Sunday, April 21, 2013

Operation Games Online and Offline


If you are interested in finding games with a medical theme you can look into some exciting online games and some hilarious board games. There are also games for PC and console games to consider.

All of the games discussed on this page revolve around operations and surgery. Many are genuinely educational. Some are just for fun. Anyone of them could start a child on the route to being a fully fledged health professional.

Operation Board Games

Operation Game (with Cavity Sam)

The board game 'Operation' with Cavity Sam is a game that has been around since the mid-sixties.

It has delighted generations of kids (and many adults too) with its recreation of a trip to the operating theater that rarely goes according to plan.

The principle of the game is very simple. The player needs to use tweezers to remove various objects from the patient's body without triggering a negative response. The kinds of thing the player needs to remove range from water on the knee to a frog in the throat. Responses usually involve shrieks of pain, grumbles and pleas for mercy that are hilarious for kids, along with flashing lights.

It is essentially a dexterity game that is very similar to those electrical loop games that were once so popular. You might not remember electrical loop games but they involved the player working their way along a wire with a metal hoop. If the hoop touched the wire an alarm sounded and the player lost the game.

Since the objects that need to be removed from the patients body in 'Operation' are small and the cavities they are housed in are only a little larger, it takes a very skillful person to win the game.

Nowadays, versions of the game with Homer Simpson as the hapless victim of fumbled surgery can also be found. There is even a Spongebob version where you can operate on Spongebob's Barnacle Brain, Clammy Hands or Patty Pleasure Center. These games are recommended for children of 8 and older.

Operation Brain Surgery

In this game, it is the ability to recognize objects by touch alone that is developed. Instead of a flat board with the figure of a patient, the player is confronted by a large electronic, talking head. Inside the head are various shapes. The players are dealt cards with a shape on each. They need to reach into the head and fish out the shapes that match their cards.If the player is too slow or too rough the head's nose lights up, a buzzer sounds and the operation is declared a failure.

A lot of work has gone into making this simple game fun. The shapes have names like 'block head' and 'train of thought'.

A recent variation on the game is a Shrek version with a grinning, green head. Children as young as five will enjoy this game.

Operation Games for PC

Many PC games offer simulations of aspects of the medical world. '911 Paramedic' deals with the kind of emergency situations that an everyday event in a busy hospital. ER The Game takes you into the world of ER, the TV show, 'Sarah's Emergency Room' is about first responses to patients entering a hospital.

Console Games

The most successful operation games for Wii and Nintendo are from the 'Trauma Center' series and include titles like 'New Blood', 'Second Opinion' and 'Under the Knife'. The player must perform many different operations to proceed through the games.

An older game-but one that can still be found- is 'Lifesigns Surgical Unit' for Wii.

Operation Games Online

There are many games online that feature the kinds of skills required during an operation. Some are for younger children and are designed to develop manual skills, others are sophisticated introductions to real surgical techniques.

'Operation Mania', for example, is actually an online version of the classic 'Operation' board game featuring Cavity Sam. Children can remove things like butterflies in the stomach of their patient with a large net. If they catch the butterflies without touching the stomach walls they win that part of the game.

'Let's Operate' is a simple game where a player tries to follow a wandering line with a scalpel. Just as Cavity Sam screeches in anguish if you are clumsy, the patient in this game cries out if you stray from the line. There is a also a time element to add to the pressure. In this case, the passing of time is represented by the draining of a blood bag which adds a nice ghoulish touch.

Much more sophisticated games that give older children (13+) the chance to learn about operations involve such things as knee replacement surgery or heart transplants. These games often come with a strong educational element. Some are made especially for teachers to use in the classroom and have supporting notes and suggested activities. The educational tag hasn't stopped these games being popular with teenagers who seek them out to play with or without the classroom experience.

For children showing an interest in a career in medicine, any of the games mentioned here could help cement their ambition. For those children who just want to have fun, they can still offer a rich experience.

No comments:

Post a Comment