Bop It

Bop It is an electronic game of mental skill, first marketed by Parker Brothers, Milton Bradley, Tiger Electronics, and Hasbro in 1996. The game consists of a single player responding to auditory commands with the correct of several actions. This game can be seen as a variation on the hit game, Simon.

Original Bop It has three inputs: a cyan pull handle, a yellow twist knob, and a purple Bop It button on both sides. Hasbro later manufactured Bop It Extreme in 1998 with two additional inputs, a green flick switch and a red spin wheel in the shape of a gear. In 2002, a third version, Bop It Extreme 2, was released featuring four distinct musical styles. The most recent version, Bop It Download, was released in 2007, to include a USB port and multiple game variations.

Bop It may be found in black and white color variations. There are three modes to play: Vox Bop, Beat Bop, and Solo Bop. Bop It Extreme also offers a fourth mode called Beat Bop Solo. By pulling the handle before the game starts, different game modes can be selected, such as a multiplayer game in which players must "pass it" to the next player to continue play. This must be done in an allotted period of time, dictated by a brief piece of music.

Variations

Vox Bop & Vox Bop Solo

This game is on Bop It Extreme and Bop It Extreme 2, but not on the original Bop It. When the game starts by hitting the Bop It in the middle, a beat starts to play. Then a voice tells the player what to do. It will either call out, "Bop It! Twist It! Pull It! Flick It! Spin It!" in random order. If the player hesitates or gets a wrong command then bop it will scream and the game ends. On the solo game, the score will be announced.

In the pass it mode, after 3-7 commands, the voice will say, "Pass it!" and then the pass it tune plays. When you hear that tune, you must pass the Bop It to the next player. Same rules applies as the solo game but the score wont be announced.

Beat Bop & Beat Bop Solo and Other Games

Beat Bop is the same as Vox Bop, but there will be sounds instead of voices. The same rules apply as vox bop. If you don't know what the commands mean, then refer to the instruction manual.

When Bop It Extreme 2 was released, they added a "one on one" game. Two players hold bop it on each side. When they hear "Bop it!" or the base drum sound on beat bop, both players try to hit their color. On Bop It Extreme 2, the colors are green and yellow. On Bop It Blast, the 2 colors are blue and green and on Bop it Download, the colors are green and yellow (the same colors as "Bop It Extreme 2").

Bop It Download

Bop It Download offers only a single "Solo" mode, plus several multi-player options. However, this differs from the original game in that it is composed of a series of "levels", each one of which plays according to different rules:
* Level 1 plays the same as the original Bop It: a voice is used to call out the required command, and only the "Bop It", "Pull It", and "Twist It" controls are used.
* Level 2 enables Spin It.
* Level 3 enables Flick It.
* Level 4 enables Colour Bop It - the central "Bop It" control is coloured yellow on one side of the device and green on the other, and the voice will specify one of these colours, requiring the user to press the button on that particular side.
* Levels 5-6 enable Bop Lights - every command given is given by both the spoken command and a light on the corresponding control. However, sometimes the wrong control is lit, in which case the player must do nothing on that beat.
* Levels 7-12 repeat the sequence of levels 1-6 except that commands are given by sound effects (as in "Beat Bop") rather than spoken voice, with the exception of the "Yellow" and "Green" commands for the central button.
* Level 13 enables all the features of level 12 plus commands may be given by spoken voice or sound effect, randomly selected.
* Levels 14-15 are identical to level 13, but are endurance levels. Level 14 requires 250 inputs in a single session to complete; level 15 requires 500.

Pitch of the Bop It and what happens when each Bop It is low on batteries

The Bop It commands are called out in different tones. In the original Bop It, "Bop It!" was called out in C Sharp, "Twist It!" was called out in E, and "Pull It!" was called out in D sharp. When the Bop It's battery power is low, the pitch starts to change. After 5 octaves down from the original pitch, the "Pull It!" pitch starts to go down to where the "Bop It!" pitch is and the scream sounds rather annoying when it's down too low.

In Bop It Extreme, "Bop It!" is called out in G sharp, "Twist It!" is called out in D sharp, "Pull It!" is called in B, "Flick it" is called out in A and "Spin It!" is called out in B flat. When the Bop It Extreme's battery power is low, the sound starts to distort and then gets quieter until you can't here a thing like a Yamaha PSS14 keyboard. Plus, the pitch goes down.

In Bop It Extreme 2, "Bop It!" is called out in A to D, "Twist It!" is called out in B flat, "Pull It!" is called out in F sharp, "Flick It!" is called out in E, and "Spin It!" is called out in C sharp to F sharp. When the Bop It Extreme 2's battery power is low, the pitch goes down but doesn't distort. It does the same as the 2002 remake of the original Bop It.

In Bop It Blast, the male voice of "Bop It!" is called out in G to D, "Twist It!" was called out in B and "Pull It!" is called out in C. The female voice of Bop It Blast, "Bop It!" is called out in G, "Twist It!" is called out in D, and "Pull It!" was called out in note B. When the Bop It Blast is low on battery power, the unit makes a strange noise and then the unit goes, "Aaaah! Aaaaah!"

The "Proper Way" to hold a Bop It

While there is no official "right" way to hold a Bop It, there is a way to hold it that way you anticipate anything (with the Original Bop It):
*Have the "Bop" and "Twist" face the way of which one writes with. For example, if right-handed, have the "Bop" and "Twist" part facing the right.
*Wrap the thumb and index finger around the portion between the "Twist" and the "Bop," facing frontwards, that way you could anticipate both; if the Bop It says to "Twist It," one can simply move one's hand over to the twist and one can return to the "Twist-Bop Space" after finished, and if the Bop It dictates to "Bop It," one can stick their thumb out to hit the "Bop."
*Using one's opposite hand, hold the "Pull" part backwards (when one holds it, one could see his palm), that way a "Pull It" command is fully anticipated.

Newer Versions of the Bop It were designed so that there is no "proper way" to hold it, and one won't be able to anticipate what will be called next.

Popular culture

* Bop It was parodied on a 2004 SNL Weekend Update, as "Bump It", a seemingly sentient and sexually suggestive toy which asked Amy Poehler to "Pull it" numerous times.

*Bop It appeared in the TV series Gilmore Girls, where it was referred to by Lorelai and Rory, and actually used in Season 5, Episode 5 by Luke opposing Dean. Lorelai later explains that Bop It is what they bring out in social situations that 'need mouth to mouth resuscitation"

External links

* [http://www.hasbro.com/bopit/ Hasbro's Bop It Products]
* [http://www.takeitapart.net/archives/bop-it/ Bop-It Disassembled]
*http://www.playbopit.com/