In Memory of

Franz-Benno Delonge


	On September 2, 2007 German game designer and Judge, Franz-Benno Delonge died from cancer at the age of 50. Benno designed several German-style games and when he was not designing games he was a Judge in Munich Germany. He leaves behind a wife and young daughter.

He preferred to be called Benno and as he commented in a Board Game Geek list, “My profession is to be a judge.” He designed 13 games, which I have listed below of which I currently own 5 but look forward to acquiring and playing more of them.

The first game of Benno’s that I played was “TransAmerica” at GenCon 2004. Andrew and I were waiting to play in the RoboRally qualifiers, which was delayed, and another group of gamers taught us how to play. It was a fun game and I eventually went on to purchase it. “TransAmerica” is a GREAT gateway game (a game to introduce players that are used to American games such as Monopoly, Risk, etc. to Euro style games).

I heard about Benno’s game “Goldbrau” in an audio review by Ted Cheatham and then looked it up on Board Game Geek. It looked very interesting and I added it to my wishlist on BGG. In “Goldbrau” the players try to make the most money owning stock in 4 breweries and 6 beer gardens. I have yet to play “Goldbrau” but I still want to add it to my game collection and enjoy playing it.

Two more of the games that Benno designed that I am looking forward to getting are scheduled to be published by Valley Games. The first is “Container” which is scheduled to be released at the Essen Game convention in Germany this year. The other game is “Big City” which looks very interesting and is currently out of print but is on the Valley Games 750 Special.

Along with his family and friends, the gaming community will miss Benno Delonge, but he will live on in the games that he has designed.

Game	Year	Own
Big City	1999	YES
TransAmerica	2001	YES
Hellas	2002	YES
Zahltag	2002	YES
Dos Rios	2004	YES
Goldbrau	2004	YES
Nah Dran!	2004
Fjords	2005	YES
Manila	2005	YES
TransEuropa	2005	YES
Kunstmarkt	2006	YES
Container	2007	YES
Zanzibar	2007	YES

Personal Note: Why did I feel it important that I make a web page dedicated to the memory of Franz-Benno Delonge and the games he designed? I have really only played and at the time of his death owned one of his games. I have been interested in a couple of his other games but I did not realize that he was the designer of them at the time.

I think the reason I made this page is his age and the young daughter he had. He was 50 when he died and that is really close to my current age. I believe his daughter was 7 at the time of his death and that is too young for a child to lose one of their parents. I know it happens everyday but that is just too young for somebody to die and for a child to lose a parent.

I have recently talked to others about the 50 hours of gaming that I want to do on my 50th Birthday (over an extended weekend) in 2 years. In the next 2 years I want to get as many of Benno Delonges games as I can so that on my 50th birthday I can play them during the 50 hours of gaming.

Inntrepid - September 17, 2007


		Another Personal Note: I have acquired all of the games I need for my collection. The only one remaining is a German trivia type game and me and the people that I would play with don’t know that much German. I did not play as many of Franz-Benno Delonge’s games on the 50 hours of gaming for my 50th birthday but I did complete the 50 hours. Inntrepid - July 14, 2010

The Franz-Benno Delonge Approach

	BoardGameGeek - GeekList by heli - March 26, 2004

Franz-Benno Delonge Interview

The Games Journal - Interview by Dave Shaprio - August 2004

Interviews by an Optimist #43 - Benno Delonge

The Dice Tower - Interviews by Tom Vasel - June 2005

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last updated 7-14-2010


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