Ted Alspach

Ted Alspach is an American game designer and CEO of Bezier Games, Inc. He is best known as the designer of Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Suburbia, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, Ultimate Werewolf, and Werewords. Alspach is also one of the world's leading experts on Adobe Illustrator. He served as its Group Product Manager for several releases and published 18 books on it over the course of 20 years.

Early life and education Alspach was born in New York on February 1, 1968, and grew up in Southeastern Pennsylvania. He credits his father and grandfather with instilling in him a love of board games from a very early age. He received a B.S. in Marketing from Messiah College in Grantham, PA. While there, he founded and published a school magazine there, The Grand Tham, funded entirely by local business advertisements.

Career As a college senior, Alspach interned at Laser Graphics 2000, one of the country's first graphics service bureaus. This turned into an opportunity in system design and training as the small company transitioned into Teeple Graphics (which enabled printing and graphics companies to move from analog to digital tools). During this time, Alspach designed two popular typefaces: RansomNote and LeftyCasual, the latter of which has been used for branding for Comedy Central, Pixar, and Levi Strauss & Co.

Writing As a result of developing training curriculum, Alspach began writing reviews and how-to articles for magazines such as MacAddict and Macworld. He published his first book, The Macworld Illustrator Bible, in 1995, which contained a foreword written by Pierre Bézier. Over the next several years, Alspach wrote more than 30 books on graphics and desktop publishing, including the bestselling Illustrator For Dummies series.

Artwork and Graphic Design Alspach has also created artwork and graphic design for many projects, including most of the books and articles he's written, many of both his games and those published by Bezier Games, Inc., and was the sole creator of the Board 2 Pieces online comic, which ran twice a week from 2006 through 2012 on Boardgamenews.com and then OpinionatedGamers.com (he's the uncredited designer of that site's logo).

Product Management Alspach worked at Adobe as Group Product Manager for Illustrator and the Creative Suite from 1999 to 2006. He oversaw the release of Illustrator 9, 10, CS, CS2, and Creative Suite CS, CS2, and was responsible for many transformative Illustrator features including Live Effects, Transparency, Envelopes, and the integration of Adobe Dimensions 3D software into Illustrator. At Adobe, he also authored a patent for vector-based flares.

Alspach also worked in product management at Intuit and Corel, as well as gamification software company Bunchball, before leaving the software industry completely in 2013.

Bezier Games, Inc. Alspach's journey in the game industry began with publishing several expansions for Age of Steam. He founded Bezier Games in 2006 with the release of Start Player.

Alspach's games range from social deduction and party games to mid-weight strategy games. He has carved out a unique niche with werewolf themed games, from Ultimate Werewolf to Werewords to the Silver series of card games. Alspach is credited as having designed over 80 stand-alone games and expansions.

Bezier Games, Inc. now publishes many games designed by Alspach, as well as other distinguished designers such as Tom Lehmann, Freidemann Friese, Scott Caputo, and Rob Daviau. In addition to being the CEO of Bezier Games, Inc., Alspach continues to design new games and to develop titles from other designers.

Awards Suburbia and Castles of Mad King Ludwig won the Mensa Select award. His 2015 title One Night Ultimate Werewolf was on the Spiel des Jahres Recommended list due to its revolutionary app integration. In 2019, Werewords was a Spiel des Jahres finalist.

