Customer Rating: 
Summary: Bi-monthly GAMES Pencilwise
Comment: This bi-monthly GAMES Magazine spin-off offers sixty-plus pages of 'crosswords, word searches, picture puzzles, cryptograms, trivia, logic, double-crostics, cryptics and other pencil puzzles' reminiscent of GAMES' signature Pencilwise section. Most puzzles are rated on the standard one-to-three star scale of difficulty. The center of each issue contains a ten-page 'special section' of related puzzles. Each issue also features a contest with a $500 grand prize (and famed GAMES T-shirts for lucky random runner-ups). These puzzles are better crafted than those of the cheaper Dell or Penny Press competing publications and at $3.25 an issue this still offers good value. I enjoy the crosswords and double-crostics best.
Over my year-long subscription I accumulated a backlog of unread issues and eventually decided to cancel my 'World Of Puzzles' subscription. I'm saving the unused issues for future use. Single issues are highly recommended for airport bookstores and long airplane or train travel.
Amazon's annual rate is currently about $3.50 less than that directly offered by the publishers (each issue is loaded with subscription cards). However, be advised that subscribing through Amazon takes a LONG time to start (Amazon currently estimates 3-4 months between payment and first issue).
