[AllenGould]

Possibly the most brilliant, elegant game mechanic anywhere. Probably my favorite (sorry, Trek).

There's a lot of Wars that I didn't like, but the deck/"money"/life revolving mechanic is one I wish had been borrowed for other games over the years.

[Maelwys]

Scanning some articles, I found this bio that Rollie wrote himself last summer, for a new project that he was joining at the time (http://spielbound.org/). Since people here were asking what he'd been up to more recently, although this doesn't directly answer that I think it speaks well to the kind of person he was, and why he moved away from the hardcore CCG games to the party games (Tribbles, Austin Powers, and all the other ones later).

My entire life has been centered around board games. From playing, to designing, to being a publishing agent. Getting my start as a Chess Master, and Pente World Champion, before moving on to designing and having a couple dozen tabletop games published. Most notably the Star Trek: CCG and Star Wars: CCG. Although my background was originally with abstract strategy games, I prefer designing social (party) games, as I believe that a good game is one that facilitates social interaction (rather than being about winning or losing).

[NatTrek]

A tragic loss to all ccg players.

[Se7enofMine]

We hardly knew ye .....

No. Seriously. Before today, I hadn't heard the name before.

BUT it is absolutely a loss to the community. He, and others like him, brought us all together to play these silly games we mark out over.

RIP sir.

PS. Rough week. First Mr. Sheppard, now this.

[Professor Scott]

So sorry to hear, but a very fitting tribute.

[jjh]

Scotty's bagpipes are playing for Rollie Tesh.

[Klauser]

Sad news indeed. From what I've been able to read on the internet, he was a dedicated gamer and developer.

Rest in peace - and thank you.

[Maelwys]

Here's the online memorial page, for those interested.

https://www.forevermissed.com/rollietesh/

[Lisa1704]

I just wanted to post a Thank You for the nice messages regarding my brother Rollie Tesh's passing. I enjoyed reading your comments and hearing how important he was to CCG community. I hope you will visit our Memorial for Rollie and leave a tribute or story if you'd like. We would be grateful. Best wishes to all of you. Lisa Tesh

www.forevermissed.com/rollietesh

[sexecutioner]

I just wanted to post a Thank You for the nice messages regarding my brother Rollie Tesh's passing. I enjoyed reading your comments and hearing how important he was to CCG community. I hope you will visit our Memorial for Rollie and leave a tribute or story if you'd like. We would be grateful. Best wishes to all of you. Lisa Tesh

http://www.forevermissed.com/rollietesh

My thoughts go out to you during this difficult time Lisa.

This game, from 1995, has always been a big part of my life. It gave me incentive to finally travel the world and meet the most amazing people. I'm so happy that this community keeps Rollie's vision alive and well. He will be missed.

[Faithful Reader]

I believe he was quoted as saying that he could have designed a game that looked great but played horribly. Thank you for doing better. RIP.

Possibly the most brilliant, elegant game mechanic anywhere. Probably my favorite (sorry, Trek).

There's a lot of Wars that I didn't like, but the deck/"money"/life revolving mechanic is one I wish had been borrowed for other games over the years.

Yashima, designed by one of our own, takes that mechanic and adds in a hex board.

[Mogh]

Rest in peace, Rollie.

I had the privilege of meeting Rollie and long-time collaborator Tom Braunlich for at least one (maybe two?) playtest sessions in Norfolk during development of First Contact.

I found this written by Tom on ForeverMissed.com:

Lisa Tesh asked me to write some stories about Rollie here, since I knew him so long…45 years. I could write reams. This will only give some hints about what he was like.

Rollie was a truly creative person. He mostly loved intellectual challenges of all kinds – games strategy, designs, and puzzles. And to him things like politics, the stock market, and people in general were just another kind of puzzle.

I met him in high school where he got me into tournament chess. He won the state junior championship in the mid-70s, and later became a rated “Expert”. (No doubt he would have become a Master had he put in the effort but he quit tournaments in the early ‘80s, yet remained an avid fan of the sport his whole life as a spectator). After high school in 1976 he wanted to travel. Instead of college, he wrangled a station-wagon car out of his parents with the idea of fixing up the back to sleep in and traveling around the country playing in chess tournaments for prize money. He did that for about 6 months as I recall. When the money ran out he worked for a year as part of a troop of selling magazines door-to-door in a high-pressure, never-take-no-for-an-answer style. I think this affected his personality a lot as he came to think he could manipulate anyone into doing anything (he told me so), but it did not serve him well with friends as if you ever got into a disagreement with him he couldn’t let it go until you either capitulated to his arguments or got so mad you’d want to throw a punch! Despite that he had a certain integrity and trustworthiness, as even if sometimes he was trying to manipulate you into something he thought it was for your own good.

