Everyone must have heard of twister, the game twister not the slightly swirling thing that tends to wreak havoc where ever it goes.
But for those that have never heard of the game twister, firstly, where have you been? This game has been out since the mid 1960's, growing in popularity since then, getting bigger and bigger until probably 9 out of 10 have played it, or even own one.
The game itself consists of nothing more that a 'plastic' mat with 24 colours on it, 6 red, 6 blue, 6 yellow and 6 green, creating four rows of six.
Apart from the mat there is a spinning device, which is a board with an arrow on it that spins and lands in one of four 'limb' sections, those section being either left hand, right hand, left leg or right leg. Each 'limb' section has four coloured spots in it, one red, one blue, one yellow and one green.
And that's it for the pieces, just the mat and the spinning board.

So what about the playing pieces? I hear you ask.
Well, you are the playing piece, you and your body, the more flexible the better, and if you're blessed with above average length limbs then you may even have a bigger advantage.

* How do you play the game..?

Playing the game is so simple, you start with at least three people, one person to spin the arrow on the board, the others to play the actual game itself.
The person that spins the arrow then 'shouts' out to the players what the arrowhead lands on, for example, if the arrow lands on a red dot in the right foot quarter then the person shouts out 'right foot red'. so then the player whose turn it is has to try and place their right foot on a red circle on the playing mat, (following my example of course, but the chosen player may have to move a hand or a foot on any of the four colours).

The game continues in that way, a spin of the arrow, an announcement of where it lands and a player moving that particular 'limb' onto that particular colour, hopefully managing to remain upright, although when I say upright I may be using the wrong word there.

* How do you win the game then..?

Technically the winner of the game is the player that is left standing when all others have fallen over.
Sounds simple, and it is really, as when a player may have to over stretch a 'limb' to get it on a chosen coloured spot then accidents will happen and loss of balance is just round the corner.

Before you think about cheating there are a few 'unspoken' rules, such as you can't tickle any of the other players when their armpits are inches from your face, even if they smell like a triple marathon runner jus before their shower. Nor can you 'accidentally' knock into any of the players in the hope of knocking them over, (unless you can do it slyly without being noticed of course).

* My thoughts...

This is one of those games that anyone can play, with-in reason anyway, I mean I wouldn't ask my great grand mother to have a go as I don't think she'd be able to stretch that far, not at her age anyway, although I recon she'll have a good go at it, bless her.
When ever my family and I have dragged this out of the cupboard we have had hours of fun, although a few bad backs, twisted fingers, sore butt cheeks, bruised knees and more have also happened, but playing the game is defiantly well worth the few scrapes considering the laughs we've had over the years.

And then there's playing it when the kids aren't around, setting it up during a small gathering of a few friends, and a few drinks from the top shelf of course, creating even more laughs as we fall about all over the place trying to put a left foot over someone's right shoulder whilst my wife's left cheek is pressing against my right hand. At the same time trying not to flinch as my mate Mat's vinegar smelling foot is right under my nose and his wifes long hair is dangling onto my eyeball... it's times like that that make me thankful that I really know my friends and the kids can't see the sate of us all.

Anyway, back to the game itself, it one of those games that takes a second to set up, taking as long as it would to throw the mat on the floor and spin the arrow on the board. It is an all round fun game for both children and adults, although as I said do be careful as you may really have to bend your body in some seriously misjudged positions, believe me I've done a few of them and my bodies never been the same since. In fact, I recall the time a friend of mine actually twisted her back that badly that she had to take a few weeks off work, but we did laugh at the time, (although I don't think she found it that funny the next morning when the 'top shelf' liquid wore off).

I do feel that I have to mention once again about the danger when playing this game, especially if you've had one or two, if played under adult supervision backs can be twisted, muscles can be pulled and spinal columns can be seriously misaligned.
Then there's the less, shall we say dangerous side of the game, more the 'offensive' side, meaning that if players have whiffy pits or have really sweaty feet then odours may offend those who end up underneath the pile of stretching bodies. So make sure everyone have put on deodorant and washed their feet.

As for the cost of this easy to play game for the bendy person, well, for hours of partying fun and even more hours of family binding, (sometimes litterally), this game can be picked up for around £15.00, although I have seen several games of this type in places like charity shops for a couple of quid, but as long as the mats in good nick and the spinning board can be read then the game can be played.

NOTE:
There is a version made by MB games, which I have, and a version made by Hasbro games, but they are essentially the same and cost around the same price so pick which ever one you want really, you'll have just as much fun with either.