Early box cover art.

Twister is a game of physical skill produced by Hasbro Games.

Description

Buzz and Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket cheerleaders playing Twister using the floor of Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

Twister is played on a large plastic mat that is spread on the floor or ground. That mat is like a game board. It 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 serves as a die for the game. 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 (example: right hand yellow) and players must move their matching hand or foot to a dot of the correct color. In a two-player game, no two people can have a hand or foot on the same circle--rules are different for more people. 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

Twister was submitted to be patented by Charles F. Foley and Neil Rabens in 1966, but it did not become a success until Eva Gabor played it with Johnny Carson on television's Tonight Show on May 3, 1966.^[1][2] 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".^[3] That accusation probably was because Twister is the first game to use human bodies as playing pieces.^[4] 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 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.^[5] However, this claim that Reyn invented Twister is said to be false. According to the United States patent office, there is 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. Their only link to Guyer is that they were employees of his father’s company.^[1]

Twister and Globalization

Twister has been played in tournaments all around the world since its debut in 1966. Annually, in Reykjavik, Iceland, a tournament is held for participants nationwide. The tournament is highly competitive and brings forth a strong sense of cultural identity. Currently, 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 and Alpha Chi Omega at Missouri State University. Twister is 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” [Carrington at al.]. 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.

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. As cited by the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest game of Twister included 4,699 square feet (436.6 m²) of mats that were combined together. The previous record for the largest game was played in the Netherlands in April of 2005 with 2,453 square feet (227.9 m²) of mats. The record for the largest number of contestants in a game of Twister occurred in 1987 with 4,160 contestants tangling themselves at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Twister and Excorporation

The game of Twister has been able to evolve from its original rules into extremely different variations over the past decades. Twister is a clear example of excorporation which Fiske defines as, "The process by which the subordinate make their own culture out of the resources and commodities provided by the dominant system, and this is central to popular culture, for in an industrial society the only resources from which the subordinate can make their own subcultures are those provided by the system that subordinates them" Fiske. For example, “Naked Twister” involves participants striping down to the nude while participating in the original rules of the game. This appropriation of the game could be seen as an example of excorporation, wherein a subordinate group takes the product of the dominant group which has provided and modified it to become on object of resistance. In a similar version, “Oily Twister,” participants wear swim suits and cover themselves in oil while playing by the official Twister rules. These adaptations of Twister are highly controversial, and the game was even deemed “sex in a box,” in the late 1960’s. While these variations are more acceptable in society today, these perspectives are able to distinguish the cultural split between these two time periods in the United States as well as globally.

In Duncanville, Texas there is a split-level nightclub, with the upstairs designated to “Naked Twister.” Nightclubs have become a common source of housing for sexual variations of Twister, however, due to its controversial nature many have been banned from society. Noted sociologist John Fiske states, "Popular culture is the culture of the subordinated and disempowered and thus always bears within it signs of power relations, traces of the forces of domination and subordination that are central to our social system and therefore to our social experience. Equally, it shows signs of resisting or evading these forces: popular culture contradicts itself" [Fiske]. Sexual Twister variations have taken what was suppose to be a fun family game and transformed it into an outlet for a behavior that could be considered outside of the main stream. It is examples such as these, where a cultural product is taken from a dominant group and transfigured it for a purpose that it was not originally intended for.

Twister a Universal 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" [1]. 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 [2]. 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." [Peterson, Simkus]. Typically, people who exhibit high cultured tastes encompass more diverse ideals, as well as a wider range of resources; whereas low cultured people tend to have a more narrow range of tastes and less access to resources. While having such distinct differences between high and low cultures, Twister is able to break the barrier and appeal to both demographics of people.

In popular culture

Twister is referred to in the film Ghostbusters.^[6]

Twister is also featured in Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip when Dexter's Mom and Dad play it. As well as in an earlier episode where Dexter and Dee-Dee play different games. Their rules are slightly different as some of the calls are unorthodox combinations such as "Right Nose Green".

Twister is also featured in the film U Turn when crazy mechanic Darrell plays it alone.^[7]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Twister (game)

• Hasbro's Twister page
• Torsten Sillke's Twister Homepage
• Twister at BoardGameGeek
• Giant Get Knotted 10'x10' game mat