Wolfgang Kramer

professional game-designer. For many years, Kramer and Michael Kiesling worked on games together by telephone and fax correspondence despite never having met. They are still producing games together in the 2020s, like Renature (2020), Terra Pyramides (2023) or Lords of Worlds (2025). Kramer is now in his eighties and Kiesling in his sixties. Kramer has often collaborated with other authors. His collaboration with Richard Ulrich has given him two of his most notable successes, El Grande and The Princes of Florence (2000). Kramer has won the German "Spiel Des Jahres" prize a record five times. There does not seem to be a common theme throughout Kramer's work, which ranges from family games, through to high-strategy titles. What is evident in his games is the sheer wealth of experience Kramer and his collaborators carry. Abridged List of Notable Games 1984 Heimlich & Co. (1986 Spiel des Jahres Winner) 1985 Wildlife Adventure 1987 Auf Achse (1987 Spiel des Jahres Winner) 1988 Forum Romanum 1992 Viva Pamplona! 1994 Take 5 (1994 Deutscher Spiele Preiz Winner) 1994 Big Boss 1995 El Grande (with Richard Ulrich) (1996 Spiel des Jahres Winner) 1996 Expeditions: Around the World 1996 Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix 1998 El Caballero (with Richard Ulrich) 1999 Torres (with Michael Kiesling) 1999 Tikal, and later Mask Trilogy games (with Michael Kiesling) 1999 Java (with Michael Kiesling) 2000 The Princes of Florence (with Richard Ulrich) 2002 Pueblo 2002 Mexica (with Michael Kiesling) 2003 Gulo Gulo 2004 Maharaja: The Game of Palace Building in India (with Michael Kiesling) 2004 Hacienda 2005 That's Life! (with Michael Kiesling) 2007 Colosseum (with Markus Lübke) 2010 Seeland (with Günter Burkhardt) 2010 Tikal II: The Lost Temple (with Michael Kiesling) 2010 Asara (with Michael Kiesling) 2011 Artus (with Michael Kiesling) 2012 The Palaces of Carrara (with Michael Kiesling) 2013 Coal Baron (with Michael Kiesling) 2013 Nauticus (with Michael Kiesling) 2014 Linko (with Michael Kiesling) 2015 Porta Nigra (with Michael Kiesling) 2015 Adventure Land (with Michael Kiesling) 2016 Coal Baron: The Great Card Game (with Michael Kiesling) 2017 Downforce (with Rob Daviau and Justin D. Jacobson) 2018 Cuzco (with Michael Kiesling) 2020 Paris (with Michael Kiesling) 2020 Renature (with Michael Kiesling) 2021 Savannah Park (with Michael Kiesling) 2022 Wandering Towers (with Michael Kiesling) 2022 Caldera Park (with Michael Kiesling) 2023 Terra Pyramides (with Michael Kiesling) 2024 Bloom 2024 Up or Down? (with Michael Kiesling) 2025 Lords of Worlds (with Michael Kiesling) 2026 Market Fresh (with Michael Kiesling) Interviews Interviews by an Optimist # 73 - Wolfgang Kramer (El Grande) See the weblinks module for more interviews. It is said that Kramer's Heimlich & Co. was the first to use a victory point track going around the board (known among German gamers as a Kramerleiste). (See westpark-gamers.de interview.) Wolfgang Kramer Fan Kramer Freak