Remembering Al Leonardi

 “A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books.”

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Al Leonardi, from his interview
in Adventure Gaming #4, Oct. 1981,
a few years before I met him.

Last week we learned Alfred Leonardi passed away on July 12, 2025. He was a history teacher who used games to engage his students, yet among gamers is perhaps best known for his innovative “combat picture book games” like Ace of Aces and the Lost Worlds series. Leonardi’s obituary celebrates a man who loved teaching, loved games, and loved bringing history to life through games. He reminds me how a passion for teaching and learning can manifest itself through games to both entertain and educate. I met him back in 1985 at my first-ever game convention. Leonardi took the time to talk with a socially awkward teenager who exhibited near-uncontained exuberance for the adventure gaming hobby at the time. I only met him that once, far too briefly, yet in his own way Leonardi’s enthusiasm lurked in the back of my years of hobby activity. His dedication to games and education has been lurking in my subconscious ever since, quietly reminding me that using games remains an entertaining and effective method for learning.

I first learned of Leonardi and Ace of Aces in my first “D&D Summer,” the vacation time before I started high school in 1982. After having received the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set as an Easter present, I saved my allowance and biked down to the Branchville Hobby store to purchase the D&D Expert Set to fuel my summertime gaming exploits. The clerk tossed an old issue of Adventure Gaming magazine into the bag; the articles further broadened and fueled my interest in the hobby. That issue also included an interview with Leonardi about his Ace of Aces game. So right from the start of my journey those games lurked in my consciousness as a different way to engage my imagination through games. I spent my earliest years in the hobby immersed in roleplaying games, but I was aware of wargames and other hobby titles, occasionally dabbling when I found them on store shelves. Alas, the Ace of Aces and Lost Worlds “combat picture book games” never seemed to make it into Branchville Hobby’s inventory.

But I knew of Leonardi and his work. I finally met him attending my first game convention, PointCon VIII, held at the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. It was the end of March 1985 when I was a junior in high school and fully immersed in various adventure game pursuits from roleplaying games to wargames. At the time I produced an embarrassingly atrocious gaming fanzine and hoped to report on the convention and interview a few guests. I introduced myself to Leonardi and handed him my homemade (and terribly amateurish) “business card” (the best I could do in an age before computers, printers, and perforated business card sheets to effectively do it yourself). Leonardi took the time to talk with me, offering a basic explanatory sales pitch about his Ace of Aces books and his methods for designing the game...all without computer assistance that, today, we’d take for granted.

I bought two Lost Worlds books that day, though I probably only played them with my brother and the neighborhood gaming kids a few times. The Ace of Aces books had to wait; my local game store didn’t stock them and if they had they seemed beyond my meager budget at the time. I finally bought a few sets when attending GenCon in the mid-1990s with West End Games. I’ve really only dabbled with them occasionally over the years, despite their novelty. Of course I have the Lightsaber Dueling Pack and Starfighter Battle Book: X-wing vs. TIE Interceptor Leonardi produced with West End Games in the late 1980s to port the system to the popular Star Wars license. A recent Kickstarter campaign gaive Ace of Aces a slick new release, though I regret not backing it at the time.

Leonardi’s “combat picture book games” still retain their entertainment value, but computer simulation games quickly made such analog fare seem obsolete. At the time of their release and the subsequent decade they held their own, providing interactive head-to-head competitive game action in a graphic media. Computer games have since taken such action to amazingly realistic heights...yet the magic of the Ace of Aces game system still enthralls fans and even the occasional new gamer.

Leonardi’s Nova Games produced numerous editions and supplements for both Ace of Aces and the Lost World series with a host of fellow designers and artists. The adventure gaming industry recognized Leonardi’s contributions. Ace of Aces won the Charles S. Roberts Award Gamers Choice of 1980 and was inducted into the Origins Awards Product Hall of Fame in 1993. Lost Worlds won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy Boardgame of 1983.

Leonardi’s commercial game successes remain just one facet of his legacy. As a teacher he infused his lessons with games, including one about ancient Rome, to inspire students. I can only hope some enterprising game scholar might examine this aspect of his life and share Leonardi’s classroom materials to inspire others to use games for learning. No doubt he worked hard to introduce games in the classroom — with the permission, if not encouragement, of an understanding school administration — in an age before academia realized the value of games in education. Al Leonardi stands as inspiration for those trying to inspire learning with engaging games today.

“The most important thing we can do is inspire young minds.”

— John Glenn

Caption:

Al Leonardi, from his interview in Adventure Gaming, Oct. 1981...a few years before I met him.