Flying Buffalo

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Flying Buffalo Incorporated
Company typePrivate
IndustryRole-playing game publisher, Play-by-mail game moderator
Founded1970
HeadquartersScottsdale, Arizona
Key people
Rick Loomis, Steve MacGregor
ProductsTunnels & Trolls
Websitewww.flyingbuffalo.com

Flying Buffalo Incorporated (FBI) is a Scottsdale, Arizona game company that publishes role playing games, card games, gaming materials, and runs Play-by-mail games.

History

In 1970 Rick Loomis invented a game called Nuclear Destruction, a play-by-mail game, for which he moderated multiplayer games.[1]: 34  Nuclear Destruction is widely considered to be the first commercial play-by-mail (PBM) game. He soon had more than 200 players in multiple games, and asked fellow soldier Steve MacGregor to write a computer program to moderate the games; they began renting time on a computer near Fort Shafter, using the name Flying Buffalo devised by Loomis.[1]: 34 [2] After leaving the military in 1972, Loomis and MacGregor incorporated their PBM company as Flying Buffalo, Inc., or FBI.[1]: 34  Loomis and MacGregor pooled their savings to purchase a Raytheon 704 minicomputer to run PBM turns.[1]: 35  In 1976 the company started running a space exploration/conquest PBM game titled Starweb.

Flying Buffalo has also published games outside of PBM. Loomis acquired Nuclear War and began publishing it in 1972; it soon became one of Flying Buffalo's best sellers.[1]: 35  In 1975 they published Tunnels & Trolls, a fantasy role playing game generally similar to Dungeons & Dragons. Later products included background materials for fantasy role playing games, which became the "Catalyst" series. They also produce a range of unusual dice, such as a set to determine which toppings to order on pizza, and currently hold the printing rights to the Ace of Aces and Lost Worlds flip book systems. The company also ran a gaming store at various locations in Tempe, Arizona until 1985.

In 1992, the fiction book Mage's Blood and Old Bones: A Tunnels & Trolls Shared World Anthology was published by Flying Buffalo.[3] Following the dissolution of TSR in 1997, Flying Buffalo remains the oldest pen-and-paper role-playing game publisher in the world.[4]: 115 

List of games

Awards

Flying Buffalo has had a long history in the gaming industry and has won numerous awards.[5]

Origins Hall of Fame award is given to game designers whose contributions are considered to be the best in their field. Flying Buffalo has had a number of their writers and designers win this award.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  2. ^ Wichner, David (August 12, 1991). "Flying Buffalo rounds up players Moves mailed to fantasy game entrepreneur". Phoenix Gazette. p. B5.
  3. ^ http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM2262407&R=2262407
  4. ^ Appelcline, Shannon (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '70s. Silver Spring, MD: Evil Hat Productions. ISBN 978-1-61317-075-5.
  5. ^ "Awards we have won". Flying Buffalo.
  6. ^ "Origins/Charles Roberts Award Winners (1980)". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Archived from the original on 2008-04-15. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
  7. ^ "Origins Award Winners (1993)". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Archived from the original on 2007-11-06. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
  8. ^ "Origins Game Fair Winners 1982". GAMA - Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 4 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  9. ^ a b "Origins Game Fair Winners 1990". GAMA - Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 2014-10-04.
  10. ^ "Origins Game Fair Winners 1991". GAMA - Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 2014-09-24.
  11. ^ a b c "Origins Game Fair Winners 1992". GAMA - Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 2014-10-04.
  12. ^ a b "Origins Game Fair Winners 1997". GAMA - Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 4 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  13. ^ a b "Origins Game Fair Winners 1983". GAMA - Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 4 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  14. ^ "Origins Game Fair Winners 1984". GAMA - Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 4 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  15. ^ "Origins Game Fair Winners 2000". GAMA - Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  16. ^ "Origins Game Fair Winners 2003". GAMA - Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  17. ^ "Origins Game Fair Winners 2006". GAMA - Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  18. ^ "AAGAD Hall of Fame Award 1988". GAMA - Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  19. ^ "AAGAD Hall of Fame Award 1993". GAMA - Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  20. ^ "AAGAD Hall of Fame Award 1995". GAMA - Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  21. ^ "KEN ST ANDRE INDUCTED IN THE ORGINS AWARDS HALL OF FAME". Dungeon Master Magazine. Retrieved 20 June 2018.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flying_Buffalo&oldid=960010984"