It took 43 years, but Operation, the play-time surgery game many of us grew up with, just got a makeover.
The round-bellied, red-nosed character named Cavity Sam remains. But in the 2008 version, Cavity Sam gets some clothes – red boxer shorts with white polka dots. He also has just one sock. Remember using tweezers to remove the wish bone, funny bone and broken heart?
Those diagnoses are gone, replaced with new ones such as phone finger, ringing in the ear and bird brained. The old “butterflies in the stomach” is now “bad plumbing.”
The old game used a deck of cards to instruct players on what to remove. The new game, which has two skill levels, relies on sounds to direct players. The sounds, according to Hasbro Games, allow the updated game to be universally understood.
A “ribbet” sound, for example, means it’s time to remove a frog in the throat. A splashing sound directs players to remove water on the knee, the only one of 13 ailments to make the cut from 1965 to 2008. Suggested retail price is $14.99.
– John Tanasychuk
