A game designer is a person who invents games at the conceptual level. Most game designers are "unsung"; for example, no one knows who invented Chess or Hearts.

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This page primarily is meant to list non-video game designers. Please see list of computer and video game industry people for a list of well-known video game designers.

However, there are many public figures in game design, including commercial game developers and game-inventing mathematicians.

Some game designers include:

• Dave Arneson - Co-designer of Dungeons & Dragons, an early influential role-playing game
• Frank Chadwick - Co-founder of Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) and designer of over 50 war and role-playing games, including Twilight 2000 and the Assault series
• Troy Christensen - Designer of Phantasm Adventures, a 1980s role-playing game published in Japanese and English
• John Horton Conway
• Monte Cook
• Jim Dunnigan - Founder of SPI Games and designer of over 100 wargames, including the PanzerBlitz/Panzer Leader system
• James Ernest - president and lead game designer for Cheapass Games
• Richard Garfield - collectible card game (Magic: The Gathering) and board game designer
• Andrew Greenberg
• Ed Greenwood
• Gary Gygax - Co-designer of Dungeons & Dragons, an early influential role-playing game
• Larry Harris
• Stieg Hedlund - Started out in pen-and-paper games before moving on to electronic games
• Steve Jackson (UK)
• Jeff Kinney
• Albert Lamorisse
• Andrew Looney
• Marc Miller Co-founder of GDW and designer / writer of Traveller and several board games
• Mark Rein-Hagen
• Mike Selinker
• C.A. Suleiman
• Jonathan Tweet
• Michael J. Varhola
• Mark H. Walker
• Jordan Weisman
• Tom Wham
• Skip Williams

• Erik Agard
• Will Shortz, puzzle designer for the New York Times crossword^[1]

• William Attia (Caylus, Caylus Magna Carta)
• Alfred Butts (Scrabble)
• Milton Bradley (The Checkered Game of Life), founder of Milton Bradley Company
• Inka Brand (Rajas of the Ganges, Village, Exit Series)
• Markus Brand (Rajas of the Ganges, Village, Exit Series)
• Richard Breese (Aladdin's Dragons, Keythedral, Reef Encounter)
• Kris Burm (Batik, GIPF, ZÈRTZ, DVONN, TAMSK, YINSH, PÜNCT)
• Allan B. Calhamer (Diplomacy)
• Leo Colovini (Clans, Carolus Magnus, Cartagena, Doge, The Bridges of Shangri-La, Magna Grecia, Inkognito)
• Julian Courtland-Smith (Escape from Atlantis)
• Franz-Benno Delonge (Big City, Manila, Dos Rios, TransAmerica, Fjords)
• Rudiger Dorn (The Traders of Genoa, Louis XIV, Goa)
• Stefan Dorra (For Sale, Pick Picnic, Medina, Tonga Bonga, Linie 1, Turn the Tide, Intrige)
• Bruno Faidutti (Citadels, Mystery of the Abbey, Terra)
• Friedemann Friese (Power Grid, Fearsome Floors, Fresh Fish)
• Mac Gerdts (Imperial, Antike)
• Paul J. Gruen
• Elizabeth Hargrave (Wingspan)
• Dirk Henn (Alhambra, Atlantic Star, Metro, Wallenstein, Timbuktu)
• Steve Jackson (Ogre, The Fantasy Trip, Car Wars, GURPS, Hacker, Illuminati)
• Philippe Keyaerts (Evo, Vinci)
• Michael Kiesling (Azul, Heaven & Ale, Tikal, Vikings)
• Reiner Knizia (Ra, Modern Art, Tigris and Euphrates, Samurai, Lost Cities, Schotten Totten, Blue Moon, The Lord of the Rings)
• Wolfgang Kramer (El Grande, Java, Mexica, Tikal, Princes of Florence, Torres)
• Alan R. Moon (Capitol, Elfenland, Union Pacific, Ticket to Ride)
• Christian T. Petersen (Twilight Imperium, A Game of Thrones (board game), World of Warcraft (board game))
• Paul Randles (Pirate's Cove, Key Largo)
• Alex Randolph (Twixt, Raj, Geister, Enchanted Forest, Inkognito, Ricochet Robots)
• Ken Rolston, part of the core team at West End Games
• Charles S. Roberts (Tactics II (first commercial board wargame)), founder of Avalon Hill
• Uwe Rosenberg (Agricola, Bohnanza)
• Sid Sackson (Acquire, Can't Stop, Kohle, Kies & Knete)
• Michael Schacht (Web of Power, Dschunke, Industria, Hansa)
• Karl-Heinz Schmiel (Attila, Die Macher)
• Emiliano Sciarra (Bang!)
• Andreas Seyfarth (Manhattan, Puerto Rico)
• Daniel Stahl (Pirate's Cove)
• Vital Lacerda (Vinhos, Kanban EV, CO2: Second Chance, The Gallerist)
• Gertrude Strohm ("Popping the Question"; "Novel Fortune Telling")
• Jerry Taylor (Hammer of the Scots, Crusader Rex)
• Klaus Teuber (The Settlers of Catan, Adel Verpflichtet, Entdecker, Löwenherz)
• Martin Wallace (Liberte, Age of Steam, Struggle of Empires, Princes of the Renaissance)
• Klaus-Jürgen Wrede (Carcassonne)

• List of video game designers