India, Oct. 19 -- There wasn't a lot going on in the world of tabletop gaming in the early 1990s. Most games seemed to fall into familiar patterns. Classics such as Scrabble thrived in social gatherings, yet at its core, this was a game of individual pursuit. Being a real-estate tycoon in the eternally popular Monopoly was exhilarating, until the hours dragged on and resentment grew. For a niche few, role-playing tabletop games such as Dungeons & Dragons and World of Darkness offered an escape. Around this time, frustrated by his exhausting 14-hour job, the German dental technician Klaus Teuber began to create boardgames of his own. Some of his games were cult hits, and three won awards. Then, seven years in, he came up with a game inspired...