Paul Reiche III

Paul Reiche III (born February 17, 1961) is a computer game designer.

Reiche is best known for being the co-creator, together with Fred Ford, of the Star Control universe, which has gained a venerable cult following in the last decade and a half. While Reiche did the game design and fiction, Ford was responsible for the programming.

A childhood friend of early Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) artist Erol Otus, Reiche became interested in gaming as a teen. He and Otus played role-playing games together and released a few small games in the genre. Eventually, both wound up at TSR (the then publisher of D&D). They made contributions to the evolving game and other games by TSR, Otus with artwork, Reiche with game design (primarily on D&D and Gamma World ). Eventually Reiche left TSR to work on computer games with Electronic Arts (EA).

After his stint at EA, Reiche formed Toys for Bob with Ford and created Star Control. After publishing it, Accolade contracted with Reiche and Ford to develop the sequel, Star Control II. Reiche's friend, Otus, provided at least one illustration for the sequel's manual.

Before Star Control, Reiche worked on Mail Order Monsters, the Archon series and the Starflight series of computer games. Reiche was one of the co-founders of Free Fall Associates, the co-developer of the Archon series of games.

Reiche is currently the CEO and Director of Development of Toys For Bob, which was acquired by Activision in 2005.

Reiche is listed in the credits for ToeJam & Earl under "Invaluable Help", as well as in "Inspiration" section of credits for Strange Adventures in Infinite Space.