Toys and Games (Part 4)

1. Did you know Trivial Pursuit was invented in 1979 by Canadian journalists Chris Haney and Scott Abbott during a Scrabble game, launched in 1981, and became a massive 1980s cultural phenomenon by testing general knowledge across six categories, evolving into over 50 special editions ? (It flopped at the World's Toy & Game Fair and was passed by Milton Bradly and Parker Brothers. It's big break came when Johnny Carson from The Tonight Show gave the game a shoutout.)

2. Did you know the "Operation" game was invented by John Spinello, a University of Illinois student, in 1964 as a class project ? (He sold the rights to toy designer Marvin Glass for $500, and the game was first produced by Milton Bradley in 1965. It became a classic, known for its dexterity-based gameplay where players use tweezers to remove "ailments" without setting off the buzzer and red light.)

3. Did you know the board game Risk originated in 1957 when French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse created La Conquête du Monde (The Conquest of the World), which Parker Brothers published as Risk in 1959, becoming a hit strategy game of world domination using dice-based combat, armies, and diplomacy on a world map ? (Its evolution includes rule changes over time, themed editions, and video game adaptations, but it remains a classic in global conquest games, influencing later strategy games like Axis and Allies and Catan.)

4. Did you know Colorforms, the classic mess-free creative toy, started in 1951 with artists Harry and Pat Kislevitz discovering that vinyl cutouts stuck to glossy surfaces ?

5. Did you know Beanie Babies was created by Ty Warner and was launched in 1993 ? (The rarest and most valuable Beanie Babies are often those with errors on their tags or unique production features. The Large Wallace and Friends: A collection featuring a large Wallace, two regular-sized Wallaces, Cashew, and Huggy can sell for up to $600,000.)