Private company

Free Fall Associates

American video game developer

Free Fall Associates was a video game developer of the 1980s and early 1990s founded in 1981 in Palo Alto, California by game designer Jon Freeman, game programmer Anne Westfall, and game designer Paul Reiche III. Westfall and Freeman are married. To start the new company, Freeman and Westfall left Epyx, the company Freeman co-founded in 1978.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1981Founded1
  • Industryvideo game industry1

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Free Fall Associates was a video game developer of the 1980s and early 1990s founded in 1981 in Palo Alto, California by game designer Jon Freeman, game programmer Anne Westfall, and game designer Paul Reiche III. Westfall and Freeman are married. To start the new company, Freeman and Westfall left Epyx, the company Freeman co-founded in 1978. Free Fall Associates is best known for Archon: The Light and the Dark (1983), which was one of the first games from new publisher Electronic Arts.2

The story

Founded by Anne Westfall and Jon Freeman in 1981.1

Freeman, along with friend Jim Connelley, started Epyx as Automated Simulations as a vehicle to publish a game they had created together called Starfleet Orion for the Commodore PET home computer. They eventually published dozens of titles for numerous platforms, some very successful.

By 1981, however, Freeman had become frustrated with what he called "office politics" and decided to leave the company. His wife, Westfall, joined him, though she cites a desire to learn assembly language programming on the Atari 8-bit computers as a motivation. Reiche joined the duo as the company's third member.

Free Fall's first game was 1982's Tax Dodge, a maze chase for Atari 8-bit computers. According to Freeman, "Mainstream adults loved the idea, and we got written up in some major business magazines, but the market wasn't there yet".

From Wikipedia’s article on Free Fall Associates, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Leadership

Who has led Free Fall Associates, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Products and brands

By 2002, Freeman and Westfall had renamed their company Free Fall Games. Their only game to date, Triplicards, was released in or around 2002.

From Wikipedia’s article on Free Fall Associates, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 1981Founded Founded1

Sources

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