Jim Keifer

The Big Guns

2009

Jim Keifer, a game inventor / designer / artist and corporate executive has worked in the game industry since the mid-1980s for popular game companies including Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, Mattel and Spinmaster as VP of Design. He grew up in the Pacific Palisades, California, and studied Industrial Design at Notre Dame. He has designed hundreds of games and puzzles that are made and distributed throughout the world and holds 18 patents dealing with game mechanics and component configuration. His team created over 20 games for the Harry Potter brand including the award-winning Harry Potter Levitating Challenge and established UNO as the #1 family games brand with games like UNO Attack. As an independent inventor and designer, Keifer has created games for many other well-known companies, including the Walt Disney Company, Warner Brothers, Universal, and Nickelodeon. Thunder Road, the first game Keifer invented back in 1986 enjoys a cult following and was reintroduced into the market in 2023 as Thunder Road Vendetta, nearly 40 years since it’s introduction. In 2017, with the help of his three daughters, he successfully launched the board game Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty's Web on Kickstarter which was ultimately featured at Barnes & Noble. In 2015 he was nominated for ChiTAG Game Designer of the Year, after the success of his mass-market games Rotten Apples, Conquest Stratego, Fish and Chips, All In and You Bet Your Ass. Keifer continues to prolifically invent games for all categories, platforms and mediums. including the popular On-line game Picturiffic. Jim, who is married to internationally acclaimed artist Kathleen Keifer, is also an accomplished painter and cartoonist and exhibits in gallery's across North America. Awards · In 2004, his team won the 2004 Toy of the Year Award from the Toy Industry Association for the Scene It? DVD game. · He also invented Screaming Eagles which was awarded Best Game of 1988 by Games Magazine.