Rio Grande Games makes quality German board games available to the US market. This is accomplished by partnering with the German publishers so that as they are being printed for the German market, a simultaneous print run is done in English. The English language games are loaded into a container and shipped to the US. Germany leads the world in the production of quality board and card games and as recently as ten years ago, American gamers were almost completely unaware of them.
Jay Tummelson owns and operates Rio Grande Games. Prior to forming his own company, Jay worked for Mayfair Games for whom he secured the US rights to the enormously popular Settlers of Catan. Mayfair experienced the joy of bankruptcy (from which they are recovering) -- causing many employees to depart. Jay ended up in New Mexico importing German games and simply including English translations. After a few months, in March of 1998, Jay founded Rio Grande Games.
Rio Grande games is the US publisher or US distributor for the following games:
6 Billion(TM)
Africa 2
Aladdin's Dragons 3
Andromeda 2
Attilla * 4
Babel
Barbarossa
Barnyard Critters
Big City * 2
Bohnanza
The Black Rose * 3
The Bucket King 2
Cabale 3
Caesar & Cleopatra 2
Canyon
Cape Horn 3
Caprice 3
Carcassonne 4
Carcassonne expansion 3
Carcassonne: Hunters & Gatherers 4
Carolus Magnus 3
Cartagena 2
Clash of the Gladiators 2
Corsairs 1
Doge 3
Dragonland 3
DVONN 3
Edison & Co. 2
El Caballero * 3
El Grande 3
El Grande Cards 4
El Grande Expansions 3
Elfenland 2
Evergreen
Fossil 3
Frank's Zoo 3
Galloping Pigs 1
Gargon 3
Ghost Chase 4
Gipf 3
Gipf Kit I
Gipf Kit II
Gnumies
Halli Galli
Hare & Tortoise 3
Heave Ho!
Hellas
Hera & Zeus 2
IDO 2
Industrial Waste 3
Java 3
Kahuna 4
Katzenjammer Blues *
King of the Elves 2
Klunker
Knights 1
Löwenherz 4
La Citta 3
Landlord! 3
Lord of the Rings: the Search(TM)
Lost Cities 3
Mamma Mia! 4
Medici 4
Medieval Merchant * 2
Medina 4
Merchants of Amsterdam 3
Meridian 3
Mexica 3
Mississippi Queen 3
Money * 3
Odin's Ravens
Pizzaro & Co. 4
Princes of Florence 4
Pueblo 3
Puerto Rico 4
RA * 3
Reiner Knizia's Samurai * 4
Ricochet Robot * 4
Samarkand * 2
Shark
Siesta 3
Sophie's World
SpaceBeans * 3
Stephenson's Rocket * 4
T-Rex
Taj Mahal 3
Tally Ho! 2
Tamsk 3
Ta Yü * 4
The Reef 1
Tikal 2
Time Pirates 2
Top Secret Spies
Torres 2
Traders of Genoa 4
TransAmerica 3
Trick 'r Treat
Union Pacific * 3
Vampire *
Vino 1
Web of Power * 4
Where's Bob's Hat?
Wyatt Earp 4
Yeti Slalom
Zertz 3
* Indicates that the game is now out of print.
1-4 Editorial evaluation of the game, higher is better -- listed only on games that I've played.
(If you node one of these, drop me a /msg and I'll hardlink.)
Rio Grande's contact information is:
www.riograndegames.com
riogames@aol.com
PO Box 45715
Rio Rancho, NM 87174
Jay Tummelson also does live demos of his new games at many board game events all over the US. If you are attending a large convention (GenCon, Origins, or World Boardgaming Championship) or a medium sized convention out west, there's a fair chance that you'll get to be taught the new RGG stock by Jay himself.