I have somehow lost the ability to receive touch notifications

Two days ago I was able to receive touchesBegan (moved, canceled) and now I've lost them. So I shortened the code below, created an SKSpriteNode called redSprite within GameScene...and still I don't receive touches.

While I know my redSprite doesn't fulfill all the if's in the touch functions, I'm placing a breakpoint at the start of the touch functions, and it still won't stop at the breakpoint.

However...if I set GameScene's isUserInteractionEnabled to true, then I do get the touches and the debugger breaks.

Code Block 
import UIKit
import SpriteKit
var redSprite : SKSpriteNode?
class GameScene: SKScene, SKPhysicsContactDelegate {
    override func sceneDidLoad(){
        super.sceneDidLoad()
        #if DEBUG
            print ("GC sceneDidLoad")
        #endif
    }
    
    override func didMove(to view: SKView){
        super.didMove(to: view)
        #if DEBUG
            print ("GC didMove START")
        #endif
        self.isHidden = true
        self.backgroundColor = mySafeColor
        myGlobalVars.backGround = SKSpriteNode(imageNamed: "background")
        myGlobalVars.backGround!.zPosition = theZ.backGround
        myGlobalVars.safeSceneRect = view.frame
        myGlobalVars.gameScene = self
        self.isHidden = false
        self.isUserInteractionEnabled = false
        self.addChild(myGlobalVars.backGround!)
        physicsWorld.contactDelegate = self
        
        
        redSprite = SKSpriteNode(color: .red, size: CGSize(width: 100, height: 100))
        redSprite?.anchorPoint = CGPoint(x: 0.5, y:0.5)
        redSprite?.isHidden = false
        redSprite?.isUserInteractionEnabled = true
        redSprite?.color = .orange
         redSprite!.name = "test"
         redSprite?.zPosition = 10
        redSprite?.position = CGPoint(x: (myGlobalVars.safeSceneRect.width/2)-(50), y: myGlobalVars.safeSceneRect.height/2 - 50)
         
        redSprite?.physicsBody = SKPhysicsBody(rectangleOf: CGSize(width: 100, height: 100), center: CGPoint(x: 0.5, y: 0.5))
         redSprite?.physicsBody!.affectedByGravity = false
         redSprite?.physicsBody!.restitution = 0.2
         redSprite?.physicsBody?.categoryBitMask    = bodyMasks.blankMask.rawValue
         redSprite?.physicsBody?.contactTestBitMask = bodyMasks.blankMask.rawValue
         redSprite?.physicsBody?.collisionBitMask   = bodyMasks.blankMask.rawValue
         
         self.addChild(redSprite!)
        
        gameTimer = Timer.scheduledTimer(timeInterval: 1, target: self, selector: #selector(runTimedCode), userInfo: nil, repeats: true)
        gameTimer?.tolerance = 0.2
        RunLoop.current.add(gameTimer!, forMode: .common)
        #if DEBUG
            print ("GC didMove END")
        #endif
    }
    override func touchesBegan(_ touches: Set<UITouch>,
                               with event: UIEvent?){
        guard let touch = touches.first else { return }
        let location = touch.location(in: self)
        let touchedNodes = self.nodes(at: location)
        for node in  touchedNodes{
            if let theNode = node as? MyGem {
                if theNode.nodeType == NodeType.gem, theNode.isMoving == false {
                    theNode.isMoving = true
                    theNode.zPosition += 1
                    myGlobalVars.currentGem = theNode
                }
            }
        }
    }
    override func touchesMoved(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?){
        guard touches.first != nil else { return }
        if let touch = touches.first, let node = myGlobalVars.currentGem, node.isMoving == true {
            let touchLocation = touch.location(in: self)
            node.position = touchLocation
            node.isMoving = true
            node.inSlot = false
            //addTrailToTwinkle(theNode: node)
        }
    }
    
    override func touchesEnded(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?) {
         guard touches.first != nil else { return }
        if let _ = touches.first, let node = myGlobalVars.currentGem, node.isMoving == true {
            returnHome(moveThis : node, origNP: node.origPoint)
        }
    }
    
    override func touchesCancelled(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?) {
            guard touches.first != nil else { return }
            if let _ = touches.first, let node = myGlobalVars.currentGem, node.isMoving == true {
            returnHome(moveThis : node, origNP: node.origPoint)
            }
        }
    
    @objc func runTimedCode() {
      timeLeft -= 1
    }
}