# Operation - the game... BUZZ or shock **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2002, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352 "2002-12-28T12:08:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![trader\_of\_shots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trader\_of\_shots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trader_of_shots)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352/1 "2002-12-28T12:08:26Z")
Hey dudes, I am a gen Xer and as a kid i called a game called Operation. I hope you are all familiar with it … it is where you must remove bones n stuff from the game without touching the sides or you get buzzed. Now i was having a discussion with a friend the other day about this game and she told me her game didn’t shock her. It just buzzed. My game did shock me and it hurt … 1. I think this has effected my personality 2. Is this right ? Did all the Operation games shock you or was i the lucky 4 year old ? There is an episode of the Simpson’s where homer (as a kid) is playing it and it is clear that he is being shocked like i was. It was set in the 60’s. So … Does Operation (or did it) Shock you like i remember ? If so …what the hell is wrong with toy manufactures that hurt !! ---
**Author:** ![trader\_of\_shots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trader\_of\_shots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trader_of_shots)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352/2 "2002-12-28T12:28:47Z")
so know one played this game …ever … in the history of man apart from myself ? ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352/3 "2002-12-28T12:29:54Z")
You need to give people more than 20 minutes to answer. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352/4 "2002-12-28T12:38:58Z")
Hmm. You were four years old? And you thought it was shocking you? And The Simpsons is your corroborating evidence? I’ll have more questions later. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352/5 "2002-12-28T12:39:08Z")
IIRC, it shocked me. Touching the sides completed a circuit between the tweezers and battery, and the user would get a little jolt in the hand through the tweezer. I don’t recall that it hurt. I’m reasonably sure the battery didn’t carry enough juice do harm. Maybe your parents tried to save money on batteries by jury rigging something straight to your home electrical supply? That would give you quite a jolt. ---
**Author:** ![trader\_of\_shots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trader\_of\_shots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trader_of_shots)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352/6 "2002-12-28T12:40:28Z")
yojimboguy - thanks man. I knew it. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352/7 "2002-12-28T12:53:03Z")
The _Operation_ game that I had, circa 1975, had plastic-handled tweezers. Yes, touching the edges completed a circuit, but all the circuit did was light the nose up and make a loud buzzing noise. It _was_ a shock, in the sense that a five-year-old, totally absorbed in intense concentration, practically had a coronary when the damned thing went off. I can’t see how it could be worked to deliver a noticible shock with such a low voltage available. Even if the tweezers were uninsulated, your wee hand wouldn’t be part of the circuit-- and you’ve got what, six volts running through there? Or was there an earlier, “shocking” version that was substantially different? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352/8 "2002-12-28T13:02:40Z")
Because I am endowed with what Mr. Kipling called ‘Satiable Curtiosity, I checked [YesterdayLand](http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/toys/ty1051.php), which is a treasure trove of all the stuff o’ childhood. Nothing in their lengthy synopsis suggests there was ever an electric shock delivered to the player, and the picture they posted shows the plastic-handled tweezers I remember. I think you were just having the bejeebus startled out of you, and misremember it as a shock. After all, you were tiny, and there were wires, lights, and a _loud_ buzz. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352/9 "2002-12-28T13:14:17Z")
There just isn’t enough voltage for a shock, IIRC 2 batteries, 3 volts in series with a lightbulb and buzzer. I say it is impossible given the simple setup, no way, now how. Any shock was either in your head or the feeling of vibration from the buzzer ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352/10 "2002-12-28T13:36:44Z")
“Operation” was actually the game’s second name, applied in 1956. Previously it had been “Korean POW Encourager” and it is this version that you may be remembering. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352/11 "2002-12-28T14:31:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Previously it had been “Korean POW Encourager” and it is this version that you may be remembering. Oh, Koran POW Encourager, why didn’t you say so. Yes that version used the shock, plugged directly into the wall and did away with certain extras like the lightbulb and buzzer. Funny thing with that one is that even without the buzzer you still heard a buzzing. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352/12 "2002-12-28T16:45:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by k2dave \* > **There just isn’t enough voltage for a shock, IIRC 2 batteries, 3 volts in series with a lightbulb and buzzer.** That’s how I remember the game, I last played it in the Seventies at about age twelve. The tweezers were on a wire, not you, and the entire table would shake and startle you if you touched the tweezers to the sides, much like a joy buzzer. It just startled you like an electric shock. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/operation-the-game-buzz-or-shock/145352/13 "2002-12-28T16:57:51Z")
My friend had that game, mid 70’s. It was a buzz sound, not a shock. Haj