From Grand Illusions.

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The ‘thumb twiddler’ – is actually a thing. Who knew?

The toys in this video are from a 1993 case, the second year Tim went to the New York Toy Fair.

A strange toy that has batteries, but no obvious way to make it work. You can tap it, and sometimes it responds, sometimes not. Maybe it responds to sounds?

A clever way to secure a mortice lock. It is called a ‘keyhole lock’. You slide it into the keyhole, and it becomes locked in place. This means that no one can get access to the lock in order to pick it. There is then a special key that allows you to remove the keyhole lock. Clever stuff!

A super bouncy ball, inside a soft foam cube.

A very strange personal protector. A small glass capsule, which you can wear almost as a piece of jewellery. If you are threatened or attacked, you hit the capsule, which breaks and releases a terrible smell – skunk apparently. Tim has not actually tested it himself, but it is certainly a novel idea.

An item that initially looks like a bank note, but is actually an item with various other functions. A small notebook, and also a working solar powered calculator.

Finally an unusual spinning top. This top has a pen instead of the normal point, so when it spins it draws a pattern. Sometimes called a ‘Doodle Top’.