David L. Hoyt is an American puzzle and game inventor and author.Tribune Content Agency Biography - David L. Hoy

Retrieved 8 October 2018 He is the most syndicated puzzle maker in America.The Word Winder™ App, Adveractiv

Retrieved 9 June 2012Barnes & Noble - Word Winder by Adveractive, Inc
/ref>

Personal life

David Lawrence Hoyt was born in

Waterbury Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 202 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, in 1965. He lives in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

with his wife, Claire.

Career

Hoyt is the inventor of numerous well-known puzzles, games and brain teasers including

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

Word Roundup,

Up & Down Words, Jumble Crosswords, TV Jumble and more. He is the current co-author of Jumble, the most syndicated daily word game in the world."I Love My Job: The Daily Jumble," You & Me This Morning Show, WIC

Retrieved 19 June 2012Tribune Content Agency Biography - David L. Hoyt
/ref>Tribune Content Agency - Jumbl

, Retrieved 8 October 2018Uclick Games - Jumbl

Retrieved 2 May 2012Tribune Content Agency Biography - David L. Hoyt & Jeff Knure

Retrieved 8 October 2018 His print puzzles and games are syndicated by

Tribune Content Agency Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media S ...

and

Universal Uclick Andrews McMeel Syndication (formerly Universal Uclick) is an American content syndicate which provides syndication in print, online and on mobile devices for a number of lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and cartoons and various other ...

and are carried in more than 700

newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...

, including

, New York Daily News,

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

and

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

.Nester, Mike, "WC 4th Graders Test ‘One of the Best Word Games Ever’ in the Classroom

The Prairie Advocate News, Retrieved 2 May 2012 Hoyt’s online games are featured on sites such as Shockwave (game portal), Shockwave.com, Yahoo.com,

MSN.com MSN (meaning Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release of Windows 95. The Microsoft Net ...

and Games.com.Myles Mellors Concepts - Partner

Retrieved 2 May 2012 Hoyt also develops puzzles and games across a number of other platforms including mobile, casino games, instant scratch-off games,

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physi ...

s and calendars.Goodreads Author Profile - David L. Hoy

Retrieved 2 May 2012 Hoyt moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1990 to work as an option and futures trader on the floor of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. While working there, he began developing various toys, games and puzzles in his spare time. In 1993, he sold his first game, Crossword the Game, to

Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products wer ...

. Shortly after, in 1994, he started developing games full-time. Two years later, he partnered with

(TCA), the owners of Jumble, to develop new versions of Jumble including Jumble Crosswords, TV Jumble and Jumble BrainBusters. The daily and the Sunday Jumble puzzles appear in more than 600 newspapers internationally and across the United States. In 2002, Hoyt partnered with

Jeff Knurek Jeff Knurek is an American cartoonist, industrial designer, and toymaker. He is the current cartoonist for the syndicated Jumble puzzle, working with David L. Hoyt. Personal life Knurek was born in 1966 Wyandotte, Michigan. In 2007, Knurek ...

, Tribune Content Agency, and Hasbro to develop the Boggle BrainBuster syndicated daily puzzle.Tribune Content Agency Biography - David L. Hoy

Retrieved 8 October 2018 Hoyt teamed up with Wheel of Fortune legend

Pat Sajak Pat Sajak ( , born Patrick Leonard ; born October 26, 1946) is an American television personality and game show host. He is best known as the host of the American television game show ''Wheel of Fortune'', a position he has held since 1981. Fo ...

in 2004 to create Pat Sajak Games, an online gaming site. Together, they created Pat Sajak's Lucky Letters, Pat Sajak's Trivia Gems, Pat Sajak's Code Letters and Pat Sajak's Code Number Sudoku. In 2006, Hoyt invented two new popular games - USA Today's Word Roundup and USA Today's Up & Down Words. Over the next few years, he created additional variations of Word Roundup that are played by millions online every day.Universal Uclick - Word Roundu

Retrieved 23 May 2012Universal Uclick - Up & Down Word

Retrieved 23 May 2012 Hoyt reached a new milestone in his career in 2011, when with

and Jeff Knurek, he replaced Mike Argirion as the writer of Jumble, making him the most syndicated puzzle maker in America. In the same year, he partnered with Graeme Thomson and Steve Bullock to co-create David L. Hoyt's Word Winder board game, online game and mobile games.Barnes & Noble - Word Winder by Adveractive, Inc

Retrieved 23 May 2012 In May 2012, the Word Winder NOOK app was announced the No. 1 board game app on NOOK Apps."Word Winder" hailed #1 Board Game on NOOK Apps by Althea Benloss. GameNGuide.co

Retrieved 23 May 2012Word Winder™ Dominates NOOK Apps™ As #1 Board Game. PRWe

Retrieved 9 June 2012 In July 2013, Hoyt launched his newest word game app, Just 2 Words.Just 2 Words
/ref> The app was highly reviewed and well-received,Monica, "Just 2 Words Review

The iPhone Mom, 24 July 2013, Retrieved 8 December 2013Beam, Jennifer, "Just 2 Words is Just 2 Fun

, AppCraver, 5 August 2013, Retrieved 8 December 2013Yaqoob, Muhammad Ali, "Just 2 Words for iOS - App Review

Apple Accessories, 20 July 2013, Retrieved 8 December 2013"Just 2 Words for iOS - App Review

AppShrink, 19 July 2013, Retrieved 8 December 2013 including being named the Corona Labs Inc. App of the Week on July 22, 2013Treyger, Inna, "App of the Week: Just 2 Words

Corona Labs Blog, 22 July 2013, Retrieved 8 December 2013 and App of the Month in July 2013.App of the Mont

Facebook, 8 August 2013, Retrieved 8 December 2013App of the Mont

Facebook, Retrieved 8 December 2013 In 2015 David, along with his wife Claire founded th
David L. Hoyt Education Foundation
located in the Lincoln Square Neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. The Foundation's mission is to facilitate, enable, and develop play-based learning for students of all ages through programming utilizing expertly crafted games and puzzles. In doing so, the organization strives to make learning accessible, interactive, inclusive, and enjoyable. David and his wife Claire Haasl, understand that play is endlessly important to creating global citizens who can make strategic decisions and think creatively. In order to fulfill their mission the foundation strives to accomplish the following objectives: developing curriculum for the Giant Word Winder and Giant Math Winder games; partnering with existing educational and community organizations; providing educational games and/or play-based tools; and providing fundraising tools for those looking to raise money for games. The foundation officially opened its doors in March 2017.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoyt, David L. Puzzle designers 1965 births Living people