Rest In Peace Rick Loomis (1946 – 2019)

I mentioned a GoFundMe campaign  to help Rick Loomis – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Loomis who was fighting cancer in this post – Catalyst (Flying Buffalo Inc.) Bundle of Holding – Ends September 10, 2019; GoFundMe link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-gaming-legend-rick-loomis. Rick was an Army veteran and a long-time game designer, ranging from Role-Playing Games (RPGs), War Games, Card Games, and non-system specific gaming accessories.

He lost his battle with cancer on August 23, 2019, the day before his birthday.

I never met Rick Loomis, but I enjoyed many games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Buffalo#List_of_games his company, Flying Buffalo Inc. (FBI) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Buffalo and http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/, developed over the years.

Here are some articles about him posted by those familiar with him or his work:

https://deluxetunnelsandtrolls.wordpress.com/2019/08/27/we-miss-you-rick-whats-next-for-flying-buffalo/ 

https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2019/08/rick-loomis-veteran-game-designer-and-founding-member-of-gama-has-died-at-72.html

http://file770.com/tag/rick-loomis/ (#7)

http://sanctum.media/blog/index.php/2019/08/24/news-rick-loomis-1947-2019/

https://nerdvanamedia.com/books/rick-loomis-flying-buffalo-obituary/136906/

It’s good to see FBI will continue, also mentioned in the Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls post above: https://nerdvanamedia.com/gaming/flying-buffalo-future/137078/.

One of my favorite games from FBI was Nuclear War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_War_(card_game) and its expansions. I would call it a soda and pretzels game (some would use an adult beverage in place of soda – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_and_pretzels_game).  It had its detractors, generally those who never played it and claimed the game glorified nuclear war. I strongly disagree. It was rare for a game to end with a winner since you had to be the last player standing, and the handful of games where there was a winner, it was more a Pyrrhic Victory.