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Past occupations: Games designer, International Bridge Player.
Skills
Game design, Bridge playing.
Main Milestones
Birth in London
1942
Maureen Hiron was born in London, England. Her early life experiences likely influenced her later creativity and her aptitude for strategic thinking, laying the groundwork for her future career in games design and competitive bridge.
Early Bridge Career
1970s
During this period, Maureen began to establish herself in the world of competitive bridge. She displayed a natural talent for the game, quickly rising through the ranks and demonstrating a keen strategic mind. This period marked the beginning of her long and successful career as an international bridge player.
Debut as a Games Designer
1980s
The 1980s marked Maureen Hiron's foray into game design. She began to conceptualize and develop innovative board games, showcasing her creativity and understanding of engaging gameplay. This period signifies the beginning of her career as a prolific games designer.
Creation of 'Barricade' (aka 'Blockers')
1983
Maureen Hiron designed 'Barricade,' a strategic racing game where players must navigate their pawns around a board while placing barricades to hinder opponents. This game quickly gained popularity and became a household favorite, establishing Hiron as a prominent figure in the games industry and showcasing her talent for creating engaging and strategic games.
Design of 'Continuo'
1985
Hiron's 'Continuo' is a visually appealing and engaging pattern-matching game. The game's success further cemented her reputation as an innovative game designer known for creating games that were both accessible and strategically interesting. It exemplifies her design philosophy of combining simplicity with strategic depth.
International Bridge Competitions
1980s-2000s
Throughout these decades, Maureen Hiron actively participated in numerous international bridge tournaments, representing Great Britain. She achieved significant success, demonstrating her expertise in the game and solidifying her reputation as a formidable competitor on the world stage. Her dedication and skill in bridge continued to develop during this time.
Published 'Play Bridge with the Aces'
2004
Maureen Hiron wrote 'Play Bridge with the Aces'. This further expanded her influence and knowledge amongst bridge players. It is one of the definitive texts written about improving your bridge playing skills.
Death
June 2022
Maureen Hiron passed away in June 2022, leaving behind a legacy of creativity and strategic thinking. Her contributions to the world of games and bridge continue to be celebrated by players around the globe. She left behind a collection of engaging games that continue to bring joy and challenge to families and friends.
British games designer and international bridge player (1942–2022)
Maureen Hiron (1942 – June 2022)[1] was a British games designer and international bridge player.[2] She is best known as a developer of over 60[3] board, card, dice, word and question and answer games, including the abstract strategy game Continuo. Her games were published through Hiron Games Ltd., which she founded with her husband in 1982 after retiring from teaching.[4][5]
Maureen Hiron was a teacher, head of the physical education department of an Inner London comprehensive school. She retired from teaching, aged 32, after a serious injury when a heavy metal air conditioner broke away and fell on her head while she was calling from a window to quieten some unruly children.[4][6]
Hiron was a passionate bridge player, who participated in national and international championships. She was on the winning England team in both the 1974 and 1975 Lady Milne Trophy,[7] the home countries internationals, and also represented Great Britain in the European Championships of 1974.
Through bridge she met Alan Hiron (1933–1999), the bridge correspondent of The Independent, and in 1990 the gold medalist of the inaugural World Championship Senior Pairs. The couple married in 1983.[8]
In the early 1990s the Hirons moved to Southern Spain for the better climate. Alan died in Málaga on 7 June 1999 from Guillain–Barré syndrome.[8] Maureen took over writing the bridge columns in The Independent and Irish Independent newspapers, and developed further games.[4]
Hiron's Continuo, a game of aligning coloured squares
In 1982 the Hirons founded the games publishing company Hiron Games Ltd, initially to produce and market the game Continuo and later a stream of other games, such as Quizwrangle and Cavendish.[5] Maureen invented the games and Alan was the tester and editor. Continuo, launched on 1 April 1982, became Britain's best-selling game, with around 205,000 sets sold in the UK by the end of that year.[4]
In 1984 Maureen and Alan Hiron were the subject of a 30-minute BBC TV documentary A Will to Win.[9] Shortly afterwards Maureen was diagnosed with cancer and was admitted to the Royal Marsden Hospital. There, using her fellow-patients as play-testers, she developed the game Chip In, which her company manufactured and used in the campaign to raise £25 million for the Royal Marsden, the world's first specialist cancer hospital. The Appeal President was Princess Diana, and the main backing newspaper was the Daily Star. Maureen was voted Londoner of the Year, in London Electricity's Brightening Up London campaign.[10] The then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, even took on Maureen and Alan at Chip In.[citation needed]
In 1993 Maureen and Alan competed in partnership at the European Union Bridge Senior Pairs in Portugal and won the bronze medal. Maureen and Alan wrote some beginners' bridge books together, and also quiz books - including The Ultimate Trivia Quiz Games Book, with over 10,000 questions, which reached No. 2 in the British Bestsellers list. (Non-fiction). Maureen also wrote the questions for the first series of Channel 4's popular quiz show Fifteen to One and created puzzles for ITV's The Krypton Factor.[citation needed]
This is a community hub built on top of the Maureen Hiron Wikipedia article. Here, you can discuss, collect, and organize anything related to Maureen Hiron. The purpose of the hub is to connect people, foster deeper knowledge, and help improve the root Wikipedia article.
This is a community hub built on top of the Maureen Hiron Wikipedia article. Here, you can discuss, collect, and organize anything related to Maureen Hiron. The purpose of the hub is to connect people, foster deeper knowledge, and help improve the root Wikipedia article.
