William Kunkel

Bill Kunkel (also known as "The Game Doctor") entered the game business with Arnie Katz as the authors of the first video and computer game review column, "Arcade Alley" in VIDEO magazine beginning in 1978. In 1981, Katz, Kunkel and Joyce Worley launched the first all-games magazine, ELECTRONIC GAMES (Reese Publishing). Subsequently, Kunkel was involved in the start-up of several magazines including VIDEOGAMES & COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT, SEGA VISIONS, PC ACE, GAMEFAN SPORTS NETWORK as well as a revival of ELECTRONIC GAMES that ran from 1991 through 1995.

In the mid-80s, Kunkel formed Subway Software with Katz and Joyce Worley and worked on the designs for several dozen computer and video games, including BART'S NIGHTMARE (Acclaim), SUPERMAN, MAN OF STEEL (Capstone), BATMAN RETURNS (Konami), MICROLEAGUE WWF WRESTLING (MicroLeague Sports Association/MLSA), MICROLEAGUE BASEBALL II (MLSA), STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (Simon & Schuster Interactive), RINGLING BROS. CIRCUS GAMES (Tynesoft), BLOOD BOWL (MLSA), THE OMNICRON CONSPIRACY (Epyx), BORROWED TIME (Activision) and many others.

He testified or was deposed in three of the seminal litigations in the history of video gaming.

Kunkel was also involved in the development, editing and/or writing on numerous game sites (including J2Games.com, HAPPY PUPPY and InsideGaming). He's written numerous strategy books for Prima, Brady, and Acclaim and has taught several game design courses at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV).

His column "The Kunkel Report" appears periodically on the Digital Press site and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement at the 1999 Classic Gaming Expo.

Late in 2005, Kunkel published the first volume of his memoirs, "Confessions of The Game Doctor" (Rolenta Press). In January 2007 he became Editor-in-Chief of the troubled LFP game magazine, TIPS & TRICKS, overhauled it and helped design an all-new website, but Flynt gave up on the project after only eight issues and #150, the August 2007 issue marked the end of the 13 year old publication.

Kunkel also edits the online Running With Scissors newsletter (PostalNation.net) where his Game Doctor column currently appears (this column has been running steadily in a variety of publications and on several sites since 1981).

In late 2007, Kunkel came onboard J2Games.com as a regular columnist and minority partner. He can be found on numerous other websites, including Videojug.com (see "Video Games")