Charles “Chuck” Foley, the Inventor of Iconic Party Game Twister Dies at Age 82

Say it isn’t so …

Charles “Chuck” Foley, the inventor of the iconic and one of the greatest party games ever, Twister, has died at the age of 82. Foley died July 1 at a care facility in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. According to his son, his father had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The game was originally called ‘Pretzel,’ but when they sold it to Milton Bradley, they came up with the name ‘Twister’. The game became an overnight sensation after Johnny Carson and Eva Gabor played it on “The Tonight Show” in 1966. Thank you Mr. Foley for creating one of the greatest games ever.

Twister called itself “the game that ties you up in knots.” Its detractors called it “sex in a box.”

Charles “Chuck” Foley, the father of nine who invented the game that became a naughty sensation in living rooms across America in the 1960s and 1970s because of the way it put men and women in compromising positions, has died. He was 82.

Foley died July 1 at a care facility in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. His son, Mark Foley, said Thursday that his father had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Foley and a collaborator, Neil Rabens, were hired in the mid-1960s by a St. Paul manufacturing firm that wanted to expand into games and toys. They came up with a game to be played on a mat on the floor, using a spinner to direct players to place their hands and feet on different colored circles.