Cards Against Humanity co-founder, US chess champion and USC game designer named among world’s most influential under-30s

Three of tabletop gaming’s fastest rising stars have been named on Forbes 30 Under 30 list of the most influential and groundbreaking pioneers around the world.

Forbes’ 2017 list is divided into categories, with 30 individuals named as the leading figures in each industry.

The Games shortlist covers both video games and tabletop creators, leaning more heavily towards the former with video game developers, eSports players and technology experts making up the bulk of the 30.

However, tabletop games also had a fair showing, with Max Temkin, Lishan AZ and Fabiano Caruana all selected for a prestigious nomination.

Temkin is best recognised as the co-founder of Cards Against Humanity, the company behind the eponymous and controversial ‘fill the blank’ party card game. Temkin created the firm alongside Ben Hantoot and launched the first edition of Cards Against Humanity (the game) in 2011, going on to release multiple expansions and pull off several headline-making stunts for charity and other causes, including digging a really big hole.

AZ is a student at the University of Southern California in the US, and has worked on both video games and board games, including the tabletop strategy title Ascension, which features the use of a towering spiral, and the hybrid digital-physical puzzle The Locker, which involves a real locker. Obviously.

Lastly on the list is Caruana (pictured in 2013), the current US chess champion and the second-ranked player of chess in the world. He earned the title of grandmaster at a mere 14 years old – the youngest American ever to do so – and is the third highest-ranked chess player of all time, behind only Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov.