He wrote the `` Mathematical Games '' column in the Scientific American magazine from 1956 to 1981 . After that , he wrote the `` Notes of a Fringe Watcher '' column in the Skeptical Inquirer magazine . He wrote the Mathematical Games column in Scientific American from 1956 to 1981 , the Notes of a Fringe-Watcher column in Skeptical Inquirer from 1983 to 2002 , and published over 70 books .