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6/4
5/31
5 THURSDAY - JUNE 1975
156TH DAY - 209 DAYS TO COME

To Scribner's. Spoke to Ken Heuer for a moment and gave him a copy 

of the Castle edition of AGOG, told him about the Castle edition which

Martin Gardner had not mentioned in his letter. Ken said that he'd look at the book but that he couldn't do any considering until I actually have the copyright certificate back from Random House. Told him I'd keep after them.

I asked if the paperback version of Martin's SIXTH BOOK OF MATHEMATICAL DIVERSIONS FROM SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, THE was out yet. Yes, and he asked the secretary to give me one, if she had one available. She looked and couldn't find one and took my card to have one mailed to me.

To Mike Alber. He gave me review copies of PAYDAY, ARKANSAS BLUFF, (which was originally LET'S SEE YOUR LICENSE), THE MAGNIFICENT RACE. GUINNESS GAME OF WORLD RECORDS will be ready in a few weeks; I said I'd drop by in a month or so to pick it up.

I mentioned the MONOPOLY, ANTI-MONOPOLY controversy and the article in G&P. Mike didn't seem much concerned about it.

I noticed a clipping on his desk from an Orlando, Florida paper. I am pretty sure the name was "Instant Replay" but the author was "Kathy Newman" (or something like that). I mentioned this to Mike and he hadn't noticed; he thought it was by J.R. Attkisson. Attkisson wrote to them for review copies, saying he would not be knocking games. Before this Mike had rcd. a clipping knocking MASTERPIECE brutally. Mike wrote to him about this and he answered "I hoped that you wouldn't notice that one."

I asked about Parker and MASTERMIND. He didn't say so directly, but I gathered that Parker took too long in making up their mind and Invicta decided to do in the U.S. themselves.

Incidentally, Mike didn't care much for ARKANSAS BLUFF.

To see Fabio Coen. Told him someone is interested in a paperback of AGOG and that I needed the copyright. He asked Fay to see if she could get it expedited.

Asked for Alex' address: [drawn bracket] Alex Randolph
[drawn bracket] S. Croce 1538A
[drawn bracket] Venice, Italy

Fabio mentioned that one of the Random House companies was coming out with a book by "James Rogers on Computer Games." He made a note to send me a copy when it is ready.

Fabio said that the sales force is very happy with BEYOND TIC-TAC-TOE! In the first week - working only from a sketch - they have sold 432 copies. Fabio gave me a copy of the cover, which is quite attractive. We discussed possibilities for follow-ups: word games, science games, number games, solitaire games, the book itself as a game. He'd like to have something to talk about by the end of the summer.

To S.P.I. Asked Redmund if next week would be o.k. for my column. As late as Weds. o.k. but he'd prefer it by Tues.

Checked with Howie Barasch and he didn't have anything (except some stamps). I

(cont. on 6/4)