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Prodigious puzzle designer, author and trickster Cliff Johnson has released issue #5 of his Fool's Gold newsletter.

Sadly lacking any news on the status of his game The Fool And His Money, sequel to the award-winning 1986 puzzle game The Fool's Errand, the newsletter feeds players with additional background information and gives them a taste of what to expect in the sequel:

Nestled in the oak, hickory, and chestnut forests to the East are the homes of the affluent and opulent, the Kingdom of the Pentacles. Look closely at the cobblestone roads and realize that the stones have been cut from marble and smoothed in natural waterfalls. Gaze at the cottages with precisely-cut bricks of bluestone and brownstone, and, stain-glass windows of crystal. Admire the limestone ramparts of the Royal Palace, the gold and silver inlays decorating the surface in patterns of vines and ivy, glistening in the rising sun like rivulets of flame.

Day or night, the people walk freely down the shady lanes and wildflower paths in complete safety, for the palace guards outnumber the citizens, three to one. In fact, being a palace guard is an honored occupation of any up and coming Pentacle. The reason for such excessive security is that the Kingdom enjoys the privilege of being Treasury to the Land where all financial wealth is recorded and adjusted on a daily basis by the Money Changers. Between the four Kingdoms, dozens of unique currencies exist, and new ones are created whenever a certain transaction demands it. Nobody but the Chief Money Changer is said to understand exactly how this system works - and she guards her secrets well.

The Fool And His Money

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