Cliff Johnson

Alongside puzzles in book form, I also grew up playing many puzzle games on the computer.  One of my favorite creators of these games was Cliff Johnson.  I grew up playing Fool's Errand and 3 in Three (I think I've played through both of them at least three times each) and in college discovered At The Carnival.  I still haven't played his other games because I haven't been able to get them to run on any machine I've tried them on yet.  If anyone knows a free and legal way to run a Windows 98 program on a Windows 7 machine, I would greatly appreciate it.

In theory, at the end of September, Cliff will be releasing a new game called A Fool and His Money.  I say in theory because I was immortalized in the Compendium of True Believers (i.e. pre-ordered the game) I think 5 years ago when I used to work at Liquid Entertainment.  Each year the game was supposed to be coming out that year sometime, but kept getting pushed back due to a technical flaw or family emergency (it is only one guy making the game after all).  I have hope this time will stick, though, because unlike the other times, Cliff has a weekly production schedule with clear goals and deadlines.

Of course, even if it doesn't, I'm all for supporting one of the men responsible for the games I was raised on. Heck, I'm even quoted on his page (although uncredited): "I grew up on Fool’s Errand and 3 in Three and cannot wait for their further adventures. You are a genius and you make me feel like one when I beat your games."