Andrew Looney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Andrew J. Looney | |
| Born | November 5, 1963 |
|---|---|
| Residence | College Park, Maryland |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Andy Looney |
| Known for | Game Designer |
Andrew J. Looney (born November 5, 1963), better known as Andy Looney, is an award-winning game designer and computer programmer.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Looney, his wife Kristin Looney, and Alison Frane together run the games company Looney Labs,[1] which has published most of his game designs, such as Fluxx, Chrononauts, and the Icehouse game system.[2]
The three self-described "Modern Hippies" publish the details of their personal and business life every other Thursday at Wunderland.com.
Before Looney and his wife started Looney Labs, they both worked at NASA, where in 1993 some of Looney's software was launched into orbit as part of the repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope.[3] He then went on to a brief career as a game programmer at Magnet Interactive Studios, where he created that company's only entry to the market, Icebreaker.
[edit] Patents & awards
Looney holds patents on the game mechanics for Icehouse, IceTowers and Chrononauts:
- Method of manipulating and interpreting playing pieces (U.S. Patent 4,936,585)
- Method of conducting simultaneous gameplay using stackable game pieces (U.S. Patent 6,352,262)
- Method of simulation time travel in a card game (U.S. Patent 6,474,650)
Looney has won the following game design awards:
- 1999 — Mensa Mind Games: Mensa Select Award for Fluxx[4]
- 2000 — Origins Award: Best Traditional Card Game for Chrononauts[5]
- 2000 — Origins Award: Best Abstract Board Game for Icehouse[5]
- 2001 — Parents Choice Silver Honors Chrononauts
- 2001 — Origins Award: Best Abstract Board Game for Cosmic Coasters[6]
- 2003 — Parents Choice Silver Honors Nanofictionary
- 2005 — Mensa Mind Games: Mensa Select Award for Zendo[4]
[edit] Works
- Aquarius
- Chrononauts
- Cosmic Coasters
- Fluxx
- Icebreaker
- Icehouse and other games played with the Icehouse pieces:
- Nanofictionary
[edit] References
- ^ West, Susan (October 2005). "The Looney Labs Experiment". GAMES magazine. Games Publications.
- ^ Salen, Katie & Zimmerman, Eric (2003), Rules of Play, Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, pp. p. 546, ISBN 978-0-262-24045-1
- ^ Who is Andrew Looney?
- ^ a b Mensa Select Past Winners
- ^ a b Origins Award Winners 2000
- ^ Origins Award Winners 2001
- ^ 33rd Annual Origins Award Winners
