Bop It!

Listen for the command and make the right move before time runs out. Bop It! gets faster just when you need it to slow down.

Bop it! Twist it! Pull it! Three simple instructions that get surprisingly difficult when the voice won't slow down (and be aware, the voice is also very loud).

The original Bop It had a button to hit, a knob to twist, and a handle to pull. Listen to the command and make the right move before time runs out. The longer the game goes on, the faster the commands come at you. Unlike the classic Simon game, you aren't repeating an ever-increasing sequence. You're trying to follow the instruction you just heard quickly enough, before the timer sounds and you lose.

Designer Dan Klitsner's idea grew from work on playful television remote controls. A concept called the Channel Bopper used bopping and pulling motions to operate the TV instead of the traditional TV remote buttons. The idea eventually evolved into a game, and Parker Brothers released Bop It in 1996.

Bop It! was another of our go-to games when I was older. Fun for the entire family, easy to learn, but hard to master. Solo play gave you a score to beat. Passing it around gave somebody else a chance to make the same mistake they'd just watched you make, pulling when they should have twisted. I remember the game being very loud, and at least at the time we could not find any way to turn the volume down.

Newer editions are available with additional actions (Bop It! Extreme), but the original three-action version Bop It! classic keeps the familiar Bop It, Twist It, and Pull It commands, with Solo (single player) and Pass-it (multi-player) modes, plus three volume settings (thank goodness!).