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]

Personal life

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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 died in June 2022.^[1]

Game design

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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]}

Bridge and writing

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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]}

Selected publications

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1983: The 11+ Bridge Book (with Alan Hiron). Crowood
1984, 1991: The Penguin Ultimate Trivia Quiz Game Book (with Alan Hiron) (ISBN 978-1870630849)
1985: Trivia Choice (with Alan Hiron & David Elias). Severn House
1987: Bridge for Beginners (with Alan Hiron). Crowood (ISBN 978-1852230784)
1989: Beginning Bridge (with Alan Hiron). Batsford (ISBN 978-1852233518)
1994: Easy Guide to Bridge (with Alan Hiron). Cadogan (ISBN 978-0713486629)
The Puffin Trivia Quiz Game Book (with Alan Hiron & David Elias)
Beyond the Ultimate Trivia Quiz Game Book (with Alan Hiron & David Elias). Penguin
Learn to play aBRIDGEd. Out of the Box (USA)

Games

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1982: Continuo. Hiron Games, U.S.Games Systems. Schmidt Spiele
1983: Quadwrangle. Hiron Games.^[11]
1983: Quizwrangle Quizwrangle Add Pack 1; Quizwrangle Add Pack 2. Hiron Games^[12]
1984: Double. Hiron Games^[13]
1985: Seduxion. Hiron Games^[14]
1985: Triangulo Continuo. Hiron Games
1986: Cavendish. Pin International (Thailand)
1986: Duo. Ravensburger
1986: The "A" Pack. Hiron Games
1987: Top That! Mattel
1987: Croque. Hiron Games
1987: Rainbow Rummy. Games Workshop
1988: CHIP IN. AMIGO (Germany)
1989: The Telebugs Game. Hiron Games
1990: W.H.Smith Trivia. W.H.Smith Set 2 Trivia
1991: 77. Schmidt Spiele
1992: Black Rhino. AGMuller (Swiss). Rhino. ASS
1993: Hexwrangle (with Graham Lipscombe)
1993: Teddy's Party. U.S Games Systems.
1994: Superroo AGMuller
1995: Alles Oder Nichts (All or Nothing). King (Germany)
1996: Cambio Pin International (Thailand). Lagoon
1996: Corrrr-uption. Hiron Games
1997: Hiron's Word Game
1997: Dizzy Dice. Promo special
1997: Kniffel Duell Schmidt Spiele
1998: Z. Schmidt Spiele
1998: Rhombo Continuo. Hiron Games. U.S.G.S (USA)
1999: Stick Around. Great American Trading company
2000: Di-Cross. Pin International (Thailand)
2000: KEETOO (Casino game). Great American Trading Company
2000: Trezo. Great American Trading Company
2001: Zippy. David Westnedge. Playroom Entertainment
2001: Cosmic Cows. Playroom Entertainment
2001: Reaction Schmidt Spiele
2002: Think Twice. David Westnedge. Playroom Entertainment
2002: Qwitch. Out of the Box. Mattel
2003: Trinidad. Pin (Thailand)
2003: Chekov. David Westnedge, Playroom Entertainment
2003: Catz, Ratz & Batz. David Westnedge, Playroom Entertainment
2003: Tennis Dice. Special Promo
2003: Ping Pong Dice. Special Promo

2004: Stratagem. Playroom Entertainment
2004: Outfox. Great American Trading Company
2004: Collide-O! Playroom Entertainment
2005: Top Dogs. Playroom Entertainment
2005: Qwacky Wacky. Special promo
2006: Mix-Up. Out of the Box
2006: Hexago Continuo. U.S.G.S. David Westnedge
2006: aBRIDGEd. U.s.g.s.
2007: Mr Congo. Schmidt Spiele
2008: Slap 'n' Grab. Buffalo Games
2008: On the Double. Playroom Entertainment
2008: Zoooom. Martinex
2009: Super Circles (with Ron & Caron Badkin) Out of the Box. Vennerod.
2009: 7Ate9 [de] (published in German as Unter Spannung). Out of the Box
2010: Papaya. Special promotion
2011: Tripolo. U.S.G.S.
2011: Grabbelen. 999 Games
2012: Grabolo. Bonaparte (Czech Republic)
2012: Dino Alarm. HABA
2012: Sectago Triangles. Sectago Rhomboids. Sectago Snowflakes
2013: Grabolo Junior. Bonaparte
2013: Words of Art. Playroom Entertainment
2013: Triple 3. Ravensburger
2014: Lichipolo 4. Bonaparte
2014: Pamatova. Bonaparte
2014: Grabolo 3D. Bonaparte. John Adams
2015: I Remember. Bonaparte
2015: Carletto
2016: MoesWords. Hiron Games
2016: Keetoo (NOT casino game!). Bonaparte
2017: Eye Catch. Inside Out. Bonaparte
2018: Sneek Peek. Brainwaves - The Wise Whale. Kosmos. Thames & Kosmos
2019: Colorolo. Bonaparte
2019: KIVI Shapes. Martinex (Finland)
2019: 7Ate9 Multi. Hoch Spannung. High Voltage. Amigo (Germany)

Awards

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1995 Mensa Select Game: Continuo^[15]
1995 Mensa Select Game: Duo^[15]
1995 Parents Choice Gold Award: Teddy's Party^{[citation needed]}
1996 Mensa Select Game: Quadwrangle^[15]
2018 Game of the Year: KIVI (Finland)^{[citation needed]}
2018 Game of the Year: Grabolo Junior (Hungary)^{[citation needed]}
2019 German Educational Game Award: Hoch Spannung [de] High Voltage^[16]
2021 Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design: inducted into Hall of Fame^[17]

References

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^ ^a ^b Boydell, Tony. "Mourning Maureen". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
^ Hiron, Maureen (10 December 2019). "Maureen Hiron, Gamesperson Extraordinaire" (PDF). IBPA Bulletin. 659. IBPA: 1, 16.
^ "Maureen Hiron | Board Game Designer | BoardGameGeek".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Walker, Tim (3 November 2009). "Big game hunter: The search for the next Monopoly". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
^ ^a ^b Batchelor, Charles (28 April 1988). "Inventor hits games market on the head". Financial Times. p. VI. Retrieved 12 May 2020 – via Internet Archive.
^ "Prolific inventor Maureen Hiron on having ideas – and the daftest thing a game designer can do". Mojo Nation. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
^ "Lady Milne Home Internationals - a History | English Bridge Union". www.ebu.co.uk. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Obituary: Alan Hiron". The Independent. 9 June 1999. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
^ "A Will to Win". The Radio Times. 10 January 1985. p. 31. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
^ Sid. "Brighten Up London". Hands On London. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
^ "Quadwrangle". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
^ "Quizwrangle". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
^ "Double". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
^ "Seduxion". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Mensa Select® Games". www.mensamindgames.com. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
^ Just, Wilfried (28 November 2019). "Hochspannung erhält Auszeichnung Lernspiel des Jahres 2019" [High Voltage Receives 2019 Educational Game of the Year Award]. Kinderspielmagazin (in German). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
^ "Hall of Fame". The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Retrieved 13 May 2022.

External links

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Official website
Maureen Hiron in the game database Luding
Maureen Hiron in the game database BoardGameGeek (English)