For some reason I find the obituaries in the New York Times fascinating. This week we learned that Chuck Foley, the co-creator of the game Twister, died. I grew up playing Twister with all my friends and family and just recently found our original copy in our family lake house. The plastic was a little yellow but the game was still playable. I loved reading the story of how the game came about. Originally it was called “Pretzel” since players ended up in that position as they were asked to place their hands and feet on different colored circles on the vinyl mat. The patent for their invention was awarded for “Apparatus for Playing a Game Wherein the Players Constitute the Game Pieces.” So true! The game is so simple as players spin and follow the directions to put “Right hand, green,” or “Left foot, yellow,” and proceed to get all tangled up in their own body. Apparently, according to the obituary, sales really took off after Johnny Carson played Twister with a low-necklined Eva Gabor on the “Tonight Show” in 1966.
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