Editing Twister (game)

{{short description|Game of physical skill}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox game
| name          = ''Twister''
| image         = 1966 Twister Cover.jpg
| caption       = Original 1966 cover art
| date          = {{release date and age|1966}}
| genre         = Physical skill game
| players       = 
| ages          = 6+
| publisher     = [[Hasbro]] <br>Winning Moves Games USA<br> [[Nintendo]]<ref name = "Nintendo">{{cite web|title=Nintendo ''Twister Game''|url=http://blog.beforemario.com/2012/04/nintendo-twister-1966.html?m=1|date=9 April 2012}}</ref>
| setup_time    = 
| playing_time  = 
| random_chance = 
| skills        = 
}}

'''''Twister''''' is a [[game of physical skill]] produced by [[Milton Bradley Company]] and Winning Moves Games USA. It is played on a large plastic mat that is spread on the floor or ground. The mat has four rows of six large colored circles on it with a different color in each row: red, yellow, green and blue. A spinner tells players where they have to place their hand or foot. The game promotes itself as "the game that ties you up in knots".

==Gameplay==
[[File:Yoga-twister.jpg|thumb|A game of ''Twister'']]

A spinner is attached to a square board and is used to determine where the player has to put their hand or foot. The spinner is divided into four labeled sections: left foot, right foot, left hand, and right hand. Each of those four sections are divided into the four colors (red, yellow, green, and blue). After spinning, the combination is called (for example: "right hand yellow") and players must move their matching hand or foot to a circle of the correct color.

In a two-player game, no two people can have a hand or foot on the same circle; the rules are different for more players. Owing to the scarcity of colored circles, players will often be required to put themselves in unlikely or precarious positions, eventually causing someone to fall. A person is eliminated when they fall or when their elbow or knee touches the mat.

==History==
[[File:Twisterkampioenschap-522121.ogv|thumb|''Twister'' competition in 1966]]

In 1964, [[Reyn Guyer Sr.]] owned and managed a design company which made in-store displays for Fortune 500 companies.<ref name="youtube=ADQAWGv6aNA"/>

[[Charles Foley (inventor)|Charles Foley]] was a respected and successful toy designer for Lakeside Industries in [[Minneapolis]] and answered an ad for an experienced toy designer by Reynolds Guyer Sr. of Guyer Company.<ref name="youtube=ADQAWGv6aNA">{{cite web |title=#001 Reyn Guyer: The Man Who Invented Twister & Nerf |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADQAWGv6aNA |via=YouTube |language=en|date=13 October 2016|access-date=19 December 2023}}</ref> Foley interviewed with Reyn Guyer Sr. and his son, Reyn, who were interested in product development within the toy business. After interviewing Foley, Guyer and his son discussed the possibility of starting a small division of the company in product development. His father agreed, for a short term, to support his son's idea for product development, and hired Foley, who negotiated a royalty agreement with Guyer Company for all games and toy items he designed.<ref name="youtube=ADQAWGv6aNA"/> Guyer Company agreed, and officially hired Foley.<ref name="youtube=ADQAWGv6aNA"/> Foley hired Neil Rabens,<ref name="youtube=le052L-SxD0">{{cite web |title=Twister inventor shares story of 'sex in a box' |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le052L-SxD0 |website=[[USA Today]] |via=[[YouTube]] |access-date=15 December 2022 |language=en}}</ref> an accomplished product design artist with an art degree from the Minneapolis School of Art and Design.

The game ideas ranged from small kids' games to word games for adults. Foley had an idea for utilizing people as game pieces as part of the game idea, "a party game". Rabens had the idea to utilize a colored mat, allowing people to interact with each other, in a game idea he had developed while a student in design school. Foley saw the idea and developed the concept for having the colored dots line up in rows, and, with a spinner, created the idea for calling out players' hands and feet to the colored dots called out from the spinner. This would create a tangled-up situation between two people, and the one that falls first would lose.

