Ages 6 and up

Players 1 or more

Playing Time 30 minutes

The doctor is in, and he’s ready to remove whatever is ailing the patient. Operation is a classic board game from Milton Bradley. Players were first able to play doctor in the sixties with this game. While it has been around for a while, Operation can still be a lot of fun to play for all ages.

The game operation features a patient and playing pieces that represent various body parts. There are two decks of cards. One is marked doctor and the other is marked specialist. The specialist cards are shuffled and all are dealt out to players.

Players take turns drawing doctor cards. The card will have the name of the body part that needs to be removed and also list the fee the doctor will receive. That player performs surgery with a pair of tweezers. He tries very carefully to remove the body part without touching the sides of the board. If he is successful, he collects his fee. Touching the sides will sound the buzzer and light up the patient’s nose. This will signal failure to all of the players. Then a specialist must be called in to complete the operation.

The player who has the specialist card for the part then gets a try at removing it. If she is successful then she collects her fee. Her fee is twice the amount the doctor would collect, so if the fee is $400 she would receive $800.

Play continues until all the parts have been removed. Then players then count up the money they have earned. The player who has earned the most money wins the game.

Operation has been around for quite a while and still remains popular to this day. Some special versions of the games have been released. Shrek has been a patient for Operation as well as Homer Simpson. When a player accidentally touches the side with Homer, she will hear him yell out one of his catch phrases like “Doh!” instead of the classic buzzer.

The classic games can still be a lot of fun to play with friends and family. Younger kids can play, too. Operation is a great addition to any game night.