Chessex Manufacturing Company, LLC announced the retirement of their founder and owner Donald Reents as well as the establishment of a new ownership group.
Donald Reents (see “ICv2 Interview“) and Chessex have been fixtures in the games industry since the 80s. Reents originally began his run in the games industry in 1980 as owner of Games of Berkley. Reents began making games accessories in 1981 with his Berkley Game Company; one of his first products was Battlemats. He later went into distribution in 1982 with Berkley Game Distributors, a company he started in the basement of a Copymat, and created Chessex as a brand of chess clocks in 1984.
Reent officially founded Chessex as an accessories manufacturer in 1987, and began producing their famous polyhedral dice sets. He sold Berkley Game Distributors in 1988, and started Chessex East distribution in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania , and later, Chessex Midwest distribution in 1990. Three years later, Chessex Distribution experienced a huge boom with release of Magic: The Gathering in 1993, and became one of the top game distributors in the U.S. Reents eventually merged his distribution business with The Armory in November 1998 to form the base of Alliance Distribution.
Reents remained owner of the Chessex Manufacturing until August 17, 2026, when his retirement became official. The new ownership group tasked with continuing the legacy of Chessex dice consists of John Rogers (Chessex), Bob Maher Jr. (co-owner of ACD Distribution), Danny Procell (co-owner of ACD Distribution), and Alex Kammer (Executive Director of Gamehole Con).
Source: ICV2
