Filsinger Games

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Filsinger Games is a company that pre-dominantly markets professional wrestling card games, specifically the futuristic Champions of the Galaxy and its old-school spinoff, Legends of Wrestling. Filsinger Games is owned by Tom Filsinger.

[edit] Original Game History

Growing up like many teenagers, Cleveland native Tom Filsinger found himself daydreaming in class on many occasions. To help pass the time, Tom began creating various games to help pass the time, one of which was a wrestling game, something that seemed to combine his interest in professional wrestling and comic books.

During the heights of the popularity of the WWF in the 80s, Filsinger proposed a new wrestling game called Compucard Wrestling to the WWF, but the company turned him down and marketed Milton Bradley's WWF Wrestling Superstars board game instead, a marketing failure for the future multi-million dollar company. Filsinger quickly went to work on his own game, and in 1985, created Champions of the Galaxy, featuring a cast of 24 characters placed in a wrestling federation 100 years in the future called the Galaxian Wrestling Federation, or GWF for short.

Still in the kayfabe era, and without the internet, Filsinger began advertising COTG as a mail-order game with full page ads in Pro Wrestling Illustrated in the summer of 1987. The game proved to be an instant hit and Filsinger released a second edition in 1988 titled Invasion I. Since then, game editions have been released twice a year to the delight of the game's loyal promoters (a nickname given to COTG players) worldwide. In total, over 60,000 editions have been purchased worldwide since 1986. The game has also spawned two separated federations directly tied to the original, the CPC and aCe.

In Tom's own words, "Champions of the Galaxy is more than just a game. It's a state of mind. Champions of the Galaxy isn't about corporate hype or mindless entertainment. The GWF is a very real place to me and to those who play the game."

With the success of the game, promoters began corresponding with one another with results of their fed and their own card creations, called "bootlegs". The game has such a loyal following beginning in the summer of 1990, promoters from around the United States and other countries began meeting in Jamestown, New York, the new base of operations for Filsinger Games for the first COTG game convention, Galacticon. The convention has since become an annual event and now encompasses all of Filsinger Games's products.

[edit] Spinoffs/Other works

On the heels of the success of COTG, Filsinger's aspirations came full-circle in 2001 with the release of Legends of Wrestling, which took the COTG formula and applied it to real life wrestling legends. King Kong Bundy, who is a big supporter of the game, was the first card released. The introductory Legends of Wrestling box set was released in January 2003 with, as of 2005, three sets to follow. In addition to Bundy, many wrestlers have become part of this game including The Road Warriors, Nick Bockwinkel, Harley Race, Jim Cornette & The Midnight Express, Mil Mascaras, Killer Kowalski, Buddy Rogers, Strangler Lewis, Frank Gotch, Johnny Valentine, The Sheik and over 50 more.

Filsinger expanded on his creativity be releasing Countdown to Our Wedding Day, the first calendar in a new line of Countdown to the Big Day products. The calendar is currently being sold throughout gift shops in the United States. Filsinger's goal is to release a variety of calendars including Countdown to Baby's Due Date.

To celebrate the 20th year of Champions of the Galaxy, Filsinger released his first book titled The Dark Menace of the Universe, a memoir on creativity and the inside scoop of the creation of Champions of the Galaxy and Legends of Wrestling.

[edit] Owner information

Tom has a Master's Degree in Social/Personality Psychology from Northern Illinois University, and is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at Jamestown Community College where he is the Co-Director of Social Sciences and Coordinator of Psychology. In 1998, the New York State Education Commission approved a certificate program created by Tom called Psychology of the Workplace, the first of its kind in the state. Beginning in 2005, students will have the option to earn the degree by taking the classes online.