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This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and tabletop role-playing games published in 1996. For video games, see 1996 in video gaming.
Games released or invented in 1996
Game awards given in 1996
- Origins Awards (for 1995):
- Best Card Game: Middle-earth: The Wizards
- Best Fantasy or Science-Fiction Board Game: Dragon Dice
- Best Graphic Presentation of a Board Game: RoboRally - Armed and Dangerous
- Best Miniatures Rules: Warzone - A Fast & Furious Miniatures Battle Game
- Best Modern-Day Board Game: Empire of the Rising Sun
- Best Pre-20th Century Board Game (tie): Colonial Diplomacy, Three Days of Gettysburg
- Best Roleplaying Rules: Mage: The Ascension (2nd edition)
- Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame
- Axis & Allies
- Call of Cthulhu RPG
- Games: 25 Words or Less
Significant games-related events of 1996
- Five Rings Publishing Group formed as a spin-out of Alderac Entertainment Group and ISOMEDIA.
- Looney Labs is founded after the demise of Icehouse Games, Inc.
Deaths
{| class="wikitable"
! Date || Name || Age || Notability
|-
|April 17
|Piet Hein
|90
|Scientist and game designer
|-
|July 18
|Stephen Donaldson
|49
|Activist and wargame designer for Simulations Publications, Inc.
|-
|December 18
|Charles Deaton
|75
|Architect who designed Gusher (1946)
|}
See also
- 1996 in video gaming
