Other versions
The 1964-1965 Saturday morning children's game show Shenanigans had a life sized, three-dimensional Operation game as one of its challenges.
Aside from the traditional board game version, Milton Bradley also produced a hand-held version which had a screen in Sam's tummy.
This also had a PC game produced in 1998.
In 2002, a brain surgery version was released, requiring the player to pull pieces out of a wisecracking Cavity Sam's head, within 15 seconds. Sam's nose lights up after time runs out.
In May 2004, a Shrek version of the game was released.
In 2005, saw the release of a Simpsons version of the game, featuring a talking Homer Simpson being operated on by doctors Julius Hibbert and Nick Riviera. Items in the game include Bowler's Thumb, Foot in Mouth, and Rubber Neck. When a player misses, Homer screams or says one of his trademark lines such as "D'oh! or "This is not good!".
In December 2006, a Spider-Man version was released in which the player operates on the Marvel superhero Spider-Man. In early 2008, Hasbro featured another Marvel superhero when it released an Incredible Hulk edition of the game to promote The Incredible Hulk feature film. In 2010, Hasbro also released an Iron Man version of the game to promote Iron Man 2
In early 2007, a SpongeBob SquarePants version was introduced, featuring game pieces such as a "shoehorn" and a "Krabby Patty pleasure center". Based on the Nickelodeon TV series by the same name.
Later in 2007, Hasbro released a different version of the original game called "OPERATION Rescue Kit" in which the participant plays four different timed games with three skill levels. Each skill level reduces the starting amount of time. Cavity Sam has a heart monitor in this version, and the player can pump oxygen into him to gain more time.
In August 2008, Hasbro released a "Silly Skill Game" version which features 13 different sound effects for each of the different parts. Here the winner of the game is the player who removes most parts successfully.
A Doctor Who version of the game was released in Great Britain, where players get to "operate" on a Dalek in order to (from the product description) "make it strong enough to take over the world. But be careful... if you damage it'll quickly tell you with one of its terrifying phrases! Whether it's the Targeting Sensor that you need to operate on, or the Manipulator Arm, you'll need a steady hand and nerves of steel!"
In 2010, Hasbro released a Toy Story 3 version featuring Buzz Lightyear as the patient. This followed the release of the Toy Story 3 feature film into theaters. Another Pixar film was promoted in 2011, when Hasbro made a Cars 2 edition including Mater the tow truck.
On The Hub's television game show Family Game Night hosted by Todd Newton, a segment called Operation Relay is played, where two families compete one after the other. Family members take turns pulling pieces out of an oversized Operation gameboard, and then running through an obstacle course to eventually place them in a container at the end of the course. If a player fails to pull a piece without touching the side, or drops it while going through the obstacle course, they must move to the back of the line, and it's the next person's turn. Each piece is worth a specific amount of points, and whichever team has earned the highest score when time expires wins. Also on the show is Operation Sam Dunk, in which families play skee ball to collect the most points possible. Each family gets two turns and the team with the highest score wins the game. For the show's third season, Operation is introduced, in which one family can win money for a shopping spree by removing pieces to earn up to four rolls and then play skee ball in a same manner as in Operation Sam Dunk.
In 2013, Hasbro introduced Doc McStuffins and Despicable Me 2 versions of the game.
In 2016, Hasbro introduced Finding Dory and Trolls versions of the game.
In 2022, Hasbro introduced a Minions: The Rise of Gru version of the game.
