12 Facts About Avalon Hill

Avalon Hill Games Inc is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games.

Avalon Hill was started in 1952 outside Baltimore in Catonsville, Maryland by Charles S Roberts under the name of "The Avalon Game Company" for the publication of his game Tactics.

In 1960, Avalon published the first mostly dice-less sports game in Football Strategy designed by Thomas N Shaw which was followed by two sister games, Baseball Strategy and Basketball Strategy.

Avalon Hill was reorganized by retaining only one staff member, Shaw, moving, cutting costs and appointing J E Sparling as president.

Avalon Hill published simulations of actual battles and campaigns, such as Midway, Afrika Korps, and The Battle of the Bulge.

Related searches

Avalon Hill published PanzerBlitz in 1970, designed for the company by Jim Dunnigan's Simulations Publications, Inc on a royalty basis from SPI's Tac Force 3 game.

Avalon Hill purchased many games from smaller companies and republished them.

Avalon Hill entered the role-playing game market a decade later by publishing Powers and Perils in 1983 and Lords of Creation in 1984.

In 2001, Hasbro Interactive was sold to Infogrames; Avalon Hill was not included in the sale and Hasbro later transferred control of the company to its subsidiary, Wizards of the Coast, in 2004.

In 1982, after SPI was purchased by TSR, Avalon Hill hired away some of SPI's design staff and formed them into a subsidiary company, Victory Games.

Avalon Hill had its own house organ which promoted sale and play of its games, The General Magazine, which was published regularly between 1964 and 1998.

In early 1984, on the occasion of the release of third edition RuneQuest, Avalon Hill included in all RuneQuest boxes a single advertising flyer announcing the launch of HEROES, its own role-playing magazine.