Category Archives: Gaming

When Reyn Guyer invented the game Twister (originally called Pretzel), he wasn’t thinking of the unspoken taboo on touching other people’s bodies. He was concentrating on the novelty of a board game where the players become the playing pieces. He might have envisioned it as a family game. Either way, it was hard to market. Reviewers thought it was too risqué, and it was even called “sex in a box.” 

But then an executive at Milton Bradley got the idea to give a game to Johnny Carson to play on The Tonight Show. Twister was still very new, and Carson tried it out with his guest Eva Gabor on May 3rd, 1966 (60 years ago tonight). They had a good time and plenty of laughs. That appearance not only introduced the public to Twister, it gave them permission to try it themselves. After all, it was played on broadcast TV! Never mind that The Tonight Show was the most risqué part of the TV schedule at that time. Sales took off the very next day, and Twister became a lasting hit. Read the history of Twister and how it took hold in American culture at Smithsonian.