Definition

A battery-powered board game where players use metal tweezers to remove colorful plastic pieces ("organs") from cavities in a patient's body without touching the sides, which triggers a buzzer and a lit nose. Released by Milton Bradley in 1965, it combines dexterity and strategy.

Example Usage

Playing Operation with my cousins always made us nervous because that buzzer would scare us half to death when someone's tweezers touched the side.

Origin

Invented by John Spinello; inspired by the delicate skill required in actual surgery, translated into a children's game.

Fun Fact

The game's patient character, "Cavity Sam," was originally designed as a crash test dummy but was retconned as a person in subsequent versions.

Source: Definition backfill (hailey)

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