Growing up as a kid, one of my favorite games of all time was “Operation”.  I’ll never forget trying to remove the plastic ailments with a pair of tweezers without touching the metal sides, which would light up the patient’s nose and sound the dreaded buzzer.

Ironically, the guy that invented “Operation” himself is in need of surgery and doesn’t have the money to cover it.   His name is John Spinello and you’d probably figure that he made a ton of money from his iconic game.  But he didn’t.  Spinello, who is now 77, sold the game to a toy company in 1964 for a mere $500.  He’s not bitter that he never made any money off his invention, but he could sure use a few bucks now.

Spinello needs oral surgery and the cost is expected to be around $25,000.   That’s why his friends have started a Crowdrise page to help him cover the costs.  Spinello is also willing to donate the original “Operation” prototype to help raise money.

You would think that the toy companies that have made millions of dollars from the game over the past 50 years would go ahead and pay for the inventor’s own upcoming “operation”.   It would be the right thing to do.

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