Russell Ginns is a game designer,Boardgamegeek.com Designers Profile
Seven published board game titles as of July 2013. writer,
Russell Ginns "About the Author" and composer, primarily known for children's fiction, puzzles, and educational games and songs. He is the author of more than 100 books, including ''Super Atomic Wombat Girl'', ''Puzzlooies'', ''1-2-3 Scream!'' and the '' Samantha Spinner'' series. He has created or contributed to several notable software titles, including ''

Castle Infinity ''Castle Infinity'' is a discontinued Massively multiplayer online game, the first intended for children. It was launched by Starwave Corporation in 1996, and features personalized avatars, an embedded message system and live chat in a 2D side sc ...

'', '' Hooked on Phonics'', ''

Reader Rabbit ''Reader Rabbit'' is an educational video game franchise created in 1984 by The Learning Company. The series is aimed at children from infancy to the age of nine. In 1998, a spiritual successor series called ''The ClueFinders'' was released f ...

'' and ''

Half-Life Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay. Half-life, half life or halflife may also refer to: Film * Half-Life (film), ''Half-Life'' (film), a 2008 independent film by Jennifer Phang * ''Half Life: ...

''.

Publishing

Ginns worked as an editor for ''Sesame Street Magazine'',''

3-2-1 Contact ''3-2-1 Contact'' is an American science educational television show produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It aired on PBS from 1980 to 1988 and later ran on Noggin (a joint venture between the C ...

'', and ''

The Electric Company ''The Electric Company'' is an American educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett. ...

''. He created the Nintendo Adventure Books series.Gamebooks: Nintendo Adventure Books
Retrieved 11 October 2014. and several dozen puzzle books, choose-your-own-adventure books, and young adult fiction. Titles include ''Puzzlooney!'', ''Go Figure'', ''Midnight Science!'', and ''The Big Book of Kids' Puzzles''. Ginns created more than 100 workbooks for

Sylvan Learning Sylvan Learning, Inc. (formerly Sylvan Learning Corporation) consists of franchised and corporate supplemental learning centers which provide personalized instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, study skills, homework support, and test pr ...

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel ( ;"Seuss"
'' Berenstain Bears The ''Berenstain Bears'' is a children's literature franchise created by Stan and Jan Berenstain and continued by their son, Mike Berenstain. The books feature a family of anthropomorphic grizzly bears who generally learn a moral or safety ...

, and Hooked on Phonics. Between 2013 and 2015, Ginns wrote four collections of board books (The Little Box of Love; The Little Box of Laughs; The Little Box of Bedtime; and The Little Box of Classics) for

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company ( ; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, and reference works. The company is based in the Financial District, Boston, Boston Financial District. It was fo ...

. This series includes ''Is There a Chance You’ve Seen My Pants?'', ''Bird on My Head'', and ''Monster Love''. In 2017,

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

published the first title in Ginns's book series, '' Samantha Spinner and the Super-Secret Plans''. He wrote ''My Big Book of Feelings'' for Rodale Press in 2020, the graphic novel ''Super Atomic Wombat Girl'', and the ''Puzzlooies,'' series, a hybrid puzzle-story book format. The initial launch featured twelve titles, including ''Marooned on the Moon'', ''One of Our Giant Robots Is Missing'', and ''Space Cats to the Rescue''. His 2022 title 1-2-3 Scream! is an anthology of humorous horror stories. Ginns has also been published under the names Clyde Bosco, P. C. Russell Ginns, Jacques Barniarde, Kravis Winewater, Hans Shingle, and R. U. Ginns.

Games and interactive media

Ginns was the lead designer of ''

'', the first

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

for kids. He wrote the original story treatment for

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

's ''

'', as well as games for '' Hooked on Phonics'',

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

, and ''

Lode Runner ''Lode Runner'' is a 2D puzzle-platform game, developed by Doug Smith and published by Broderbund in 1983. Its gameplay mechanics are similar to ''Space Panic'' from 1980. The player controls a character who must collect all the gold pieces in ...

''. Ginns has worked as a designer/producer with several independent game publishers, developing titles that include ''Crop Circles'', '' Pop! The Balloon Dog Puzzle Game'', and ''AlphaNatix''., ''Thud!'', ''Mercury Messenger'', and ''Smart Kart''. His published board games include ''Wordspot'', ''Schmear'', ''Search Party'', and ''Chess on the Loose''.

Bibliography

* 1991: ''Super Mario Bros. Double Trouble'' * 1991: ''Super Mario Bros. Leaping Lizards'' * 1994: ''Go Figure! Puzzles, Puns, and Funny Figures of Speech'' * 1995: ''Puzzlooney!'' * 1996: ''Midnight Science'' * 2009: Chick-Chick the Ping-Pong Champ ISBN 978-1940384146 * 2013: ''Is There a Chance You've Seen My Pants?'' * 2014: ''Bird On My Head'' * 2014: ''Monster Love'' * 2016: ''Samantha Spinner and the Super-secret Plans'' * 2017: ''Samantha Spinner and the Spectacular Specs'' * 2018: ''Samantha Spinner and the Boy in the Ball'' * 2019: ''My Big Book of Feelings'' * 2020: ''One of Our Giant Robots Is Missing'' * 2020: ''The Last Donut'' * 2021: ''Marooned on the Moon'' * 2021: ''Don't Feed Fluffy!'' * 2022: ''1-2-3 Scream!''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ginns, Russell American game designers American male writers American male songwriters Living people Year of birth missing (living people)