Francis Tresham is an United Kingdom-based board game designer who has been producing board games since the early 1970s. Tresham founded and ran games company Hartland Trefoil (founded 1971), a company well known for its Civilization board game, until its sale to Microprose in 1997.[1] His 1829 game was the first of the 18xx board game series[2] and some of his board games have inspired Sid Meier computer games such as Railroad Tycoon.
Francis Tresham was the first to introduce a technology tree into his boardgames. This idea had a large influence on boardgames and computer games that were later produced.
He is currently managing director of Tresham Games and is, as of 2009[update], still producing 18xx-style board games.