For many, the summer of 1969 evokes indelible images of Woodstock, the moon landing, and perhaps even a six-string bought at the five-and-dime.
But before any of those cultural events took place, the ground work for a cultural phenomena was laid by two visionaries who filed a patent application in 1966 for a game that would soon get people bending, stretching, laughing, shouting—and twisting. In the summer of '69, on July 8, the beloved game TWISTER was patented, transforming ordinary upright people into a contorted and snarled assembly of human beings.Twister’s patent is a reminder that patentable innovation is not limited to high-tech devices or laboratory breakthroughs; sometimes, it can be found in something as familiar—and fun—as a party game.