With the support of Reyn Guyer Sr., Charles Foley and Neil Rabens submitted, on 14 April 1966, and were granted on 8 July 1969, US Pat# 3,454,279,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US3454279 | title=Apparatus for playing a game wherein the players constitute the game pieces }}</ref> for what was originally called "Pretzel". Foley, with his extensive experience in the toy industry, called on his good friend, Mel Taft, Sr. V.P. for [[Milton Bradley Company|Milton Bradley]] in 1966, for a product idea presentation. Milton Bradley embraced the idea for the "Pretzel" game but renamed the game "Twister".<ref name="youtube=8g2eEZu_0L4">{{cite web |title=Original 1966 Twister Game Commercial |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g2eEZu_0L4 |publisher=[[YouTube]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name="youtube=qcfIQxs0ZwE">{{cite web |author1=Museum of Classic Chicago Television |title=Twister by Milton Bradley (Commercial, 1981) |publisher=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcfIQxs0ZwE |language=en}}</ref><ref name="youtube=piSvix9Pklg">{{cite web |author1=[[British Pathé]] |title=Out Takes / Cuts From Cp 615 - Outward Bound Police, The Twister And Snake Man (1966) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piSvix9Pklg |publisher=[[YouTube]] |access-date=15 December 2022 |language=en |quote=Cuts (rushes, out takes) for stories in Colour Pictorial - CP 615.  The original stories are also on Pathe Master tape *PM0383*. Cuts for story THE TWISTER in CP 615.  Similar footage to the cut story; couples are seen playing ''Twister'' at [[Butlin's]] in Clacton; they get into various awkward positions.}}</ref>

Twister became a major success when actress [[Eva Gabor]] played it with [[Johnny Carson]] on television's ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson|The Tonight Show]]'' on May 3, 1966.<ref name="who">{{Cite web |title=The Twister History |url=https://www.math.uni-bielefeld.de/~sillke/Twister/history/ |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=www.math.uni-bielefeld.de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-01 |title=How Johnny Carson Saved Twister |url=https://www.history.com/news/how-johnny-carson-saved-twister |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref> However, in its success, it was also controversial. The company that produced it, Milton Bradley, was accused by its competitors of selling "sex in a box".<ref>Polizzi, Rick, and Fred Schaefer. ''Spin Again: Board Games from the Fifties and Sixties''. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1991. 116-117.</ref> That accusation is speculated to be because it was the first popular American game to use human bodies as playing pieces.<ref>Asakawa, Gil and Rucker, Leland. ''The Toy Book''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. 178-179.</ref>

In 1966, ''Twister'' was licensed to [[Nintendo]]—then a toy and board game company—for the Japanese market, where it was released as ''Twister Game''.<ref name = "Nintendo"/>

In 1984, Hasbro acquired the Milton Bradley Company, becoming Twister's parent company.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.playgroundprofessionals.com/m/milton-bradley |title=Milton Bradley |publisher=playgroundprofessionals.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904190012/http://www.playgroundprofessionals.com/m/milton-bradley |archive-date=2014-09-04}}</ref> The Reyn Guyer Creative Group continues to work closely with Hasbro to develop and market new additions to the line of ''Twister'' products.

Co-inventor Charles Foley died on July 1, 2013, at the age of 82.<ref>{{cite web|title=Twister inventor dies aged 82 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jul/12/twister-inventor-dies-aged-82 |work=The Guardian |date=12 July 2013}}</ref>

In 2023, Hasbro introduced Twister Air, an app-driven version of the game that uses motion-tracking wearables and augmented reality to track players' movements. The new version replaces the traditional mat with digital game play displayed through a connected device, like a cell phone.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Hasbro Announces Spin on Classic Twister With New Augmented Reality Twister Air Game… No Mat Required |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005046/en/Hasbro-Announces-Spin-on-Classic-Twister-With-New-Augmented-Reality-Twister-Air-Game%E2%80%A6-No-Mat-Required |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241004181747/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230524005046/en/Hasbro-Announces-Spin-on-Classic-Twister-With-New-Augmented-Reality-Twister-Air-Game%E2%80%A6-No-Mat-Required |archive-date=2024-10-04 |access-date=2025-02-13 |language=en}}</ref>

===Phenomenon===
[[Image:Britney Spears - Twister Dance.jpg|thumb|right|275px|Pop singer [[Britney Spears]] promoting an exclusive version of the game in 2012<ref>{{cite web |url=http://style.mtv.com/2012/04/12/britney-spears-twister-dance/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414195009/http://style.mtv.com/2012/04/12/britney-spears-twister-dance |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 14, 2012 |title=Britney Spears Looks Amazing In $20,000 Bra|date=2012-04-12 |access-date=2012-04-12 |publisher=[[MTV]] |last=Catarinella |first=Alex}}</ref>]]

