A game that combines suspense and fine motor prowess in a world of pretend play? Not to mention our first exposure to idioms. No wonder Operation has been a classic for decades.

Name: Operation
Debut: 1965
Age Range: 6 years and up (the Junior edition is 3 years and up)

Objective: Remove ailments out of Cavity Sam without setting off the buzzer

Operation has been challenging children’s hopes and dreams of becoming a doctor for years. If they can successfully “operate” on their patient with wired metal tweezers, they may stand a chance in the profession. If they can’t, perhaps they should aspire to be something else (astronaut or POTUS maybe?). This game is the equivalent of a college “weed out” class, and that’s exactly where this game’s genesis takes place.

Operation was invented by an industrial design student named John Spinello in 1962. While at the University of Illinois, he created an electrified 10×10 inch box with a 12-volt lantern battery and 6-volt bell. His game was called Death Valley, where players used a metal probe to move along the electrically charged western-themed game board. The probe had to go in cleanly without touching the sides or it would complete the circuit and sound the buzzer. Spinello’s professor gave him an A for his project.

Spinello sold his creation for $500 to a Chicago-based toy design company called Marvin Glass and Associates. Milton Bradley soon licensed the game, giving it a major facelift. Rather than inserting a probe, they thought it would be more interesting to remove it. They stripped the desert western-motif and replaced it with a surgical operating table. Thus, Operation was born, hitting toy shelves in 1965.

What makes this game a standout is its gameplay and immediate feedback. Not only does it require hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills like Kerplunk, but there’s no luck or real strategy involved. It relies solely on precision and with the sound of a buzzer, everyone will know which player has the steadiest of hands. 

Gameplay

Unlike previous games we’ve covered this month, Operation’s setup has changed through the years. Old school versions used play money to reward successful surgeries while newer editions utilized audio clues to determine which ailment to address instead of cards. Here’s the gist of the game:

• Activate the board by switching it on (or inserting batteries). Test board by touching the tweezer to a metal edge of on the board (you should hear a buzzer and see Cavity Sam’s nose light up).
• Place the 12 ailment pieces into their respective cavities
• Shuffle the ailment cards and place them in a deck, money side up, where all the players can reach them
• The youngest player goes first.
• On their turn, a player will grab the top card of the deck to reveal the ailment they need to remove from the game board using the tweezers without hitting the metal sides.
• If the metal sides are hit, the buzzer will sound and Cavity Sam’s nose will light up, indicating that player’s turn is over. They pass the ailment card to the next player who will try to remove it.
• If the player removes the ailment without touching the sides, they keep the card and the ailment, placing the card money side up to indicate how much money they earned for their accomplishment. They then pass the tweezers to the next player.
• The games ends when all ailments are removed from Cavity Sam.
• The player who earned the most amount of money from their operations wins the game.
• The solo version of the game directs the play to perform all the surgeries successfully. If they miss one, they must start over.

Skills Addressed

Operation packs a punch in terms of the number of skills it addresses:

• Concentration and focus
• Fine motor skills (fine motor precision, intrinsic hand/finger strength, pincer grasp)
• Visual perception (visual discrimination)
• Visual motor skills (hand-eye coordination)
• Emotional regulation (rebounding after a failed attempt)
• Sensory processing (the vibration of the board, the sound of the buzzer, seeing red build light up)
• Social skills (turn taking, rooting for one another to succeed, patience)
• Math skills (adding up their money)
• Learning of basic human anatomy (location of ailments)
• Understanding of idioms and figures of speech (description of ailments)

Modifications

As tricky and heart-palpitating playing Operation can be, it doesn’t have to be. Here are some ways to modify it:

• To reduce the stress and anxiety, don’t turn the game on and have the kids try to get pieces out without the fear of the buzzer going off.
  
  
• To focus more on fine motor skill and confidence, forget the cards and have your child go for pieces they think they can achieve. If they don’t get it, they can try again on their next turn.
  
  
• Make it a true skills game by having each player operate on Cavity Sam until they touch the sides. Alternatively, you can time it (how many pieces can a player pull in 30 seconds?). The person to pull out the most ailments wins.
  
  
• Combine the gameplay with pretend (dramatic) play. Give Cavity Sam a backstory and why he’s on the operating table. Only take out the objects involved in the story, incorporating memory and auditory attention. For example, “Sam sounds lovesick, doctor. We need to operate on him quickly! It looks like he has a broken heart, butterflies in the stomach, and a frog in his throat. Can you do it?”
  
  
• Use play money from other games (like Monopoly) to pay players for a successful retrieval because who doesn’t enjoy a payday for a good job well done?
  
  
• Older versions of Operation had Specialist Cards. If a player couldn’t remove a piece during their turn, the Specialist (whoever had that piece’s card) would attempt to remove it. Recreate them to add a challenge.

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Like this post? Check out all the games we covered this month:
Candyland
Guess Who?
Kerplunk
Operation
Battleship
Perfection

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