day before his 73rd birthday, he died of medical complications.[1][29][30]

Bibliography[edit]

  • Loomis, Rick (May 1999). "The History of Play-by-Mail and Flying Buffalo" (PDF). Flying Buffalo Quarterly. No. 79. pp. 2–5. Retrieved April 17, 2020. Provides details on Loomis's military service and transition founding Flying Buffalo Inc. Archived 2021-06-10 at the Wayback Machine.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Steine, Erik. "Announcement - Rick Loomis (Flying Buffalo) has passed". Tenkar's Tavern. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  2. ^ Baker, M. Sharon (June 22, 2001). "Guessing Game", Puget Sound Business Journal 22 (7): 24.
  3. ^ a b Helser, Linda. "War on the Homefront: Scottsdale inventor makes conflict and mayhem a game", The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona, 96th year, number 349, April 30, 1986, page C4.
  4. ^ Martin, J.C. "Fun and fantasy: Board games are no longer child's play", The Arizona Daily Star, volume 137, number 254, September 11, 1978, page 1.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  6. ^ "In Memory of Richard (Rick) F. Loomis 1947-2019 Founder of the Flying Buffalo", flyingbuffalo.com, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 1921.
  7. ^ Wichner, David (August 12, 1991). "Flying Buffalo rounds up players Moves mailed to fantasy game entrepreneur". Phoenix Gazette. p. B5.
  8. ^ a b Loomis, Rick (2007). "Fluxx". In Lowder, James (ed.). Hobby Games: The 100 Best. Green Ronin Publishing. pp. 116–118. ISBN 978-1-932442-96-0.
  9. ^ Appelcline, Shannon (2014). Designers & Dragons: The 70s: A History of the Roleplaying Game Industry. Evil Hat Productions, LLC. 2381. ASIN B00R8RB656.
  10. ^ McLellan, Dennis (April 18, 1986). "Laughing at Apocalypse : In 'Nuclear War,' the End of the World Is in the Cards", Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
  11. ^ Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-653-5.
  12. ^ Editors (July–August 1985). "Rick Loomis on Play-By-Mail [Editor Intro]". Space Gamer: The Magazine of Adventure Gaming. No. #75. p. 35. {{cite magazine}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  13. ^ "MPs seek ban on nuclear board game described as 'disgusting and offensive'". Ottawa Citizen. March 3, 1984. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
  14. ^ "1st Annual Paper Mayhem Awards". Paper Mayhem. No. 15. The Paper Mayhem Association. November–December 1985. p. 23.
  15. ^ "R.I.P. Rick Loomis". ICv2. August 26, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  16. ^ "Rest in Peace, Rick Loomis". The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. August 26, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  17. ^ ICv2 GAMA ELECTS NEW DIRECTORS, OFFICERS - Reveals Current Member Counts, Early Origins Numbers | Posted by Milton Griepp on June 15, 2019 @ 3:01 pm CT
  18. ^ "AAGAD Hall of Fame Award 1988". Archived from the original on December 27, 2013. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
  19. ^ Biggs, John (January 18, 2013). "Kickstarter: Own A Piece Of Role-Playing History With A Remake Of Tunnels & Trolls". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  20. ^ Doctorow, Cory (January 17, 2013). "Kickstarter to revive Tunnels and Trolls, the sillier, more casual early cousin of D&D". Boing Boing.
  21. ^ "Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls". Kickstarter. Retrieved June 10, 2024. "1,638 backers pledged $125,440 to help bring this project to life. [...] Inspirational French publisher Patrice Geille commissioned a revised and heavily re-illustrated updated version of Rick's starter-dungeon solitaire, Buffalo Castle. Liz Danforth did 20 new illustrations and it got a new cover. We will reprint this (in English), and the very first solitaire adventure created for any role-playing game will be given as a pdf to all our supporters".
  22. ^ Newton, Sarah (December 29, 2015). "Packed Full of Fantasy Goodness: The Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls RPG". Black Gate. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  23. ^ Hackard, Andrew (July 26, 2015). "Daily Illuminator: Crowdfunding Focus: Nuclear War 50th Anniversary Edition". SJ Games. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  24. ^ "Nuclear War Card Game 50th Anniversary Edition". Kickstarter. Retrieved June 10, 2024. 1,388 backers pledged $156,696 to help bring this project to life.
  25. ^ "Flying Buffalo Nuclear War Card Game, 50th Anniversary Edition". Target (Product page). Retrieved June 10, 2024. Originally produced in 1965; This remake is from the 2015 Kickstarter. [...] Release date - April 2016
  26. ^ Kickstarter: Mercenaries, Spies, & Private Eyes (Combined Edition) (March 5-March 29, 2019)
  27. ^ Griepp, Milton. "RICK LOOMIS DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER". icv2.com.
  28. ^ ICv2 Rick Loomis Diagnosed With Cancer | Posted by Milton Griepp on January 14, 2019 @ 2:53 pm CT
  29. ^ Zinser, John (August 24, 2019). "RIP Rick Loomis". Alderac.com. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  30. ^ Peters, Jayson (August 24, 2019). "Rick Loomis, influential game designer and publisher, dies". Retrieved August 24, 2019.

References[edit]

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