Godzilla has been a cultural icon for seventy years.

Across dozens of films, in a film market with hundreds of behemoths, leviathans, and titans to watch, Godzilla is still the King of the Monsters. Godzilla has battled humanity, aliens, robotic duplicates, and other kaiju, bringing joy and wonder to millions of moviegoers. Godzilla has evolved from personifying the specter of nuclear annihilation to representing the spirit of a proud nation against threats like pollution, environmental catastrophe, and war.

The cultural influence of Godzilla cannot be overstated. So you shouldn’t be surprised to see that it extends into the world of puzzles and games as well.

Now, sure, Godzilla isn’t popping up in crosswords on the reg. Xwordinfo tells us that Osaka has been clued a half-dozen times in relation to Godzilla (and Tokyo nearly as many times).

Godzilla has appeared in New York Times crossword grids four times (including one where they cross paths with King Kong). In comparison, fellow Kaiju Mothra has appeared in New York Times crosswords five times.

But The New York Times isn’t the only publication worth discussing here. No, to truly appreciate the puzzly legacy of Godzilla, we have to discuss G-Fan magazine.

G-Fan is the premiere magazine for all things kaiju, especially Godzilla, and it was flipping through an old copy of the magazine that inspired this post. (It’s amazing what you unearth when you’re packing up your whole life to move.)

Among interviews, movie reviews, and wonderfully nerdy deep dives into various monster-centric topics, I stumbled across not only a Godzilla-shaped maze (pictured at the start of this post), but a crisscross all about my favorite skyscraper-sized monster.

So, naturally once I started, I kept digging, delving into the G-Fan archives and reaching out to JD Lees, the man behind not only G-Fan, but the annual G-CON / G-FEST convention!

He was kind enough to take some time out to discuss the puzzles periodically appearing in the pages of G-Fan.

What inspired you to start putting puzzles into G-Fan?

When I was a teacher, I would often include puzzles in the worksheets I created for students. I figured it was a way to increase engagement that was a bit fun and different for the kids. I found I enjoyed making them, so when I was creating G-FAN Junior, puzzles seemed a natural thing to include to break up the articles, add variety, and fill space!

Do you have a favorite puzzle (either in terms of topic or overall execution) from over the years?

I have a lot of fun creating the puzzles where a monster’s name is hidden in an unrelated sentence. I first saw this done with the names of the U.S. states and their capitals. I think it was in a puzzle book I used in my Grade 10 math class.

There’s a Godzilla Monopoly game. Is your affection for Godzilla potent enough to make you endure a game of Monopoly through to the end?

Ha ha! I look back and marvel at those long-ago times when my friends and I used to enjoy playing Monopoly. Maybe I’m just getting old. (Actually, no maybe about it!) However, I did buy the Godzilla version of Monopoly for the Gaming Room at G-FEST, and it was used. The second year someone stole all the kaiju tokens, so I replaced them with generic monster figures. Overall, G-fans are very honest, but thousands attend the convention, so I guess there will be a few bad apples.

Although he’s currently taking a break from G-Fan, JD did say he expects to construct more puzzles in the future (though they might not be so kaiju-focused.)

---

Speaking of the Godzilla edition of Monopoly, that brings me to the other half of today’s post: the legacy of Godzilla in board games.

There are literally DOZENS of board games inspired by Godzilla and the many kaiju that followed in those monstrous footsteps.

Alongside the aforementioned official Monopoly version, there’s an official Godzilla Jenga, a Godzilla version of The Incredible Hulk Smash (one of several dismal tie-ins promoting the atrocious Fox 1998 Godzilla film), as well as expansions for Cthulhu: Death May Die and an upcoming reimagining of the game Battle Masters called Battle Monsters.

Godzilla-inspired board games date all the way back to 1963, when the imaginatively titled Godzilla Game was released. It was actually the first Godzilla toy produced in the US and only the second Godzilla toy ever made.

In 1978, another Godzilla Game was released, followed by a Mothra vs. Godzilla game in 1982. There have been strategy games (like a pen-and-paper game in Swiss gaming zine AHA in 1988), dice games like Godzilla VS Kong from 2022, and loads of, quite frankly, fairly disappointing board games.

This trend has only reversed in the last fifteen years or so with releases like my all-time favorite Godzilla game, Godzilla: Tokyo Clash from 2020.

There’s also a curious pattern of Godzilla card games with names that go unnecessarily hard, but I respect the manic energy they bring to game shelves. These names include Godzilla: Stomp! (2011), the delightfully named Godzilla Boom (2012), and Godzilla Total War (2019).

Confusingly, there seem to be both a board game AND a card game called Godzilla Rampage, and they both have supplements adding other monster/monster-fighting icons like Ultraman, Gamera, and Daimajin to the mix.

But easily my favorite discovery as I strolled down the well-stomped memory lane of Godzilla games was this 1994 Hungry Hungry Hippos-style game.

From cutesy to vicious, from the pages of fanzines to coffee tables across the world, Godzilla has moved far past the silver screen and become part of the cultural language. People who have never seen a Godzilla film — yes, they exist, and we pity them — still know the name.

Bridezillas the world over owe their monstrous reputations to our beloved atomic-breathed kaiju. We know dozens of other monsters because of Godzilla. Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah… heck, even King Kong rides those enormous coattails from time to time.

And it’s fun to remember that even the world of puzzles and games is not immune to the mighty roar or the deep, deep shadow of the King of the Monsters.

---

Thank you to JD Lees, Matt Harris, and several chums from the Board Game Geek forums for helping me with this post. Be sure to check out the G-Fan website for all things Godzilla, and enjoy this not-at-all-exhaustive list of G-Fan issues with some of JD’s puzzles:

• Issue #110, Fall 2015
• Issue #109, Summer 2015
• Issue #108, Jan/Feb 2015
• Issue #97, Fall 2011
• Issue #49, Jan/Feb 2001
• Issue #42, Nov/Dec 1999
• Issue #39, May/June 1999
• Issue #37, Jan/Feb 1999
• Issue #36, Nov/Dec 1998
• Issue #33, May/June 1998
• Issue #32, March/April 1998

Do you have a favorite Godzilla film, Godzilla game, or Godzilla pop culture moment, fellow puzzlers? Let us know in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you!