I first started thinking of starting Rio GrandeGames in 1997. I was a big fan of family strategy games such as are produced in Germany and wanted to find ways to make them available to people in the US. After some investigation, I decided that I needed to publish full English versions of these great games so that English-speaking players could enjoy them to the fullest, so I launched the Rio Grande Games in March of 1998.

The mission of Rio Grande Games is to promote the playing of family strategy games. We are particularly interested in getting families playing these games together. We feel that too many families have gotten away from spending good social time together. Playing good games together is a great way for families to spend social time together. We consider the games we offer to be choice games because each player is asked to make a choice on each turn. Thus, these are not games based on luck, but reward good choices and teach children that the choices they make are important. We hope the lessons children learn while playing our games will be carried into their lives and they will learn that making good choices in life leads to the same good results as they do in games.
 
Rio Grande Games works with the German publishers to publish English versions of great choice games. We also publish our own games like Dominion and Race for the Galaxy. Both of these have won many awards. Dominion has won game of the year honors in several countries and has been translated into 17 languages. Dominion has several follow-on products, including Intrigue, Seaside, Alchemy, and Prosperity. Race for the Galaxy has three expansions: Gathering Storm, Rebel vs Imperium, and Brink of War.
 
Our first games were released in May of 1998. Since that time, the games have won numerous awards from magazine, newspapers, and others in the United States and throughout the world.