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Information on the Game Twister

Twister is billed as a game of physical dexterity, consisting of a mat and a spinner. Players attempt to keep themselves balanced while placing their hands and feet in randomly determined positions on the mat. The last person to stay balanced is the winner. The game also has a reputation for risqué fun, as the players often find themselves in close proximity to each other.

Components
- Twister's plastic mat contains four rows of large spots; each row contains spots of a different color: green, red, yellow and blue. The spinner is divided into four sections--left foot, right foot, left hand and right hand--and each section contains four spots in the four colors represented on the Twister mat. The remaining "pieces" are the players themselves.
Rules
- The players start by placing their stocking feet on the two spots nearest a single corner of the Twister mat. A referee then spins the spinner, and orders one player (or his choice) to move the indicated hand or foot to an open spot. For example, if the spinner falls on "Right Foot Blue," then the chosen player must put his right foot on an open blue spot. Only one appendage may be placed in a single spot at any one time, and once an appendage is on a spot, it cannot move (though it may be quickly lifted and replaced to allow another limb to pass through the space, at the referee's discretion). If any player falls or lets an elbow or knee touch the ground, he's out. The winner is the last player left standing.
Variants
- Twister can be played with two or three players, each competing against the others. Four-man games take place between two two-man teams. Two-man variants can be played without a referee; the moving player calls out the limb he wants to move and the other players then decides which color spot he has to move to.
Naughtiness
- Twister always had a reputation for facilitating naughty behavior, and indeed, the Milton Bradley Company was repeatedly accused of selling a sexual game under the guise of good, clean fun. Their protests to the contrary were silenced in 1966, when Johnny Carson played a game of Twister with his guest Eva Gabor live on the Tonight Show. The voluptuous Gabor was wearing a slinky dress at the time, and the audience's gales of laughter confirmed the saucy nature of the game.
Sales
- Though Milton Bradley feared controversy with Twister, they needn't have worried. The game's appearance on the Tonight Show sent sales through the roof, with over 3 million copies of sold within a year. Milton Bradley estimates that some 65 million people worldwide have played the game at least once in their lives.

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