Andy Looney

43
Andy Looney bigraphy, stories - Chess

Andy Looney : biography

November 5, 1963 –

Andrew J. Looney (born November 5, 1963), better known as Andy Looney, is an award-winning game designer and computer programmer.

Biography

Looney, his wife Kristin Looney, and Alison Frane together run the games company Looney Labs,

which has published most of his game designs, such as Fluxx, Chrononauts, and the Icehouse game system. 

Before Looney and his wife started Looney Labs, they had both worked at NASA, where, in 1993, some of Looney’s software was launched into orbit as part of the repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope. He then went on to a brief career as a game programmer at Magnet Interactive Studios, where he created that company’s only entry to the market, Icebreaker.

Patents & awards

Looney holds patents on the game mechanics for Icehouse, IceTowers and Chrononauts:

  • (U.S. Patent 4,936,585)
  • (U.S. Patent 6,352,262)
  • (U.S. Patent 6,474,650)

Looney has won the following game design awards:

  • 1999 — Mensa Mind Games: Mensa Select Award for Fluxx
  • 2000 — Origins Award: Best Traditional Card Game for Chrononauts
  • 2000 — Origins Award: Best Abstract Board Game for Icehouse
  • 2001 — Parents Choice Silver Honors Chrononauts
  • 2001 — Origins Award: Best Abstract Board Game for Cosmic Coasters
  • 2003 — Parents Choice Silver Honors Nanofictionary
  • 2005 — Mensa Mind Games: Mensa Select Award for Zendo
  • 2007 — Origins Award: Best Board Game or Expansion of the Year for Treehouse
  • 2008 — Origins Award: Best Traditional Card Game of the Year for Zombie Fluxx

Works

  • Aquarius
  • Chrononauts
    • Early American Chrononauts
  • Cosmic Coasters
  • Fluxx
    • EcoFluxx
    • Family Fluxx
    • Zombie Fluxx
    • Monty Python Fluxx
    • Martian Fluxx
    • Stoner Fluxx
  • Icebreaker
  • Icehouse and other games played with the Icehouse pieces:
    • IceTowers
    • Martian Chess
    • Treehouse
    • Zark City
  • Nanofictionary
  • Proton
  • Q*Turn