Maurine Hermione Adele Hiron (née Berman; 22 May 1942 – 8 June 2022), better known as Maureen Hiron, 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.

Background Maurine Hermione Adele Herman was born in Whitechapel, London on 22 May 1942. She was a teacher and head of the physical education department of an Inner London comprehensive school. Hiron 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 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, 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 on 7 June 1999 from Guillain–Barré syndrome. Maureen took over writing the bridge columns in The Independent and Irish Independent newspapers, and developed further games.

Hiron died at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on 8 June 2022, aged 80.

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. 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, 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 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 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)