Maureen Hiron

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Maureen Hiron (born around 1947), birth name Maureen Berman , is a British bridge player, book author and game developer . She is best known as the author of introductions and advice on the card game bridge as well as collections of quizzes and as a developer of various often simple card and placement games.

biography

Maureen Berman was a teacher and principal at a London school before she retired at the age of 32 after an accident in which part of the air conditioning fell on her head and severely injured her. She was a passionate bridge player and took part in various national and international bridge championships. In these she also met the bridge player and commentator for the London newspaper The Independent Alan Hiron (1933-1999), whom she married in 1983. In 1982, the year before their wedding, they both founded the game publisher Hiron Games to produce and market the game Continuo and later other games such as Cavendish and Quizwrangle . Maureen was usually the game designer, while Alan was active as a game tester and editor. Continuo became the UK's top-selling game after its launch, with more than 200,000 games sold in the UK alone within a year.

Continuo was Maureen Hiron's first known game, a placement game with simple color cards

In 1984 Alan and Maureen Hiron were portrayed in the BBC's documentary A Will to Win . Shortly after, a was at Maureen cancer diagnosed and she was in the Royal Marsden Hospital admitted. There, together with other patients, she developed the game Chip in , which she produced in her publishing house and used for a campaign to set up the Royal Marsden Hospital Foundation under the auspices of Diana, Princess of Wales , for which she also recruited British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and could play the game with her.

In 1993 Maureen and Alan competed together at the European Union Senior Pairs bridge tournament in Portugal and together they won the bronze medal. Together with Alan she also wrote some introductory bridges and several sets of quizzes.

In the early 1990s, the Hirons moved to the south of Spain because of the better climate, where Alan Mann died on June 7, 1999 in Málaga of complications from Guillain-Barré syndrome . Maureen took over the bridge column in The Independent and also in the Irish Independent newspaper and developed further games.

In 2011 Maureen Hiron met the singer Sheyla Bonnick of the music group Boney M on a cruise in the Caribbean, on which the band played. They became friends and Bonnick organized a private Boney-M concert for Maureen for her 70th birthday. Maureen played a few songs with her on the organ that Bonnick used for the song Look Beyond . Together with her she also developed the game Eye Catch , published in 2017.

Works

Bibliography (selection)

  • 1983: The 11+ Bridge Book
  • 1984, 1991: The Penguin Ultimate Trivia Quiz Game Book (with Alan Hiron)
  • 1985: Trivia choice
  • 1987: Bridge for Beginners (with Alan Hiron)
  • 1989: Beginning Bridge
  • 1994: Easy Guide to Bridge (with Alan Hiron)
  • The Puffin Trivia Quiz Book (with David Elias)
  • Beyond The Ultimate Trivia Quiz Game Book (with David Elias, Alan Hiron)

Ludography (selection)

  • 1982: Continuo
  • 1982: Double
  • 1983: Quizwrangle
  • 1985: Seduxion
  • 1985: Triangulo Continuo
  • 1986: Cavendish
  • 1986: Duo
  • 1987: Top that
  • 1987: Croque
  • 1988: Chip in
  • 1991: 77
  • 1992: Black Rhino
  • 1996: Cambio
  • 1998: Z
  • 1998: Rhombo Continuo
  • 1999: Stick Around
  • 2001: Zippy
  • 2001: Cosmic Cows
  • 2002: Think Twice
  • 2002: Qwitch
  • 2003: Trinidad
  • 2003: Chekov
  • 2003: Catz, Ratz and Batz
  • 2004: StrataGem
  • 2004: Outfox
  • 2004: Collide-O!
  • 2005: Top Dogs
  • 2006: Mix-Up
  • 2006: Hexago Continuo
  • 2006: aBRIDGEd
  • 2007: Mr. Congo
  • 2008: Slap 'n Grab
  • 2008: On the Double
  • 2009: like lightning
  • 2009: Super Circles
  • 2009: 7 Ate 9 (published in German as Under Voltage )
  • 2011: Tripolo
  • 2011: Grabbelen
  • 2012: Grabolo
  • 2012: Dino alarm
  • 2013: Words of Art
  • 2013: Triple 3
  • 2016: Kivi
  • 2017: Eye Catch
  • 2018: Brainwaves: The whise whale
  • 2019: high voltage

Awards

Some of Maureen Hiron's games won awards:

Select Games cafeteria
  • 1995: Continuo
  • 1995: Duo
  • 1996: Qwadrangle
German educational game award

supporting documents

  1. ↑ calculated from information on Maureen Hiron , portrait on her website, and the release date of the game Eye Catch ; accessed on January 23, 2020
  2. ↑ a b Deej Johnson: Prolific inventor Maureen Hiron on having ideas - and the daftest thing a game designer can Thurs. mojo-nation.com, November 8, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Maureen Hiron , portrait on her website; accessed on January 23, 2020
  4. ↑ a b Maureen Hiron in the board game database BoardGameGeek (English); accessed on January 23, 2020
  5. ↑ a b Des Deery: Alan Hiron on the English Bridge Union website; accessed on January 23, 2020
  6. ↑ a b Desmond Deery: Obituary: Alan Hiron. The Independent, June 9, 1999; accessed on January 23, 2020
  7. ^ Look Beyond on Sheyla Bonnick's website; accessed on January 23, 2020
  8. ↑ Eye Catch in the BoardGameGeek game database (English) Eye Catch in the BoardGameGeek game database (English) ; accessed on January 23, 2020

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Hiron, Maureen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berman, Maureen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British game designer and book author
DATE OF BIRTH around 1947