An interview/profile of John Conway has been published at The Daily Princetonian. Conway talks about his life and his methods.
“We’re remarkably free here,” Conway said of his position at Princeton. “Nobody tells me off for playing games. In fact, I’ve made playing games be serious.”
Source: Math and games.
I once attended a seminar by Conway where he was introduced as “the inventor of the Game of Go”. Conway pointed out this was a rather remarkable achievement and he wasn’t that old.