Alex Randolf

American board game designer and writer. A cosmopolitan figure, he was born in Czechoslovakia to a Russian father and an American mother, spending his childhood and adolescence in Venice. He studied at a Swiss boarding school, where he developed his passion for board games. He later moved with his family to the United States, where he met the physicist Enrico Fermi, whom he challenged to chess multiple times. After the war, he returned to Europe and spent a period in Japan, where he learned to play Shogi, the Japanese variant of chess, before ultimately returning to Venice.
He absorbed diverse cultures and languages, accumulating experiences that informed his game designs. In the 1960s, he became the world’s first professional game designer, publishing over 200 games, recognized as masterpieces of ingenuity and sophistication. He also advocated for the recognition of game designers’ intellectual property rights.

Works on display:

• Chess set, wood, c. 1990