Fidget toys are the latest thing everyone wants. The Fidget Cube and its knock-offs took the world by storm, and the spinners weren’t far behind. I had tried some fidget spinners before, and was a bit underwhelmed by them, but I’m a complete convert now that I’ve tried out the Revo “Exotic” Fidget Spinners.
My fidget toy of choice used to be a pen. For something like 30 years, I’ve been twirling and flipping a pen in my right hand to keep myself focused. It can be hard to teach a middle-aged human new tricks, but a few days of playing with the Revo spinners had me hooked. They’re just satisfying; they feel good as I give them a start and hold them in my hand, turning them slightly so I can feel the centrifugal force generated by the spin. I couldn’t tell you exactly why I like them, but then I couldn’t really tell you why I like pen-twirling, either.
The spinners offer one huge benefit over pen-twirling, at least for me: I can use them in either hand; with pen-twirling, my (dominant) right hand is the only choice. This doesn’t mean I’m not going to twirl pens any more, but it’s really nice to have something I can do at the same time as using a mouse.
The Revo “Exotic” Fidget Spinners Kickstarter campaign has just under two weeks left to go, and it’s about 80% funded. There are four different kinds: regular (which just spins and looks cool); color-changing; glow-in-the-dark; and carbon fiber. I’ve tried out the gray color-changing and the glow-in-the-dark ones, and now I wouldn’t go to work without one in my bag. They both spin for about a good minute if given a good start and not interfered with. You can also get keychain clips for the spinners to make it even easier to carry them around.
The Kickstarter backer tiers (that get you a spinner) start at $25 (Canadian; about $19 USD), which is a lot cheaper than many I’ve seen online. (The Revo folks are also trying to set a new world record for largest spinner, and you can contribute to that effort as well.) I should add that my teenage kids love the spinners, too, and my son (who has ADHD and fidgets a lot) glommed onto them to the point where I backed the Kickstarter to get one for him. The campaign will end on April 17, so don’t wait too long.
Note: I received review samples of the Revo spinners. All opinions expressed here are my own.
Images: Revo.
You should more properly state that the fidget cube was in fact a direct copy and disingenuous knock-off of our previously invented (and failed KS campaign 2014) Squidget. We filed our patent two years before they even thought about copying our original invention.
It gets so tiring to have all bloggers not bother to do their homework and due diligence before writing things that are not factually correct. I would hope you would have the integrity to publicly correct your own error. Thank you Jerry Snee, Jr. ‘Chief Squidgeter’.
Jerome: Thanks for your comment. We were not aware of the Squidget KS campaign, so we had no reason to suspect that the Fidget Cube wasn’t as original as described. Now that you’ve pointed it out to us, we will look into it further and if all is as you claim, we will publish an article specifically about the situation.
If you could, would you please either reply to this comment or email me (matt at geekdad dot com) with the details of the patent (number, images, etc.)? It would really help to have the official documents to prove the veracity of your claim.
-Matt Blum
Thank you for having the honor and integrity to respond. You are a good man. I will send you a copy of the actual patent application and you can search KS for our earlier campaign. I will also send you the link to an interview the copycats did with AdWeek at the height of their success in which they clearly state where they found the idea and what little they did to copy it. They are very good at KS, and my suspicion is KS was behind them from the start for obvious monetary reasons. They are not honest ,ethical or in fact very inventive.
Gratefully,
Jerry Snee, Jr.
jerry@squidgetinc.com
774-239-4151
Awesome article on the Revo “Exotic” Fidget Spinners. I got in on the Kickstart campaign and can’t wait to get my spinner!
Thanks. Great article you wrote.
Fidget Toys are probably one of my favourite things at the moment, I have a few different things on my desk at work to keep my idle hands busy and to stop fiddling with pens or whatever else I can get my hands on. They are also claimed to be good to help with anxiety, autism and ADHD.
I like cubes rather than spinners!