Operation (game)

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Operation is a battery-operated game of physical skill that tests players' hand-eye co-ordination. Made by Milton Bradley, it has been in production since 1965, the year in which the game was invented by John Spinello.

The game is a variant on the old-fashioned wire loop electric game popular at fun-fairs. It consists of an "operating table", lithographed with a comic likeness of a patient (nicknamed "Cavity Sam") with a large, red light-bulb for his nose. In the surface are a number of openings, which reveal fictional and humorously-named ailments made of white plastic. To work, the game requires two large D-size batteries.

There are two sets of cards: Doctor and Specialist cards. The Specialist cards are dealt out evenly amongst the players at the beginning of the game.

Players take turns to pick Doctor cards, which offer a cash reward for removing a particular ailment, using a pair of tweezers connected with wire to the board. If a player successfully removes the ailment then they'll win the amount shown on their card. However, if the tweezers touch the metal edge of the opening during the attempt (closing the circuit), a buzzer sounds, the patient's nose lights up red, and the player loses their turn. The player holding the Specialist card for that piece then has a try, getting double points if they succeed.

The winner is the player with the most money after all the pieces have been extracted.

The game can be challenging, due to the shapes of the plastic ailments, and the fact the openings are scarcely larger than the ailments themselves.

[edit] Play pieces

Adam's Apple: in the throat; referring to the vocal "box" in a man's throat that determines the characteristics of his voice as he grows. Worth 100 points.
Broken Heart: a heart shape with a crack through it on the right side of the chest. 100 points.
Wrenched Ankle: a wrench in the right ankle. 100 points.
Butterflies in the Stomach: a large butterfly in the middle of the torso. The name comes from the feeling in the stomach when nervous or afraid. 100 points.
Spare Ribs: two ribs fused together as one piece. 150 points.
Water on the Knee: a pail of water in the knee. 150 points.
Funny Bone: a play on the anatomical name for the upper arm bone (the humerus), and a reference to the colloquial name of the ulnar nerve. 200 points.
Charley Horse: a small horse resting near the hip joint. (A play on the real charley horse, which is a sudden cramp in the leg or foot, that can be cured with massage or stretching.) 200 points.
Writer's Cramp: a pencil in the forearm. 200 points.
The Ankle Bone's Connected to the Knee Bone: This is not a plastic piece, but rather a rubber band stretched between two pegs at the left ankle and knee that has to be unhooked. 200 points. The name is taken from the African-American spiritual "Dem Bones".
Wish Bone: located on the left side of the chest. 300 points.
Bread Basket: a slang word for the stomach, this is a difficult piece to remove. It is a very small slice of bread, with only a small notch taken out of the top for grip. 1000 points.

In October 2004, a new piece was added to the original game:

Brain Freeze: an ice-cream cone located in the brain.

[edit] Other versions

Aside from the traditional board game version, Milton Bradley also produced a hand-held version, a brain surgery version requiring the player to pull pieces out of a wisecracking Cavity Sam's head, and a PC game produced in 1998.

More recently, there have been ads for a The Simpsons version of the game in which the patient is Homer Simpson.

In May 2004, a Shrek 2 version of the game was released.

In December 2006, a Spiderman version was released, in which the player operates on the Marvel comic hero, Spiderman.

Some fans have adopted it as a drinking game, with the impairment of motor functions and coordination by alcohol greatly increasing the game's difficulty.