Maureen Hiron (1942 – June 2022) was a British games designer and international bridge player. She is best known as a developer of over 60 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.

Personal life

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. Hiron was a passionate

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

player, who participated in national and international championships. She was on the winning England team in both the 1974 and 1975 Lady Milne Trophy, 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 ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', and in 1990 the gold medalist of the inaugural World Championship Senior Pairs. The couple married in 1983. In the early 1990s the Hirons moved to Southern Spain for the better climate. Alan died in

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

on 7 June 1999 from

Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rapid-onset Paralysis, muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. Typically, both sides of the body are involved, and the initial symptoms are changes in sensation ...

. Maureen took over writing the bridge columns in ''The Independent'' and ''Irish Independent'' newspapers, and developed further games. Hiron died in June 2022.

Game design

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''. 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. In 1984 Maureen and Alan Hiron were the subject of a 30-minute BBC TV documentary ''A Will to Win''. Shortly afterwards Maureen was diagnosed with cancer and was admitted to the

Royal Marsden Hospital The Royal Marsden Hospital is a specialist National Health Service oncology hospital in London based at two sites in Brompton, in Kensington and Chelsea, and Belmont in Sutton. It is managed by The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and supp ...

. 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. The then Prime Minister,

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

, even took on Maureen and Alan at ''Chip In''.

Bridge and writing

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 ''Fifteen to One'' is a British general knowledge quiz show broadcast on Channel 4. It originally ran from 11 January 1988 to 19 December 2003 and had a reputation for being one of the toughest quizzes on TV. Throughout the show's original run ...

'' and created puzzles for ITV's '' The Krypton Factor''.

Selected publications

* 1983: ''The 11+ Bridge Book'' (with Alan Hiron). Crowood * 1984, 1991: ''The Penguin Ultimate Trivia Quiz Game Book'' (with Alan Hiron) () * 1985: ''Trivia Choice'' (with Alan Hiron & David Elias). Severn House * 1987: ''Bridge for Beginners'' (with Alan Hiron). Crowood () * 1989: ''Beginning Bridge'' (with Alan Hiron). Batsford () * 1994: ''Easy Guide to Bridge'' (with Alan Hiron). Cadogan () * ''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

* 1982: '' Continuo''. Hiron Games, U.S.Games Systems. Schmidt Spiele * 1983: ''Quadwrangle''. Hiron Games. * 1983: Quizwrangle Quizwrangle Add Pack 1; Quizwrangle Add Pack 2. Hiron Games * 1984: ''Double''. Hiron Games * 1985: ''Seduxion''. Hiron Games * 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: (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

* 1995

Mensa Select Mensa Select is an annual award given by Mensa International, American Mensa since 1990 to five board games that are "original, challenging and well designed". The awards are presented at the annual Mensa Mind Games competition. Past winners ...

Game: '' Continuo'' * 1995 Mensa Select Game: ''Duo'' * 1995 Parents Choice Gold Award: ''Teddy's Party'' * 1996 Mensa Select Game: ''Quadwrangle'' * 2018 Game of the Year: ''KIVI'' (Finland) * 2018 Game of the Year: ''Grabolo Junior'' (Hungary) * 2019 German Educational Game Award: ''High Voltage'' * 2021 Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design: inducted into Hall of Fame

References

External links

*
Maureen Hiron
in the game database Luding
Maureen Hiron
in the game database BoardGameGeek (English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hiron, Maureen 1942 births 2022 deaths Board game designers British game designers Contract bridge writers British women in business