Ephraim Hertzano
Ephraim Hertzano was a Romanian-born Israeli board game designer. He is the inventor of the board game, Rummikub.Biography
Ephraim Hertzano was born in Romania, to a Jewish family. He originally sold toothbrushes and cosmetics. He invented the tile game Rummikub in the 1940s when card-playing was outlawed under the Communist regime. In the 1950s, after immigrating to British Mandate of Palestine after World War II, he continued to develop the game in the backyard of his house in Bat Yam.
In 1977, Rummikub was the best-selling game in the United States.
In 1978, Hertzano founded the company Lemada Light Industries Ltd.
Hertzano died in 1987.
