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ABOUT THE TANTRIX TEAM

The Inventor - Mike McManaway

Mike grew up in New Zealand. While studying to become a Geologist, he became addicted to Backgammon, competing in international tournaments and winning the New Zealand Backgammon title in 1986. He then worked briefly for IBM's marketing division before opening a small chain of specialist game and puzzle shops called "Mind Games". Tantrix originated as a two-player cardboard game, invented and made in Chile while Mike was recovering from a climbing accident.

Mike's other passions include paragliding, a sport where modified parachutes allow pilots to fly cross country using thermal updrafts. His most memorable flight was in Spain, taking off near the town of Piedrahita and flying 178km, which was for a while, the furthest distance flown by any kiwi pilot. Piedrahita is also where he met his partner Britta Steude.

After their paragliding career, Mike and Britta became devoted cavers exploring the underground marble around their home in Golden Bay. However, life has turned full circle, and now after years of extreme adventure, they enjoy the relatively tamer activity of sport climbing. Mike's goal to climb French grade 8a is as yet unfullfilled.

Of course both are keen Tantrix players, occasionally competing in tournaments around the world. Mike won the 2007 World Championships (online) though success in the World Table Open has so far eluded him. Meanwhile Britta won the World Tantrix Open in Barcelona in 2016. More results and tournament reports here.

History of Tantrix

	THE PUBLISHER Tantrix is published by Colour of Strategy Ltd, a New Zealand company owned by Mike McManaway and Britta Steude. The company was founded in 1987 as a retailer of puzzles and games. The company's purpose and products have evolved over the years, so has the company name: first Mind Games, then Tantrix Games and now Colour of Strategy Ltd, to reflect the range of games published.

Tantrix.com developers

In 1996, a Canadian company called InterNetivity came up with the idea of creating an online version of Tantrix, programmed in java, which would allow game play over the Internet. Java applets were an experimental field at the time. InterNetivity's goal was to produce a leading-edge game server to demonstrate the capabilities and versatility of java applications. Their company was based in Ottawa, Canada and later moved into the development of web-based analysis and reporting applications.

Two years after the launch of Tantrix.com, Dave Dyer took over responsibility for all programming-related issues. Since then he has rewritten most of the original code and added many new features, including the design of most Tantrix-playing Robots. Tantrix is the latest symptom of his permanent affliction with games and software for games. Dave's own site Boardspace.net is devoted to "direct online play of board games that few have ever heard of".

Web design and online promotion are the domain of Britta Steude who joined Tantrix in 1994. Her intention is to grow the site's traffic slowly by promoting it selectively and by continuously improving the playing environment.

Since 2007 James Carter has been providing Tantrix cartoons and illustrations which can be found scattered around the Tantrix site, in the Java applets and the new Gobble booklet. For more of his work, check out Cartercreations.co.uk.

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