The magazine was first published in May 1972 by Edu-Games (UK) Ltd.[1] The first editor was Graeme Levin who recruited a variety of games and puzzles experts as writers and consultant editors including Darryl Francis, David Parlett, David Pritchard, Don Turnbull, Eric Solomon, Gyles Brandreth, Nick Palmer, R. C. Bell, Richard Sharp, Sid Sackson and Tony Buzan.
[2] Recruiting experts gave it a good reputation; for example, Popular Computing wrote "Quite simply, Games & Puzzles Magazine is unique.
"[4] In Issue 10 of the British wargaming zine Perfidious Albion, Charles Vasey called this "The pro-abstract game 'zine" because of the many abstract games found in its pages.
Vasey also noted that it "contains notes on many games ... articles on Infinity, chess, cheating at same, myriad card games, stacks of puzzles and problems, crosswords, etc.
Vasey concluded, "G&P are increasing their board-gaming content, but it is not primarily a wargaming magazine.