Twister, much like the [[hula hoop]], was one of the many toy fad phenomena that came about in the second half of the 20th century. Microsoft [[Encarta]] labeled ''Twister'' as being an "industry phenomenon" that "captures the public's imagination, and sells in the millions".<ref name=Encarta72>{{Cite web |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761585920_4/Toys.html |title=Toys - MSN Encarta |access-date=2008-05-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090507142803/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761585920_4/Toys.html#p72 |archive-date=2009-05-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Being one of the earliest toy fads and a "national craze for a short time",<ref name=Encarta72 /> ''Twister'' was able to bring all age groups together, whether children or adults.

[[Image:Buzz Cheerleaders Twister 2006.jpg|thumb|right|275px|[[Buzz (mascot)|Buzz]] and [[Georgia Institute of Technology|Georgia Tech]] [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets|Yellow Jacket]] cheerleaders playing Twister using the floor of [[Alexander Memorial Coliseum]]]]

== Accessibility ==
There are publicly available instructions on how to alter a ''Twister'' game to make it accessible to color-blind individuals<ref>{{cite web | url = http://students.umf.maine.edu/amanda.hatch/public.www/Twister.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110719232654/http://students.umf.maine.edu/amanda.hatch/public.www/Twister.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 19 July 2011 | title = Twister: New and Improved: Making the game accessible to all | author = Amanda Elizabeth Hatch | date = 4 December 2008 | access-date = 13 December 2009 | quote = So, how do you make the game 'color-blind friendly'? }}</ref> and to completely blind individuals.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/fr/fr27/4/fr270417.htm |title=How to Adapt Milton Bradley's "Twister" Game | author=Loretta White | date = Fall 2008 | access-date = 13 December 2009 | publisher = National Federation for the Blind | work = Future Reflections 27 (4)}}</ref>

''Blindfolded Twister'' is an accessible variant where there are four different tactile symbols on the mat, and the players are [[blindfold]]ed and have to find a circle with the named symbol by [[Somatosensory system|feeling]].

==Reception==
In 1967, a year after its release, 3 million ''Twister'' games were sold.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-03 |title=How Toys Changed After World War II |url=https://www.history.com/news/toys-postwar-baby-boom-plastics |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref>

''[[Games (magazine)|Games]]'' magazine included ''Twister'' in their "Top 100 Games of 1980", praising it as being "nearly as well known as Spin the Bottle, and ten times more enjoyable" while noting that it is "Best played on a soft surface with people you'd like to know better."<ref>{{cite magazine | date=November–December 1980 |title=Top 100 Games of 1980  | magazine=[[Games (magazine)|Games]] | issue=20 | pages=57 }}</ref>

''Games'' magazine included ''Twister'' in their "Top 100 Games of 1981", noting that "To become a grandmaster at ''Twister'', the first requirement is agility" and that "Like any good party game, ''Twister'' can be fun or it can be humiliating."<ref>{{cite magazine | date=November–December 1981 |title=Top 100 Games of 1981  | magazine=[[Games (magazine)|Games]] | issue=26 | pages=56 }}</ref>

''Games'' magazine included ''Twister'' in their "Top 100 Games of 1982", noting that players can "Become a human pretzel in this popular party game for people who don't mind getting better acquainted" but cautioned to "watch the person with the spinner—the temptation to cheat and call the most difficult move is usually irresistible".<ref>{{cite magazine|editor-last=  Schmittberger|editor-first= R. Wayne | date=November 1982 |title=The Top 100 Games 1982|magazine=[[Games (magazine)|Games]]| issue=33|pages=51}}</ref>

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{reflist|2}}

==External links ==
{{commons cat}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20151023070847/http://www.hasbro.com/en-us/brands/twister Official Hasbro website for Twister]
* [http://www.mathematik.uni-bielefeld.de/~sillke/Twister/ Torsten Sillke's ''Twister'' Homepage]
* {{bgg|5894|''Twister''}}
* [https://patents.google.com/patent/US3454279?oq=Apparatus+For+Playing+A+Game+Wherein Patent for Twister]

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{{Milton Bradley}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Twister (Game)}}
[[Category:Games of physical skill]]
[[Category:Party board games]]
[[Category:1960s toys]]
[[Category:Products introduced in 1966]]
[[Category:Milton Bradley Company games]]