Twister Inventor, Charles Foley, Dies Aged 82

Charles Foley, the Minnesota native, who invented Twister, the game which has sold millions of copies and is renowned across the world, has died at the age of 82.

Charles “Chuck” Foley died in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park, inside a care facility on July 1. Mark Foley, his son, informed the general public of his demise on Thursday July 11, revealing that he suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

Mark Foley stated that his father didn’t make that much money from Twister, but admitted that he continued to invent, and held over 97 patents.

Twister consisted of a large plastic mat and a spinning board. The mat was covered in various colored circles and then each player would spin the board which would then tell them where to place either foot or hand.

As the colored circles become more and more limited, players often find themselves in more intimate and embarrassing positions, with people being kicked out of the game when they fall down the stairs.

Charles F. Foley created the game with Neil Rabens in 1966, after the pair were hired by a St. Paul firm that was looking to expand into toys and games.

Milton Bradley, the company that produced the game, saw a huge spike in popularity after Eva Gabor played it on The Tonight Show with its host, Johnny Carson, May 3 1966.

Competitors though were angry with the game, and they accused Milton Bradley of selling “sex in a box,” an allegation that was started because it was the first game to use human bodies as the playing pieces in a game.

Twister is still produced to this day, it is currently made by Hasbro, and continues to be sold in the millions. It isn’t known how long Charles Foley had suffered from Alzheimers.

Do you still play Twister?

[Image via BrentPhillips/Wikimedia]