Meet John Wilmes
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Birr was never the kind of word John Wilmes wanted to see in one of his puzzles. After all, how many people know the four-letter word for a monetary unit in Ethiopia?
"I wanted to create a puzzle with words that people knew," he says. Wilmes, who always has been interested in cryptograms and riddle-solving, created PlayFour!, a four-by-four crossword puzzle for people with busy lifestyles.
"I was frustrated that in my lifestyle I didn't have time to finish a crossword," he said.
Wilmes actually created the word game about eight years ago and for fun would make puzzles in his spare time. At one time, he said, he had more than 1,500 puzzles made, but he wasn't having any luck getting them published. Wilmes' luck finally changed.
"Out of the blue, my cousin in Chicago called and asked from some of my puzzles," he says. PlayFour! was shown to developers at Michigan Live, and soon it was being published on the newspaper-based Web site. The puzzle was a hit!
"PlayFour! is helping Mlive grow and retain a loyal audience," said Mark Hauptschein, President and CEO of Michigan Live.
"Our business hinges on getting users to visit our site on a frequent basis," he added. "PlayFour! is an addictive feature that keeps people returning every day."
PlayFour! has been syndicated by Universal New Media, and now uclick, since the fall of 1998.
Wilmes' full-time job is in electrical industrial sales and marketing, a career he has pursued since 1984. He has an electrical engineering degree from the University of Missouri at Rolla.
Besides making puzzles, Wilmes also is active in such sports as softball, biking and playing golf. He lives in the St. Louis suburb of Webster Groves with his wife, Barb, and their two sons.
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