Twister PatentChuck Foley, one of the inventors of Twister, died July 1st at the age of 82. Foley also invented many other toys and gadgets and held 97 patents.

Neil Rabens, one of Foley’s collaborators on the design of Twister, told the Los Angeles Times that the pair had trouble convincing the Patent Office to issue a patent without a mechanical device. Foley had to go to Washington to demonstrate how the game was played. Eventually, one was issued for an “Apparatus for Playing a Game Wherein the Players Constitute the Game Pieces“.