Olaf Vancura, PhD
Founder & CEO
Olaf has over 20 years of gaming executive experience in R&D, Game Design and Game Development. Upon completing his education in 1992, he was first a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University and subsequently joined the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. While in Cambridge, Olaf developed and for several years taught the Casino Gambling curriculum at nearby Tufts University, a popular class nominated as the “best course at Tufts.” After joining the gaming industry in the late '90s, he rose to serve as the VP of Game Development and Chief Creative Officer of Mikohn Gaming / Progressive Gaming Int’l. In 2010, he became the VP of Game Development for American Gaming Systems. With $8+ billion wagered on his original creations, Vancura is the chief architect for casino slot hits based on the Yahtzee, Battleship, Clue, Garfield, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, Family Feud and yes, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! brands.
Olaf is a named inventor on more than 80 gaming-related patents. Olaf taught the UNR Executive Graduate Certificate course for Quantitative Methods & Analysis in the Gaming Industry and served as lead editor for UNR's "Finding the Edge" compendium of academic mathematical gaming studies. His book "Knock-Out Blackjack," which introduces a vastly simplified card-counting system, was named one of the 20th century’s "Top 100 Events in Gaming" by Casino Player magazine. He's appeared on multiple national television specials related to the gaming industry and has given invited talks at the Dartmouth Chance Lecture series, Cornell Graduate School, UNLV Excellence in Gaming series, University of Nevada Reno Executive Development conference, Mensa Annual Gathering and National Institute of Standards & Technology, among others.
Dr. Vancura holds a PhD in Physics from The Johns Hopkins University.