--- ---  # 'Operation' Inventor, 77, Can't Afford Real Life Operation by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 28, 2014 1:17 PM UTC  YouTube by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 28, 2014 1:17 PM UTC In an ironic twist of fate, the inventor of the famous board game [Operation](http://www.iloveoperation.com) is in need of money to pay for an operation. In 1964, John Spinello invented the classic children’s game, in which players attempt to perform “surgery” without tripping a buzzer, and sold it to a toy invention firm for just $500\. In spite of its great success, that’s the only money he ever received for the game. Now 77, Spinello can’t afford to pay $25,000 for an oral surgery. “John has had a good life, but has admitted to us that he is struggling to pay his bills and is in need of a medical procedure without sufficient insurance coverage,” his friends [Tim Walsh and Peggy Brown wrote in a crowd funding campaign.](https://www.crowdrise.com/helpfortheinventorofoperation) Walsh told [_The Huffington Post_](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/27/john-spinello%5Fn%5F6055174.html) that Spinello isn’t bitter about never receiving royalties for a game that has inspired everything from shower curtains to boxers to _Simpsons_ editions of the game, and has generated what he estimates to be $40 million. “John celebrates the game wherever he can, though his kids do give him a hard time in a good-natured way,” Walsh said. On top of the [crowd-funding ](https://www.crowdrise.com/helpfortheinventorofoperation)campaign, Spinello plans to auction off the original prototype in December to pay the bills. Operation Inventor John Spinello Raises Money for Real Life Operation ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3543285/operation-inventor-john-spinello/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3543285/operation-inventor-john-spinello/"},"headline":"'Operation' Inventor, 77, Can't Afford Real Life Operation","datePublished":"2014-10-28T13:17:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:14:06.862Z","description":"John Spinello sold the game for only $500","url":"https://time.com/3543285/operation-inventor-john-spinello/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society","Internet","Games"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7139e9885965760e/69876303e20a875780a82b32/screen-shot-2014-10-28-at-9-08-20-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7139e9885965760e/69876303e20a875780a82b32/screen-shot-2014-10-28-at-9-08-20-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2014-10-28 at 9.08.20 AM","caption":"","creditText":"YouTube","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3543285/operation-inventor-john-spinello/","name":"'Operation' Inventor, 77, Can't Afford Real Life Operation"}}]}] ```