R.I.P. Louis Zocchi, The Godfather of Dice

Games industry pioneer and legend Louis Zocchi passed away on April 15, 2026.

Zocchi is a games industry legend who’s contributions to the business are too numerous to name in their entirety.  He was an adventure games legend who was affectionately referred to by his peers as “The Colonel,” “Major Lou,” and “The Godfather of Dice.”

His games industry career began after he served 10 years in the U.S. Air Force in the mid-60s.  He worked with Avalon Hill, and was one of the first editors of their The General magazine; he playtested early wargames like Bismark, Afrika Korps, Jutland, Stalingrad, and several unpublished Avalon Hill titles.  His credits for game design mostly include wargames: Luftwaffe, The Battle of Britain, Alien Space, and Flying Tigers.  He also designed a set of miniatures rules called Star Fleet Battle Manual. 

He produced RPGs in the 70s, including Superhero 2044, and dozens of other pen and paper module games that have been lost in the sands of time. Zocchi also self-published a book called How to Sell Your Wargame Design.

By far, his most significant contributions to the games industry came in the realm of dice design. Zocchi founded Gamescience in 1974.  He was the first to create polyhedral dice for the U.S. market, and is credited with designing the D3, D5, D14, D24, and D100.  The D100 was named the “Zocchihedron” in his honor (see “Have A Nice Day!“).

Zocchi was also in the distribution end of the games business; he was the founder of Zocchi Distribution, later renamed Zocchi Distributing (see “Zocchi Distributing“).  This distributor was sold to Mike Hurdle in 1996, and closed its doors in 2001 (see “Closes Doors“).

In 1986, he was elected to the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame. Later on, in 2022, he was honored at Gary Con IV by receiving the E. Gary Gygax Lifetime Achievement Award.  Louis Zocchi was 91 years of age at the time of his passing.  ICv2 staff members offer their condolences to his friends and family.