Joel Billings’ Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) papers

Collection — Box: 1-3

Identifier: 112.1517

Collection Scope and Content Note

Joel Billings’ Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) collection contains a sample of corporate records from Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI). Document types include meeting minutes, business plans, financial statements, correspondence, statistics, news articles, and other documentation. Also in this collection are printouts of the BASIC computer code for the SSI games Tank and Computer Bismarck. The bulk of the materials are dated between 1979 and 1996. Additional scope and content information can be found in the “Contents List” section of this finding aid.

Joel Billings’ Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) collection is arranged in one series which has been further divided into seven subseries. The collection is housed in three archival document boxes and one flat folder.

Dates

Creation: 1976 - 2001
Creation: Majority of material found within 1979 - 1996

Creator

Billings, Joel (Owner, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Please see The Strong's Digital Games Files Access Policy here .

Conditions Governing Use

This collection is open for research use by staff of The Strong and by users of its library and archives. Though the donor has not transferred intellectual property rights (including, but not limited to any copyright, trademark, and associated rights therein) to The Strong, he has given permission for The Strong to make copies in all media for museum, educational, and research purposes.

Historical Note

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Joel Billings, an American video game designer, founded Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) in 1979.

A wargame enthusiast from an early age, Billings realized that contemporary strategy game companies were not dedicating resources to develop computer versions of their analog games. While in college, Billings designed and programmed a simple wargame called Tank. After discussing his ideas with other game programmers, Billings began SSI with a modest investment. (Apple executive Trip Hawkins convinced Billings to program on the Apple II due to its graphics capability.) The California-based company successfully published its first wargame, Computer Bismarck, in 1980.

SSI produced dozens of simulation games during the 1980s, branching into fantasy, science-fiction, and sports. In 1987, SSI acquired the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) license from TSR; that same year, Electronic Arts bought 20 percent of SSI. Billings’ company produced many AD&D titles in its popular “gold box” game series starting with 1988’s Pool of Radiance.

Mindscape acquired SSI in 1994, following the loss of its lucrative AD&D license. Billings stayed on as President and CEO of SSI through December 1995. He later reevaluated his position and decided to step down as an executive to focus on game production and design. Mattel owned SSI before selling the company once again to Ubisoft in 2001. The SSI brand has been retired.

Since 2000, Billings has been designing at wargame producer 2 By 3 Games.

Extent

1.25 Linear Feet (3 boxes, 1 oversized flat folder)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Joel Billings’ Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) papers are a compilation of corporate records from Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI). The bulk of the materials are dated between 1979 and 1996.

System of Arrangement

Series I: SSI corporate records, 1976-2001

Subseries A: Historical information

Subseries B: Business plans

Subseries C: Meeting minutes

Subseries D: Financial documents

Subseries E: Research and statistics

Subseries F: Computer code printouts

Subseries G: Advertisements

Custodial History

Joel Billings’ Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) papers were donated to The Strong in April 2012 as a gift from Joel Billings. The papers were accessioned under Object ID 112.1517.

Related Materials

The trade catalog collection housed in the library stacks at the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play at The Strong contains SSI product catalogs from 1981 through 1996.

The International Center for the History of Electronic Games at The Strong also holds dozens of SSI-published games.

Related Names

Subject

TSR Hobbies, Inc. (Organization)
Strategic Simulations, Inc (Organization)
SSI (Firm) (Organization)
Electronic Arts (Firm) (Organization)
Rubinfien, David (Person)
Lyon, John (Person)
Hawkins, Trip (Person)
Bowen, David H. (Person)
Billings, Susan (Person)

Subjects

Topical

Record Groups

List 03. Archival Collections Related to Video and Other Electronic Games

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title: Finding Aid to Joel Billings’ Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) Papers, 1976-2001
Status: Completed
Author: Julia Novakovic
Date: 7 January 2014
Description rules: Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description: Undetermined
Script of description: Code for undetermined script
Language of description note: English