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Matt Leacock: The Pandemic Game Designer

Matt Leacock is a renowned American board game designer best known for cooperative games like Pandemic and Forbidden Island. He transitioned to full-time game design after a career in user experience and social media. Leacock is recognized for his innovative games that focus on teamwork and strategic thinking, and he donates a portion of his Pandemic royalties to Médecins Sans Frontières.
American board game designer
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Matt Leacock
Matt Leacock at Lucca Comics & Games 2018
NationalityAmerican
OccupationGame designer
Notable workPandemic, Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert
Websitehttp://www.leacock.com/

Matt Leacock is an American board game designer, most known for cooperative games such as Pandemic, Pandemic Legacy: Season 1, Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert.

Early life

Leacock grew up in Long Lake, Minnesota. He studied visual communication at Northern Illinois University.

Career

Matt designed Pandemic, published in 2008 by Z-Man Games. Leacock had previously worked as a developer of social media and as a user experience designer, primarily in community and communications products for AOL and Yahoo. He switched to designing board games full time in July 2014.

Pandemic Legacy: Season 1, which Leacock co-designed with Rob Daviau, has been rated very highly among board gamers and by the website Board Game Geek on its board game rankings. His latest game, Daybreak is about climate change.

Games

  • Pandemic (2008)
  • Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age (2008)
  • Pandemic: On the Brink (Expansion) (2009)
  • Forbidden Island (2010)
  • Forbidden Desert (2013)
  • Pandemic: In The Lab (Expansion) (2013)
  • Pandemic: The Cure (2014)
  • Pandemic: State of Emergency (Expansion) (2015)
  • Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 (2015)
  • Thunderbirds (2015)
  • Knit Wit (2016)
  • Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu (2016)
  • Pandemic Iberia (2016)
  • Chariot Race (2016)
  • Space Escape (formerly Mole Rats in Space) (2017)
  • Pandemic: Rising Tide (2017)
  • Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 (2017)
  • Pandemic Fall of Rome (2018)
  • Forbidden Sky (2018)
  • Era: Medieval Age (2019)
  • Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 (2020)
  • Ticket to Ride: Legends of the West (2023)
  • Daybreak (2023)
  • Forbidden Jungle (2023)

Charity

According to Leacock, 5% of his design royalty for Pandemic products is donated directly to Medecins Sans Frontieres.