Civilization is a board game designed by Francis Tresham. It was originally published in the U.K. by Hartland Trefoil and released in 1980; the U.S. version was published by Avalon Hill and released the following year. It inspired Sid Meier to create Sid Meier's Civilization, and is considered to be the first game ever to incorporate a technology tree. An expansion set for Civilization called Advanced Civilization was released in 1991 (and converted into the computer game Avalon Hill's Advanced Civilization in 1996).