Corespondent photo / Kathryn Adams Paul Rohrbaugh of New Middletown shows the items needed to play the Mahoning Monstrosity game that he created. He has designed many games as educational tools.

NEW MIDDLETOWN — Paul Rohrbaugh was a high school student at Austintown Fitch in the 1970s when he began the hobby of designing board games that taught historical facts, and he played those games with his friends.

One of the first games he made while in high school featured facts about the American Civil War. He also created games dealing exclusively with specific battles such as the Battle of Antietam. He started a gaming club in high school and said, “My history teachers loved what we were doing.”

Fast forward to Paul as a history teacher and librarian, where he brought his love for historical board games into the classroom.

“I discovered if it isn’t fun, you’re not going to learn much,” Rohrbaugh said.

He used his games with seventh and eighth graders all the way through college students.

At Youngstown State University, Rohrbaugh ran the library in the College of Education. He and his students would play the games in Kilcawley Center. Other YSU students observed them playing and as a result wanted to get involved.

“The students loved the games,” he said. “Along with a graphic artist, I formed a company in 2008 called High Flying Dice Games and in 2009 released my games, which introduces players into the historical gaming genre. Most of the games deal with military history, everything from the first battle in recorded history clear up to the opening battle of the war in Ukraine.”

He has 200 games available for sale on his website and has 40 more games in development with a total of 3,000 customers from all over the world. So where does he find his historical information?

“I read a lot, and get information at the public library as well as the Maag Library at YSU,” Rohrbaugh said. “I like to do games on topics that have little or no treatment in game form — battles that people need to learn about. I try to expand people’s knowledge about history.”

Of course, Rohrbaugh created a game on World War I as well as two games on World War II — one dealing with the European Theater and the second dealing with the Pacific Theater.

However, not all games deal with historical battles. He created a game titled Mahoning Monstrosity, which he says “is a colorful way to get local history across. It’s a tongue and cheek way of portraying local history using a mythical monster.”

The game is available at the Butler Institute of American Art gift shop, where the proceeds benefit the museum.

Rohrbaugh created a game dealing with the Cold War that pits capitalism against communism and is called Peace on the Edge.

“It helps students understand why leaders did what they did,” he said.

Rohrbaugh is working on a game that will be released soon called Wheels of Change — A Game of the U.S. Auto Industry in the 1950s.

“I’m an old car nut. The game combines my love of cars with history,” Rohrbaugh said.

Rohrbaugh said he started High Flying Dice games to get new people into the endeavor of learning about history in a fun way and said he is always looking for ways to get new people can get involved.

“You meet wonderful people in this line of work. I’ve made new friendships and new relationships. It’s fun. I never thought my retirement would involve creating games. It is a great part-time job. I love doing research, writing articles and developing rules that go with the games.”

One quarter of his customers are college students.

“Some people claimed that board games are doomed, however college students enjoy the social interaction involved. They discuss history and learn more about history as well as themselves. There is a new generation of people involved all the time dealing with a diverse range of topics,” Rohrbaugh said.

He has received several awards, which include the Charles S. Roberts award. Roberts invented board war games in 1958. He also received an award for developing a board game designed by another person. He has also attended the World Board Gaming Conference that meets outside of Pittsburgh.

You can peruse his games on the website www.hfdgames.com or contact him by email at phrohrbaugh@hotmail.com.

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