Game Designer list The following are the games and game expansions designed by Alspach, including original publication date: Age of Steam Expansion: Bay Area (self-published) 2005 Seismic (Atlas Games) 2006 Age of Steam Expansion: 1830s Pennsylvania / Northern California (self-published) 2006 Age of Steam Expansion: Disco Inferno / Soul Train (Bezier Games) 2006 Start Player: A Kinda Collectible Card Game (Bezier Games) 2006 Age of Steam Expansion: Mississippi Steamboats / Golden Spike (Bezier Games) 2007 Age of Steam Expansion: America/Europe (Bezier Games) 2007 Age of Steam Expansion: Barbados / St. Lucia (Bezier Games) 2007 Age of Steam Expansion: Jamaica / Puerto Rico (Bezier Games) 2007 Ultimate Werewolf: Whitebox Edition (Bezier Games) 2007 Rapscallion (Bezier Games) 2008 Smarty Party - Gamers' Expansion (Bezier Games) 2008 Age of Steam Expansion: Secret Blueprints of Steam (Bezier Games) 2008 Ubongo Extrem Craxy Expansion (Bezier Games) 2008 Age of Steam Expansion: Vermont, New Hampshire & Central New England (Bezier Games) 2008 Age of Steam Expansion: Special 2008 Spiel Limited Edition: Essen Spiel & Secret Blueprints of Steam Plan #3 2008 Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition (Bezier Games) 2008 Start Player (Z-Man Games, daVinci Games) 2008 FITS Expansion #1: MOTS: More of the Same (Bezier Games) 2009 FITS Expansion #2: LOTS: Letters on the Spaces (Bezier Games) 2009 FITS Expansion #3: BOTS: Big Obnoxious Terrible Spaces (Bezier Games) 2009 Start Spieler (BeWitched Spiele) 2009 Age of Steam Expansion: 1867 Georgia Reconstruction, South Carolina & Oklahoma Land Rush (Bezier Games) 2009 Age of Steam Expansion: Alabama Railways, Antebellum Louisiana & Four Corners (Bezier Games) 2009 Age of Steam Expansion: Beer & Pretzels (Bezier Games) 2009 Beer & Pretzels (Bezier Games) 2009 Beer & Pretzels: Purple Coaster Expansion (Bezier Games) 2009 Ultimate Werewolf: Classic Movie Monsters (Bezier Games) 2010 Ultimate Werewolf: Compact Edition (Bezier Games) 2010 Perpetual Motion Machine (Bezier Games) 2010 Age of Steam Expansion: California Gold Rush & Underground Railroad (Bezier Games) 2010 Age of Steam Expansion: Amazon Rainforest & Sahara Desert (Bezier Games) 2010 Age of Steam Expansion: Atlantis & Triland (Bezier Games) 2010 Age of Steam Expansion: Sharing & Really Friendly Sharing (Bezier Games) 2010 Ticked Off (R&R Games) 2011 TieBreaker (Bezier Games) 2011 Ultimate Werewolf: Night Terrors (Bezier Games) 2011 Ultimate Werewolf Artifacts (Bezier Games) 2011 Age of Steam Expansion: Australia & Tasmania (Bezier Games) 2011 Age of Steam Expansion: African Diamond Mines & Taiwan Cube Factories (Bezier Games) 2011 Age of Steam Expansion: Outer Space & Reversteam (Bezier Games) 2011 Age of Steam Expansion: Orient Express & Disoriented Express (Bezier Games) 2011 Mutant Meeples (Bezier Games, Pegasus Spiele) 2012 Enter the Passage (Bezier Games) 2012 Suburbia (Bezier Games, Lookout Games) 2012 Kniffel das KartenSpiel (Schmidt Spiele) 2013 Ultimate Werewolf: Urban Legends (Bezier Games) 2013 You Suck (Bezier Games) 2013 Suburbia Inc (Bezier Games) 2013 One Night Ultimate Werewolf (with Akihisa Okui) (Bezier Games) 2014 Ultimate Werewolf (Bezier Games) 2014 Ultimate Werewolf: Deluxe Edition (Bezier Games) 2014 Ultimate Werewolf: Wolfpack (Bezier Games) 2014 Castles of Mad King Ludwig (Bezier Games) 2014 Start Player Express (Bezier Games) 2014 One Night Ultimate Werewolf Daybreak (with Akihisa Okui) (Bezier Games) 2015 One Night Ultimate Werewolf Bonus Pack 1 (with Akihisa Okui) (Bezier Games) 2015 Suburbia 5 Star (Bezier Games) 2015 One Night Revolution (Indie Boards & Cards) 2015 Castles of Mad King Ludwig Secrets (Bezier Games) 2015 One Night Ultimate Vampire (Bezier Games) 2016 One Night Ultimate Bonus Pack 2 (Bezier Games) 2016 America (with Friedemann Friese) (Bezier Games) 2016 Colony (with Toryo Hojo and Yoshihisa Nakatsu) (Bezier Games) 2016 One Night Ultimate Alien (Bezier Games) 2017 One Night Ultimate Bonus Pack 3 (Bezier Games) 2017 Werewords (Bezier Games) 2017 Ultimate Werewolf: Hunting Party (Bezier Games) 2017 The Palace of Mad King Ludwig (Bezier Games) 2017 Werewords Deluxe Edition (Bezier Games) 2018 Ultimate Werewolf Legacy (with Rob Daviau) (Bezier Games) 2018 One Week Ultimate Werewolf (Bezier Games) 2018 One Night Ultimate Super Villains (Bezier Games) 2019 Silver (Bezier Games) 2019 Suburbia Collector's Edition (Bezier Games) 2019 Silver Bullet (Bezier Games) 2019 One Night Ultimate Super Heroes (Bezier Games) 2019 One Night Ultimate Bonus Roles (Bezier Games) 2019 Silver Coin (Bezier Games) 2020 Silver Dagger (Bezier Games) 2020 Maglev Metro (Bezier Games) 2021 Suburbia 2nd Edition (Bezier Games) 2021 Suburbia Expansions (Bezier Games) 2021 Ultimate Werewolf Extreme (Bezier Games) 2021 Ultimate Werewolf Bonus Roles (Bezier Games) 2021 Ultimate Werewolf Pro (Bezier Games) 2021 Castles of Mad King Ludwig Collector's Edition (Bezier Games) 2022 Maglev Metro: Mechs & Monorails (Bezier Games) 2023 Maglev Metro: Moonbases & Mars (Bezier Games) 2023 Scram! (Bezier Games) 2023 Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Renovations (Bezier Games) 2023 Castles of Mad King Ludwig 2nd Edition (Bezier Games) 2023 Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Expansions (Bezier Games) 2023 Blueprints of Mad King Ludwig (Bezier Games) 2023 Sandbag (Bezier Games) 2024 The Search for UAPs (Renegade Game Studios & Bezier Games) 2024 Silver Collector's Edition (Bezier Games) 2024 Colossal Cat in the Box (Bezier Games) 2024 Silver Eye (Bezier Games) 2025 Silver Fang (Bezier Games) 2025 Scream! (Bezier Games) 2025 Maglev Metro: Ghost Train & Outback (Bezier Games) 2026 Maglev Metro: Nanobots Inc. & Nanotech University (Bezier Games) 2026 Maglev Metro: Barcelona & Chicago (Bezier Games) 2026 Zombie Princess (Bezier Games) 2026 Warp 99: Hyperdrive (Bezier Games) 2026

