Reynolds Guyer often credits himself as the inventor of Twister - which is not true. He is not the inventor of Twister. Twister was invented by two gentlemen by the names of Charles F. Foley and Neil W. Rabens. You will find their names on the patent if you search on the United States Patent and Trademark Office Home Page under the Patent #: 3,454,279. Reynolds Guyer's name is nowhere to be found on the patent. In reality, he was Charles F. Foley's and Neil W. Rabens' boss who let the inventors have free reign to invent whatever they desired. Because Guyer's company was in financial trouble at the time, he began to claim that he was the sole inventor of Twister, but this claim is false. He only stepped in at the last moment to say that he believed that two dice would be the best way to play Twister instead of the spinner. Both Charles F. Foley and Neil W. Rabens disagreed, but Reynolds Guyer was their boss and he wanted dice in the package that was being sent to Milton Bradley. The spinner was taken out and the two dice put in. The box was then shrink wrapped and Charles F. Foley took it to a meeting with Mel Taft (the former head of R&D at Milton Bradley). Before Charles F. Foley presented the game, he opened the packaging and took the two dice out and put the spinner back into the package. Then he ran around looking for a place that would shrink wrap it again. He then took this package in to see Mel Taft.). The company had no small amount of skepticism for its potential, as well as to-be-expected fear of public criticism. Detractors denounced the game as "sex in a box." These fears were dispelled when Johnny Carson featured the game on the May 3, 1966 episode of The Tonight Show. One of Johnny's guests was Eva Gabor in a low-cut dress. With Eva on her hands and knees and Johnny on top, the audience reaction was perfect; hysterical laughter and screams of delight. In its first year, Milton Bradley sold more than three million copies of Twister.
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