Twister (game)
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Twister is a game of physical skill produced by Hasbro Games.
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[edit] Description
Twister is played on a large plastic mat that is spread out on the floor. This mat serves as the 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 sections: one labeled right foot, one left foot, one right hand, and one left hand. Each of the four sections is then divided into the four colors (red, yellow, blue, and green). After spinning, the combination is called (ex: right hand yellow) and players must move their matching hand or foot to the correct color. No two people can have a part 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.
[edit] 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 The Tonight Show on May 3, 1966.[1] 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.”[2] This accusation probably came from the fact that Twister was the first game in history to use the human body as playing pieces.Perhaps this was the reason that the game became so popular on college campuses.[3] 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 have been the one to actually 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.[4] 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 given the credit for the invention, and their names are the only names attached to the patent. Their only link to Guyer is that they were employees at his father’s company.[5]
[edit] Game Rules
Setting up the Game
- Spread the mat face-up on a flat surface, indoors or outdoors.
- Players take off their shoes and set them aside. If you're playing outdoors, you may want to anchor the mat corners with your shoes.
- Designate an extra person as the referee. The referee is not considered a player; during the game, the referee will spin the spinner, call out the moves, and monitor the game play.
- Position yourselves on the mat according to the number of players, as explained below.
For a 2-player game: Players face each other from opposite ends of the mat, near the word Twister. Place one foot on the yellow circle and the other foot on the blue circle closest to your end of the mat. Your opponent does the same on his or her end.
For a 3-player game: Two players face each other on opposite ends of the mat, near the word Twister. Each player places one foot on the yellow circle and the other foot on the blue circle closest to his or her end of the mat. The third player faces the center from the red-circle side of the mat, placing one foot each on the two middle red circles.
How to Play
The referee spins the spinner, then calls out the body part and the color that the arrow points to. For example, the referee may call out: "Right hand, red." All players, at the same time, must then try to follow the referee's directions as explained below.
- Each player must try to place the called-out body part on a vacant circle of the called-out color. For example, if the referee calls out "Right hand, red," each player must try to place a right hand on any vacant red circle.
- If your called-out hand or foot is already on a circle of the called-out color, you must try to move it to another circle of the same color.
- There can never be more than one hand or foot on any one circle. If two or more players reach for the same circle, the referee must decide which player got there first. The other player(s) must find another vacant circle of the same color.
- Never remove your hand or foot from a circle unless you're directed to by the referee after a spin. Exception: You may lift a hand or foot to allow another hand or foot to pass by, as long as you announce it to the referee beforehand, and replace it on its circle immediately afterward.
- If all 6 circles of a color are already covered, the referee must spin again until a different color can be called out.
Strategy: Try moving toward an opponent's portion of the mat, forcing the player to go over or under you to place a hand or foot!
Being Eliminated
Any player who falls, or touches the mat with an elbow or knee, is immediately out of the game. (If you feel that a new position is impossible, or will cause you to fall, you may elminiate yourself.) In a 2-player game, the game ends and the remaining player wins. In a 3-player game, the remaining two players keep playing until one player is eliminated and the remaining player wins.
How to Win
The last player left in the game is the winner!
[edit] Twister Song
"Twister" Yeah! Well, Milton Bradley's got a def. one. It's a Twister! Yeah, all the girls and homeboys Playin' Twister! Spin the spinner and call the shot. Twister ties you up in a knot. That's Twister. Yeah, Twister!
Check it! Right foot blue! Left hand red! Left! Right! Yellow! Blue! Green! Yeah, Twister!
Now, everybody's chillin' With the Twister Wherever things are illin' You'll find Twister! That's Twister. Yeah, Twister!
Yeah buddy! You gotta get it. Yeah Twister! From M.B.!
[edit] 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 has been able to become a game that has spread globally, with each culture putting its own, unique twist on it. In the movie “Pulp Fiction,” actor John Travolta states, “…They got the same shit over there that they got here, it’s, it’s just there it’s a little different.” While everyone can purchase the exact same Twister game board globally, the way the game is played is a reflection of different cultural perspectives.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Twister a Universal Phenomenon
Twister, much like its’ counter-part the hula hoop, was one of the many toy fad phenomenon’s 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” [3]. 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 [4]. 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; where as 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.
The Twister Song referenced here was written and performed by "Weird" Al Yankovic. It appears in that artist's seminal work "Even Worse".
[edit] References
- ^ “Who Invented Twister.” Twister. 18 Jan. 2002. 31 Jan. 2008 <http://www.mathematik.uni-bielefeld.de/~sillke/Twister/history/>. “Twister History.” Hasbro. 2007. 31 Jan. 2008 <http://www.hasbro.com/default.cfm?page=ci_history_twister>.
- ^ Polizzi, Rick, and Fred Schaefer. Spin Again, Board Games From the Fifties and Sixties. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1991. 116-117.
- ^ , Gil, and Leland Rucker. The Toy Book. New York City: Alfred a. Knopf, 1992. 178-179.
- ^ Hoffman, David. Kid stuff, great toys from our childhood. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1996.
- ^ “Who Invented Twister.” Twister. 18 Jan. 2002. 31 Jan. 2008 <http://www.mathematik.uni-bielefeld.de/~sillke/Twister/history/>.
[edit] External links
