This is ironic. Or perhaps just sad. Or maybe heartwarming. The inventor of the game Operation needs to raise money for an operation of his own. In 1964, student John Spinello made a prototype of the medicine-electric-shock game and sold it to Marvin Glass for $500. The game would go on to become one of the most popular children’s games ever, earning nearly $40 million. A crowdfunding site, CrowdRise, has raised almost $5000 towards the cost of Spinello’s expensive oral surgery, and another, ILoveOperation, is dedicated to the inventor’s life story.
Spinello tells The Huffington Post that he doesn’t mind missing the game’s big payday. “I prefer not to dwell on that aspect and focus more on the joy that the game has brought to so many over the years,” he said. He also agreed to sell his original prototype for the game, a piece estimated at nearly $35,000.