GAMES MAGAZINE, A SHORT LIVED BRITISH PUBLICATION

The United Kingdom has very often been blessed by excellent (albeit sometimes short lived) gaming magazines and it has the distinction of being home of the very first 'general gaming' publication with the famous Games & Puzzles, first released in 1972 (!). According to a Boardgamegeek post, the magazine was created by the founder of Games Centre, one of the very first specialist game shops in the UK (and the world). Avalon Hill's The General predates it, becuase the first issue was released in 1964, but it was strictly a AH house organ. Games & Puzzles lasted till 1981 (you can find here a great story of the magazine) and it covered boardgames, wargames, the 'new' roleplaying games coming from America, strategy games, abstract games, included complete games and of course puzzles. It is a great snapshot of gaming (in the UK at least) in in its infancy and it was well written and interesting. Perusing its over eighty issues is like enetering a time machine and in its pages we can see reviews of long extinct titles (Games & Puzzles had a column about 'vintage' games printed for example before the two World Wars!) and it's really wirth collecting if you are serious abiout gaming history. 

The magazine's influence was strong even overseas and Giampaolo Dossena, one of Italy's foremost experts aboutt gaming, spoke fondly of Games & Puzzles. Alas, its life was not without problems and it changed schedule from monthly to quarterly in 1978 before folding in the summer of 1981. But this was not the last word on it: for reasons unknown its publisher, AHC Publications, launched in 1981 another magazine, The Gamer, ("Britain's premier magazine for gamesplayers"). The new publicstion has a bimonthly schedule and it covered initially 'indoor games' (meaning boardgames, wargames, role playing games, abstract games) but computer games got more and more coverage due to the release of new low cost machines. Issues 7 and 8 were named The Gamer & Computer Gamer, a clear sign of the attention and hopes of the publisher to reach new readers and advertisers. 

For us role playing games fans The Gamer had a column, "The Warlock", covering not just fantasy games but 'hobby games' in general, events (such as Games Day) and the 'fantasy gaming' presence in the reviews and news columns was very significant. This should not be a surprise, judging from the companies advertising in The Gamer (Games Workshop was a very strong presence from issue 1 to 6). The magazine, like Games & Puzzles, very interesting and informative, a quality publication that in my eyes could teach something to far more recent publications... but I digress. Anyway, The Gamer was too good to last and with issue 8 folded: I found a letter (dated 9/12/1982), when I bought my collection, in the last issue where AHC publications that the publisher has "officially ceased trading as of the date on this letter" and apologizing for "any inconvenience thus caused" which I think it means "Were you a subscriber? No refunds!". 

I discovered Games & Puzzles due to an auction on eBay UK for issue 48 which had a cover story about Dungeons & Dragons. Always looking for artefacts from the origins of the hobby I bought it and, besides reading the articles about this new game coming from America (please remember, this is 1976!) I was so impressed I started collecting all the issues I could find at a reasonable price. And so I discovered The Gamer too which impressed me even more! According to Boardgamegeek there was an attempt to relaunch Games & Puzzles/The Gamer in 1994 that lasted three years and then folded again. Considering the (apparent at least) success of Tabletop Gaming today (going from quarterly to monthly), perhaps it was too ahead of its time.