Milton Bradley/Hasbro, 2004, 1 or more players, ages 6 and up. Well, here's a classic that I somehow managed to avoid encountering as a kid. It took my son getting a copy of the "Shrek Edition" for Christmas to introduce me first-hand to "the goofy game for dopey doctors". And truth be told, in addition to helping develop manual dexterity amongst youngsters, it's actually pretty darned fun. The buzzer/light-up noise really gets the old adreneline flowing.
I dunno, maybe it was the creepy graphics of the original that caused me to steer clear for so many years. Yikes!
And now, today's history lesson:
In 1962, John Spinello was an industrial design student at the University of Illinois when he was given the assignment to design a toy. He scored the highest grade in the class with his electric game where players took a metal probe and carefully inserted it into different holes within an electrified box without touching the sides of the metal-framed openings. If they failed, a bell would startle them. After signing a deal with the legendary toy designer Marvin Glass, Spinello's game evolved. The electric metal probe that players inserted changed into the now familiar electrified metal tweezers. The surgical theme was introduced and Operation was born, released by Milton Bradley in 1965.
And here it is, the prototype!
