Twister (game)

Twister is a game of physical skill produced by the Milton Bradley Company. It is played on a large plastic mat that is spread on the floor or ground. The mat has four rows of large colored circles on it with a different color in each row: red, yellow, blue and green. 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: right foot left foot, right hand and left hand. Each of those four sections is divided into the four colors (red, yellow, blue and green). 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. Due 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. There is no limit to how many can play at once, but more than four is a tight fit.

History and analysis
Twister was submitted for patent by Charles F. Foley and Neil Rabens in 1966, and became a success when Eva Gabor played it with Johnny Carson on television's The Tonight Show on May 3, 1966. However, in its success, Twister was also controversial. The company that produced the game, Milton Bradley, was accused by its competitors of selling "sex in a box". That accusation was probably because Twister was the first popular American game to use human bodies as playing pieces.

Although Twister was patented by Charles F. Foley and Neil Rabens, sources also mention a man by the name of Reyn Guyer. He claimed to have come up with the idea for Twister while working on a Johnson’s Shoe Polish promotion at his father’s design company. It is said that Guyer originally called this new game idea Pretzel, but that Milton Bradley changed the name to Twister before they put it on the market.

However, the patent documents show no link between Twister and the name Guyer. Foley and Rabens are credited with the invention, and their names are the only names attached to the patent.

Co-inventor Charles Foley died on July 1, 2013 at age 82.

As a phenomenon


Twister, much like its counterpart the hula hoop, was one of the many toy fad phenomena that came about in the second half of the 20th century. Microsoft Encarta labels Twister as being an "industry phenomenon" that "briefly captures the public’s imagination, and sells in the millions". Being one of the earliest toy fads and a "national craze for a short time," Twister was a game that was able to bring all age groups together, whether children or adults. Twister being both globally spread and highly popular is unlike other games of its stature, in the sense that it is accepted by all social classes. In an article by Peterson and Simkus, they state, "While the evidence of the first half of this century suggests strong links between social status and cultural taste, there is growing evidence that there is no longer a one-to-one correspondence between taste and status group membership in advanced postindustrial societies like the United States."

Globalization
Twister has been seen as a prime example of how globalization is able to influence culture, and how the different variations of the game reflect elements of cultural diversity. In an article by sociologists Ben Carrington, David L. Andrews, Steven J. Jackson and Zbigniew Mazur, they state, "…interpretations of the cultural impact of globalization can be classified into two distinct theoretical camps: the economic and the cultural camps." From an economic standpoint, Twister does not exclude any socioeconomic demographic, and has very little cultural resistance, seeing as it can be easily understood globally by all cultures.

Records
Since its release, many active participants have tried and succeeded in setting records for the most contestants in a game, and the largest combined amount of Twister game mats. The World's Largest Twister Mat was put together on June 18, 2010 in Belchertown, MA on the Belchertown High School football field. It consisted of 1008 Twister mats donated by Hasbro and measured 244.7 feet X 99.10 feet for 24156 sqft. The purpose of the record breaking Twister Mat was to kick off a fundraising drive for Jessica's Boundless Playground.

The previous record, as cited by the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest game of Twister included 4699 sqft of mats that were combined together. Prior to that, the largest game was played in the Netherlands in April 2005 with 2453 sqft of mats. The record for the largest number of contestants in a game of Twister was once bestowed in 1987 with 4,160 contestants tangling themselves at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. However, this 1987 Amherst claim was later disqualified upon evidence of officiating inconsistencies. As a result, the category of "Most Contestants" was temporarily banned from the Guinness Book.

Robert Bucci, a determined Engineering student at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), successfully entreated Guinness World Records to reinstate the category in 1992 by providing a comprehensively documented event plan prior to their subsequent world record setting event during the 1992 SAA/SF National Convention at Stone Mountain, Georgia.

Use in fund-raising
Twister tournaments are used as a source of philanthropic events put on by college fraternities and sororities to raise money for a charitable cause. Many of these Greek tournaments are held annually, and are a good way to get involved with the community. Some of the Greek organizations that partake in these tournaments include: Alpha Xi Delta of Cornell University, Tau Kappa Epsilon of Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Sigma Nu at Villanova, Kappa Delta at Ball State University, Alpha Chi Omega at Missouri State University, and Sigma Sigma Sigma at Florida International University.

Accessibility
There are publicly available instructions on how to alter a Twister game to make it accessible to color-blind individuals and to completely blind individuals.

Trivia

 * Musician "Weird Al" Yankovic has a song "Twister" on his Even Worse album about the board game, done in a style parody of early Beastie Boys.
 * In Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, the title characters challenge Death to a series of games in order to escape Hell, one of which is Twister, where Bill and Ted ultimately defeat Death.
 * R.E.M.'s song "Man on the Moon" features the lyrics "let's play Twister, let's play Risk".
 * In the TV show Friends, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, Joey, Ross and Chandler play Twister at the end of the 4th episode of season 1 ("The One with George Stephanopoulos").
 * In Honey and Clover, Morita decides to make his own version of a Twister mat with far too many colors.
 * The TV game show Family Game Night on The Hub uses the game "Twister Lights Out" – a combination of Twister and "Lights Out" – as one of their minigames.
 * The 2009 Britney Spears song "3" features the lyrics "Twister on the floor, what do you say". Later, Spears was the face of "Twister Dance" in 2012.
 * In the CW's Supernatural, the character of Castiel makes a reference to the game and later appeared playing it in the 23rd episode of season 7.