Games World of Puzzles June 2019

Welcome to the June issue of GAMES WORLD OF PUZZLES! Soon we’ll be enjoying the longest days of the year. What better pastime to fill those extra hours with than puzzle-solving? Fortunately, you’ll find more than enough brainteasers, crosswords, and other diversions in these pages to keep you entertained.

As you probably know by now, we’re almost at the end of our “Moving Forward, Looking Back” series by Andrew Parr, this magazine’s “unofficial historian.” In the eighth installment of the nine-part series, he provides an entertaining look at the so-called “armchair treasure hunt” craze that grew out of the now-famous 1979 book Masquerade, by Kit Williams. Parr’s article is an enjoyable, nostalgic read; turn to page 34 for a stroll down memory lane.

What you may not know is that Parr recently created a Facebook group just for GAMES fans. Now you can meet with like-minded readers to discuss current and past favorites from the magazine and share memories. The group is called Games Magazine Enthusiasts; you can find it at www.facebook.com/groups/gamesmag. In Parr’s final article in the MFLB series, he will encourage discussion and debate among group members, so join now! While we’re sad to see the series wrap up, we look forward to the lively conversation that the final installment will bring.

Back to this issue: Other highlights include Jonathan Schmalzbach’s article “Above and Beyonder” (page 40), a profile of the fantasy role-playing game Beyonder and the family who created it and developed its rich gameworld. Also, “Game On!” columnist Raymond Simon discusses the significant firsts that took place at this year’s American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (page 48). And for chess fans, check out R. Wayne Schmittberger’s summary of the U.S. Chess Championships (page 24).

In the Pencilwise section, highlights include the variety crossword “Split Ends” by Jonathan Olsen (page 19) and the challenging anagram puzzle “Double A” by Erich Friedman (page 29). For the logic-loving and math-minded among you, we have Margery Albis’s “Camp Scout Cookies” (page 54) and Ryan Langewisch’s “Logisquares” (page 64).

So get out your pencils and get started. And don’t forget to get online and check out the Games Magazine Enthusiasts Facebook page. You’ll be glad you did.

Happy puzzling!