Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Puzzles and Games of the Broadway Master

By near-universal consensus, Stephen Sondheim was the greatest musical theater composer of his generation-celebrated, among other things, for the wit, sophistication, and intricacy of shows from West Side Story to Sunday in the Park with George. But a less well-known avenue for his brilliance was his lifelong fascination with designing and constructing intricate puzzles and games, from treasure hunts to crosswords to parlor and board games.

Matching Minds with Sondheim is a journey into this rich but largely unmapped aspect of the composer’s creative life, illuminating how Sondheim’s playful designs delivered moments of clarity and connection for friends, colleagues, and anyone who’s ever been captivated by his genius. This book opens, for the first time, the door into what Sondheim called his ＂puzzler’s mind,＂ helping readers to better understand the man, his work, and-if they accept the challenge-themselves. Gaming expert Barry Joseph draws from over eighty years of Sondheim’s activities, including extremely rare and never-publicly-seen puzzles and game designs, scores of original interviews with the celebrity friends who played them, archival deep dives, and illuminating analysis from both puzzle designers and theater professionals from around the world. Packed with illustrations and insights, this book does more than describe Sondheim’s life in puzzles: It allows readers to match minds with the maestro by attempting to solve his puzzles and bring Sondheimian games into their own homes.

Barry Joseph is the Principal of Barry Joseph Consulting, a driving force at both the strategic and the tactical level in digital engagement, youth development, and digital learning. He is also the co-founder of the Games for Change Festival, a 20-year-old, multi-day event attended annually by over 2,000 people across the education, non-profit, gaming, and public policy fields. As an early developer of after-school game design youth programming, Barry has been a national leader in both games-based learning and games for social impact, producing dozens of curriculums and games. Work and clients include the American Museum of Natural History, Girl Scouts of the USA, the City College of New York, the RAND Corporation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the International Criminal Court. Barry has been featured by the New York Times (including a cover article for the New York Times Magazine), The Wall Street Journal, The NY1 News Channel, Wired News, CNN, The Village Voice, CBS Morning News, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, The Los Angeles Times, TV Guide, Newsweek, and many others.