Operation
It's from 1965, before you were born.
- Maker
- Milton Bradley / Hasbro
- Type
- Board game (skill)
- Debuted
- 1965
- Note
- Invented by a college student for $500
As an Amazon Associate, OlderThan earns from qualifying purchases.
About
As of 2026, it's 61 years old.
Operation buzzed onto shelves in 1965, the invention of a university design student named John Spinello who sold the concept to a manufacturer for a flat $500 and no royalties — a deal that became one of the great cautionary tales of the toy industry as the game went on to make a fortune.
The game itself is pure nerve: extract a plastic 'wrenched ankle' or 'butterflies in the stomach' with tweezers without touching the metal edges, or BZZZT — Cavity Sam's nose lights up red and your turn ends in failure. It's a stress test disguised as surgery, and that buzzer still makes everyone flinch.
Jittery, buzzing, and a famous lesson in selling your idea too cheap, Operation is the board game that put a generation's steady hands (and patience) on trial.
