‘TWISTER’ BOARD GAME TURNS 35 (OCT. 10)

‘TWISTER’ BOARD GAME TURNS 35 (OCT. 10)

NEW YORK (Wireless Flash) – Wednesday will be a twisted day for board game buffs: It’s the 35th anniversary of Twister. On October 10, 1966, Twister was introduced on the market, and while the game is now considered a classic, it was originally designed to sell shoe polish. The game’s inventor, Reynold Guyer, originally called it “Pretzel” and created it as a promotional giveaway for a shoe polish manufacturer. The Milton Bradley company immediately picked up the game, changed the name to “Twister” and tried selling it to teenagers. Surprisingly, Twister was a stiff with consumers until Johnny Carson played the game with Green Acres star Eva Gabor on the Tonight Show. Then sales soared with adults looking for a clean way to get physical with each other. By the way, the inventor of Twister later went on to invent the Nerf ball.

Mon 10-08-01