Klaus Teuber | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Teuber in 2017 | |
| Born | Klaus Wilhelm Heinrich Teuber[1] (1952-06-25)25 June 1952[2] |
| Died | 1 April 2023(2023-04-01) (aged 70) |
| Occupations | |
| Known for | Board game developer |
| Works |
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Klaus Wilhelm Heinrich Teuber[1] (25 June 1952 – 1 April 2023) was a Germanboard game designer best known as the creator ofCatan. Originally working as adental technician, he began designing games first as a hobby then as a full-time career.
Four of his games won the prestigiousSpiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) award:Barbarossa (1988),Adel Verpflichtet (1990),Drunter und Drüber (1991) andThe Settlers of Catan (1995).[4] The latter sold over 40 million copies, was translated into 40 languages and spawned a family of expansions and versions.[5] Teuber founded the games company Catan GmbH in 2002 and his sons now direct the family business.
Teuber was inducted into theOrigin Awards Hall of Fame by theAAGAD (Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design) in 2004.[6] In 2010, he received a specialAs d'Or in recognition of his lifetime achievement at the Festival International des Jeux in France.[7]
Teuber was born in 1952 in the village of Rai-Breitenbach, West Germany, under theBreuberg castle.[3] As a child, he played games with model soldiers.[3] He later wrote that his favourite subject in school was geography – he enjoyed making maps – followed by history and chemistry.[8] Teuber returned to gaming as a young husband and father during hismilitary service.[3]
At the age of 11, Teuber was given the board gameRomans vs. Carthaginians.[9] Teuber graduated from high school and did military service, then studied chemistry, then completed his intermediate diploma (receiving a degree in chemistry[1]),[9] then joined his father's 65-employee dental laboratory business which fell into large problems, and his father fell ill.[10]
"When I had trouble in my former profession and needed a mental vacation, I read a book about witches and decided to make a game that follows the story first. Each development of game, I wanted to experience the world of the novel."[11]
Teuber worked as adental technician for the businessTeuber Dental-Labor[12] nearDarmstadt, but he was not happy in this work.[3][13] In the 1980s, he designed his first game,Barbarossa, inspired by the fantasy trilogy,The Riddle-Master, byPatricia A. McKillip.[3][2] In the game, players make sculptures out of modelling clay, and try to guess what the objects represent.[3] After working on the game for seven years, Teuber finally showedBarbarossa to a publisher.[3][14]
In 1991, Teuber started designingThe Settlers of Catan, inspired by the history of Viking settlers in Iceland.[15][2] He took four years to develop the island-settling game; his major breakthrough was when he introduced hexagonal tiles instead of using squares to represent wood, ore, brick, wool, and wheat.[3][8]Catan has been credited with launching a new more "social" era for board games, introducing bargaining and bartering among players as part of the strategy to win.[2]
In 1999 he sold the dental laboratory, which was taken over by his father.
The commercial success ofCatan allowed Teuber to become a full-time game designer in 1998.[3] The family game business was incorporated as CatanGmbH in 2002 and his sons Benjamin and Guido are directors while his wife Claudia and his daughter also have roles as bookkeeper and tester.[3]
The popularity ofCatan continued to grow, eventually translated into 40 languages, with multiple expansions, geographically themed versions, a card game, a version for young children, a video game, and online versions, as well as a novel and other spinoffs.[15][2] For the development of thevideo game adaptation ofCatan, Teuber created aMicrosoft Excel spreadsheet with "elaborate logic chains and probability matrices" so that the developers could determine the effects of each action ongameplay.[16]
In 2020, sales ofCatan surged during the first five months of the global COVID-19 pandemic, as board games became popular during the worldwide lockdown.[13] As of 2023, more than 40 million copies ofCatan have been sold worldwide.[5]
Despite the success ofCatan, Teuber was described as remaining down to earth. In 2023, Dan Zak wrote inThe Washington Post, "Among hobbyists and gamers he was revered like a rock star, but he looked and acted and sounded like a man who tinkered with stuff in his basement...He was, at heart, a hobbyist."[8] When Teuber was asked why he thought Catan was so popular, he said it may have been due to a "good balance between strategy and luck".[2]
Teuber died on 1 April 2023 at age 70, after a brief illness.[17]
For a more complete list see catan.com'sludography 1988-2024
Teuber won the award,Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year), forBarbarossa in 1988,[3]Adel Verpflichtet (Hoity Toity) in 1990,Drunter und Drüber (Wacky Wacky West) in 1991, andDie Siedler von Catan (The Settlers of Catan) in 1995,[2][4] winning the award four times.
After graduating from college, he followed in his father's footsteps and worked as a dental technician, eventually taking over his father's company. At the rather advanced age of 36 he had his first game published.