Later in the ‘70s he worked for Chess Digest in Dallas, editing technical chess books, and also as a waiter in a high-class restaurant there, where he was good at wrangling big tips. One day in 1980 I got a call from him and I mentioned I was involved with a new strategy game company called Pente in Stillwater (Okla.) where I was in college, and he immediately saw that opportunity and came up and wrangled a job. We both worked there (it was the biggest-selling board game in 1982 before being sold to Parker Brothers in 1983). This convinced him that he could have a career in the game industry. He and I both worked separately for some short-lived game companies until I decided to go on my own with game design when I was living in Seattle in 1987, and he soon came up to join me as my business partner, which we did for the next 15 years. We would design games (and some toys too) and try to license them to game publishers, getting royalties like book authors do. His creativity and savvy really shined in this work, and we made a good and prolific team.

For example, one day I came into the office with an idea that we could take the “scratch-off technology” they use on lottery scratch tickets, and turn it into a two-player game. I was unsure of the idea, because the games would be disposable one-time plays, and no one had ever done that before. But he was enthusiastic and figured out how to do it, including how to do the printing process, etc. (which required much research). It was called “Scratchees” and was our first successful game (and still one of my favorites). We had enough minor successes that we made a living at game design (since neither of us had a family and could live simply). Finally in 1994-2001 we had some big hits with Star Trek and Star Wars customizable card games with our good friends at Decipher Inc., in Virginia, to which we had to move from Seattle, as we were extremely busy working exclusively on those massive projects for years. After that I retired from the game biz in 2002 but Rollie continued working in it on his own and continued to until the end, frequently getting games published, enough to live on.

Rollie’s other big passion was travel. Whenever he got some money in his pocket he would go somewhere – mainly to Europe but also Quebec, Latin America and the Caribbean and once visited the Philippines and the wedding of our mutual friend designer Joli Q. Kansil. Like everything, Rollie treated travel as an intellectual challenge, in this case how to get the most out of it. I went with him on a couple such trips and he made a good traveling companion, as he was very thoughtful about where to go – staying out of tourist traps and getting to see the real place. He had many techniques of his own devising. The first thing he would do upon arriving is find the local “pub” and hang out there, to cultivate serendipity and to get the real scoop on the place and the people, which to him was how you “win” the traveling game. And his theories included even what music to play in his headphones while visiting museums and sights — he would always choose some particular song to play at particular place – and nowhere else – so that forever after he would associate that song in his mind with that place. I took this advice myself on trips – and it works. For example, when I went to Amsterdam one time, he told me to go to the Van Gogh museum and play Don McLean’s “Vincent” song while there. I did, and now whenever I hear that song I am suddenly back in Amsterdam.

This is typical of what it was like to know Rollie. He was in Europe when 9/11 happened. He decided to stay and ended up there for several more years, mainly in Prague but traveling all over, until his savings eventually ran out and he had to return and get back into the game design business. As for his love life, don’t ask me, I know nothing as he was very secretive about it and I was not the kind of person to ask. I know he had some important relationships, including one in Prague when he lived there, but they didn’t last.

In recent years he worked at some boardgame cafes in London, Asheville, and Omaha; where he could be involved in games and also do design work on the side. He loved that, but his health was poor due to a bout with depression after 2003 that led to alcoholism, as well as a lifetime of smoking cigarettes, and there was a decline that ended at a young age this week.

The past couple days talking with our friends at Decipher they all fondly remembered his creativity, saying that although it was hard to tell the difference between his brilliant ideas and his crazy ideas, he always advocated for them all with equal enthusiasm! Sometimes it was frustrating when he kept fighting for an idea that no one else liked, but all agreed this was something to admire about him too, and how he will be remembered. The world will be a less challenging and interesting place without Rollie in it…

[Fritzinger]

I posted. Thought I'd let his people know how far his games went around the world.