Inventor of iconic party game Twister dies
By PATRICK CONDON
Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Twister called itself “the game that ties you up in knots.” Its detractors called it “sex in a box.”
Charles “Chuck” Foley, the father of nine who invented the game that became a naughty sensation in living rooms across America in the 1960s and 1970s because of the way it put men and women in compromising positions, has died. He was 82.
“Dad wanted to make a game that could light up a party,” Mark Foley said. “They originally called it ‘Pretzel.’ But they sold it to Milton Bradley, which came up with the ‘Twister’ name.”
The game became a sensation after Johnny Carson and Eva Gabor played it on “The Tonight Show” in 1966.
To be sure, the game got plenty of innocent play, too, becoming popular in grade schools and at children’s parties. But its popularity among teens and young adults was owed to an undeniable sex appeal.
Players would become tangled up, and various body parts – male and female – would inevitably come into close and embarrassing proximity. Players would often lose their balance and fall on top of each other in a heap.