Flex Your Plexus
Superplexus toy
$15 ebay.com
www.superplexus.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/superplexus

The Superplexus is a clear plastic handheld sphere the size of a head of cabbage. Inside, ther e’s a crazy path — a series of ramps, tubes, chutes, and grooves — through which you must deliver a small steel ball by tilting the sphere. The goal is to get the ball to the end without having it fall off the path.

Along the route, you must pass 100 numbered points, each of which represents an obstacle to navigate. Every time I pick this up, I get immersed inside Superplexus’ twisty 3D maze. I become the little steel ball. Despite having had this puzzle for over a year, I’ve never made it all the way to the end, but I’m not discouraged, because I’ve never gotten the feeling it’s impossible to solve.

The Wikipedia article on Superplexus has a couple of cool concept sketches and prototype photographs, as well as inventor Mike McGinnis’ notes on its design and history (he made the first prototype while he was in junior high school). You can learn even more about McGinnis’ terrific puzzle at the Superplexus website. I’m astonished that it’s no longer in production.

—Mark Frauenfelder

OpenX clamshell box opener

$5 myopenx.com

You can hurt yourself opening clam s and oys ters, even if you have the right tool. I once jabbed the point of an opener in my palm trying to make oysters in the half-shell. You can also get hurt trying to rip open clamshell packages, the sealed plastic packaging that encases electronics such as batteries, flash memory, and game accessories.

Also known as blister-packs, these clamshells are frustratingly difficult to open, whether you use scissors or your teeth, and you wonder if the manufacturer ever intended you to open it. Another special feature of this packaging is that you can’t reclose it. Not knowing this is part of the difficulty in opening them; I try to open them in a way that allows me to put the two sides back together when I should just shred the plastic.

OpenX is a special tool with two different blades designed to slice into and separate the two pieces of plastic so you can get to what you want inside. There’s no disputing that OpenX works better than scissors or a kitchen knife, but the fact that I need a tool bothers me, even if it costs under $5. Then again, I wouldn’t try to pry open an oyster without something other than my teeth.

P.S. David Pescovitz pointed out on Boing Boing the irony that OpenX arrives in a clamshell package.

If You Can’t Open It …

Straws and Connectors $15 constructiontoys.com/store/ straws.php

Cheap toys that thoroughly entertain kids for longer than 30 seconds are rare. I find it impossible to keep children interested in pretty much anything for more than a couple of minutes, and that includes playtime. But Straws and Connectors are the exception to the rule.

Cheap, easy, and fun (no, not me), Straws and Connectors are awesome when you’re stuck with twenty 5-year-olds on a rainy San Francisco day, praying for a break in the weather so you can boot their little hyper-hypo behinds out the door for five minutes of peace and quiet. They love this game.

It’s also a team builder. There are lots of games the kids love to fight over, like Legos and puzzles.

Kids have a tendency to get territorial over things, and it’s completely normal. I have a great deal of respect and appreciation for any toy that encourages kids to work toward a collective goal, like building the tallest building in the world or the longest train on the tracks. It’s heartwarming to see them work so hard to help each other find the right pieces. That’s too cool for school. So cool that grown-ups love them, too. They’re actually perfect for helping to think in 3D.

And if you want to go even cheaper, you can make your own set with a $1.99 package of drinking straws and some of those lil’ mini potatoes … or big, fat grapes.

Your pick.

—Kristina Reed

—Dale Dougherty

Make: 173