Split Second Games is a small-press board game company based in Skokie, IL. Our goal is to create imaginative, high-quality board and card games that stand the test of time.
We hope you enjoy our games, and we look forward to meeting you soon. Thanks.
Paul Imboden
My love of board games began at age 2 with my garage-sale copy of Hi Ho Cherry-O. There was no going back. Since then, I’ve been playing everything I can get my hands on: board, card, tabletop, video. I fell in with a fantastic gaming group about a decade ago, and after a long road-trip from Virginia I began work on Quicksilver with Randy. The rest is history: Quicksilver made several Best of Year 2013 lists, and our new game Paradox will delight and amuse.
When not developing games, I’m dancing at Fizz on Swing Night, experimenting with pie recipes and barbecue rubs, and fixing banks. (Hey, a man’s gotta have a hobby.) Also, the more I work on game design, the more I’m playing small-press, one-shot, dare-I-say-hipster RPGs that do One Thing Well. Things have come a long way since the Red Book.
Randy is a brilliant and funny man and I’m lucky to have him as an in-law, a partner, and a friend.
- Board Games: Battlestar Galactica, Pitchcar, Cosmic Encounter, Power Grid, Caylus, Catacombs
- RPGs: Fiasco, Primetime Adventures, Apocalypse World, Lady Blackbird/Death School, Lacuna Pt. 1
- Card Games: Android: Netrunner, Innovation, Euchre
- Video Games: Rock Band, M.U.L.E., Football Manager 2015
- Music: shoegaze, swing-era jazz, electric blues
- Pies: Apple-Cranberry, Key Lime, Blueberry, Chocolate Chess
Randy Field
In 2012, I left a comfy job in IT at a major design firm in Chicago to pursue a full-time career as an Illustrator/Designer. It was around this time that serious development for our first game, Quicksilver, began. Now, Split Second Games has become the main focus of my creative time & efforts.
Apart of Split Second Games, I am a proud stay-at-home dad to a delightful daughter. I also provide various creative services to a roster of (thankfully loyal) clients. I am a voracious reader of comics, which are my life-long passion. I’ve also recently rediscovered my love of sculpting figures and fantasy subjects.
Paul and I have been friends since about ’98. I consider it mostly coincidence that my lovely & supportive wife, Sarah, is Paul’s sister.
- Board Games: Cosmic Encounter, Snorta!, Codenames, The Resistance, Blood Bowl
- Artists: Mike Allred, Wil Eisner, Jeff Smith, Ralph McQuarrie
- Bands: They Might Be Giants, David Bowie, Band of Horses, Ima Robot, Nick Cave
- Video Games: Marble Madness, Super Mario World, Arkham Asylum/City, Fallout
- Pies: Pumpkin, NY Cherry Cheesecake, Apple, Hostess Chocolate