Game Developer list The following are the games and game expansions developed by Alspach, including original publication date: Age of Steam Expansion: Sun & London (2006) Ultimate Werewolf Inquisition (2013) Terra (English Edition) (2014) Favor of the Pharaoh (2015) Ultimate Werewolf Inquisition: Full Moon (2015) New York Slice (2017) New York Slice 2017 Specials (2017) Whistle Stop (2017) Whistle Stop PAX Promo Pack (2018) Werebeasts (2018) Werebeasts Deluxe Edition (2018) Whistle Stop Rocky Mountains Expansion (2018) CABO 2nd edition (2019) Whistle Mountain (2020) Sync or Swim (2022) Sync or Swim: Promo Routine Cards 2022) Maglev Metro: London & Paris (2023) Colossal Cat in the Box (2024) Xylotar (2024) Seers Catalog (2024) Seers Catalog: Lyin' Werewolf Promo card (2024) Rebel Princess 2nd Edition (2024) Rebel Princess Deluxe Edition (2024) Rebel Princess Deluxe Edition: Carmesina (2024) Rebel Princess: Verborgene Kräfte (2024) Xylotar Unhinged (2025) Rebel Princess: Happily Never After (2025)

Book list The following are the books written by Alspach, including original publication date (English versions only): Macworld Illustrator 5.0/5.5 Bible 1994 The Complete Idiot's Guide to QuarkXPress 1994 The Complete Idiot's Guide to Photoshop 1994 Microsoft Bob 1995 Internet E-Mail Quick Tour 1995 The Mac Internet Tour Guide 1995 Macworld Illustrator 6 Bible 1996 Official Kai's Power Tools Studio Secrets 1996 The Macintosh Bible, 6th Edition (with 8 co-authors) 1996 The Complete Idiot's Guide to Word on the Macintosh 1996 Photoshop 4 Complete 1997 The Complete Idiot's Guide to PageMaker 1997 Acrobat 3 Visual QuickStart Guide 1997 Illustrator Filter Finesse 1997 Illustrator 7 Bible 1997 PageMaker 6.5 for Windows Visual QuickStart Guide 1997 PageMaker 6.5 for Macintosh Visual QuickStart Guide 1997 ImageReady Visual QuickStart Guide 1998 Illustrator Effects Magic 1998 PhotoDeluxe 2 Visual QuickStart Guide 1998 Illustrator 7 Studio Secrets 1998 Illustrator 8 Bible 1998 PageMaker 6.5 Plus for Windows Visual QuickStart Guide 1999 PDF with Acrobat 4 Visual QuickStart Guide 1999 PhotoDeluxe Home Edition 4 for Windows Visual QuickStart Guide 2000 Illustrator 9 for Dummies 2000 Illustrator 9 Bible 2000 PageMaker 7 for Windows and Macintosh Visual QuickStart Guide 2001 Illustrator 10 Bible 2002 Illustrator CS for Dummies 2003 Illustrator CS Bible 2003 Illustrator CS2 Bible 2005 Illustrator CS3 Bible 2007 Illustrator CS4 for Dummies 2008 Illustrator CS4 Bible 2008 Illustrator CS5 Bible 2010 Board 2 Pieces: Of Dice and Meeples 2011 Board 2 Pieces: Something Smells Gamey 2011 One Night Ultimate Compendium 2017