# Cool Nerd Toys **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 13, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298 "2006-11-13T20:57:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/1 "2006-11-13T20:57:41Z")
Help me find another cool toy/gadget/etc I usually try to buy Cool Nerd Toys (CNT) for Christmas presents for my friends. I try to make the toys around $2.00 to $15.00 depending on the friend. Here’s some of the toys I bought in the past [Airzooka](http://www.zerotoys.com/newsite/airzooka.htm) A pound of [Silly Putty](http://www.crayolastore.com/product_detail.asp?T1=CRA+08-0001-0-001&.) (I subdivided it) [Rattlesnake Eggs](http://www.sillyasstoys.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=409) [Hand Warmers](http://www.hotsnapz.com/) - mundane use but so cool to “activate” Anybody know of any other CNTs out there? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/2 "2006-11-13T21:25:45Z")
It’s been a long time for me, what exactly does Silly Putty do? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/3 "2006-11-13T21:32:05Z")
Judging by the links you’ve posted, I can’t imagine you _don’t_ know about [Think Geek](http://www.thinkgeek.com), but I’ll post this just in case. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/4 "2006-11-13T21:36:07Z")
I hope you get a lot of answers to this thread because I can always use some interesting new ideas! Last year, someone gave [this](http://www.20q.net/) to one of my kids. It was a lot more fun than we expected! We were addicted to the darn thing for a couple of days. Basically, it’s just 20 Questions, but it was really eerie how this thing could ask what seemed like totally unrelated questions and come up with whatever was in your mind. Try it; you can play it online at that site. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/5 "2006-11-13T22:47:20Z")
[QUOTE=Jake] It’s been a long time for me, what exactly does Silly Putty do? 😕 [/QUOTE] What _doesn’t_ it do! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/6 "2006-11-13T22:56:39Z")
Jeez… five pounds of silly putty? I can finally achieve my dream of being covered in nothing but silly putty. I wonder how much I would need to completely cover everything but my face? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/7 "2006-11-13T23:44:20Z")
[QUOTE=Amp] Jeez… five pounds of silly putty? I can finally achieve my dream of being covered in nothing but silly putty. I wonder how much I would need to completely cover everything but my face? [/QUOTE] It took 53 pounds to do me. How tall are you? ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/8 "2006-11-13T23:59:06Z")
Six feet even. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/9 "2006-11-14T00:12:44Z")
[QUOTE=Amp] I wonder how much I would need to completely cover everything but my face? [/QUOTE] Reminds me of an Ian Fleming novel… ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/10 "2006-11-14T00:26:20Z")
Silly Putty. You kids and your fancy-shmancy dimethicone polymers. _In my day,_ we had water and we had cornstarch- AND WE LIKED IT. ---
**Author:** ![Yeeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/96bed5/32.png) [@Yeeter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeeter)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/11 "2006-11-14T00:30:04Z")
I think the zero-fog blaster looks cool. And if I thought I could pull off owning a stuffed animal at 36 I would get the plush Cthulhu. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/12 "2006-11-14T00:42:33Z")
[The Celestial Orb](http://www.exploratoriumstore.com/celestorb.html) is a fascinating thingie. I also recommend [Parabolus](http://www.exploratoriumstore.com/parabolus.html). These are great for fiddling with while you’re waiting for someone who has you on “hold” on the phone, or other occasions when you have time on your hands and need to fidget with a widget. ---
**Author:** ![seenidog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@seenidog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seenidog)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/13 "2006-11-14T02:39:35Z")
I have found some nice stuff at [this place](http://www.x-tremegeek.com). It is mostly overpriced IMHO but sometimes I stumble across a great item there. I like the catalog better than on-line. The best thing I ever found there was one of those “will be back at” plastic clock looking things you put on your office door, you know the white background, blue face and red hands? But this one was a real clock so if you set the hands ten minutes ahead of real time you are never late! It was like nine dollars. Note of caution, if you make a syntax error in the url you end up at a sexually oriented site not suitable for office viewing. Or at home depending on your own preferences. I know Mrs. Seenidog was not amused. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/14 "2006-11-14T03:41:16Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle] Last year, someone gave [this](http://www.20q.net/) to one of my kids. It was a lot more fun than we expected! We were addicted to the darn thing for a couple of days. Basically, it’s just 20 Questions, but it was really eerie how this thing could ask what seemed like totally unrelated questions and come up with whatever was in your mind. Try it; you can play it online at that site. [/QUOTE] Cool, reminds me of Guess the Dictator or Sitcom Character: [Guess the Dictator/Sit-Com Character](http://www.smalltime.com/dictator.html) Actually it doesn’t have to be a sitcom character, think of just about _any_ obscure TV character and it will probably be able to guess it. I believe both of these are enhancements of an old 1980’s (or older?) BASIC program called ANIMAL that would try to guess an animal, and you could expand it’s database if it didn’t guess the animal. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/15 "2006-11-14T05:47:05Z")
You might be interested in gifts from [Archie McPhee.](http://www.mcphee.com/) ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/16 "2006-11-14T06:30:49Z")
Well, if one of your friends is a girl, you could get her **caution–possibly not work safe** [this](http://www.condomcountry.com.au/item/t-vib-usb-kit-10func). ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/17 "2006-11-14T06:38:37Z")
I just discovered [this one](http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/) Saturday. ---
**Author:** ![Foldup\_Rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Foldup\_Rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foldup_Rabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/18 "2006-11-14T07:20:53Z")
[This](http://www.shakespearesden.com/179.html) is not conventionally geeky, but it would be good for a pretty literary geek. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/19 "2006-11-14T13:05:03Z")
Poor **Yeeter** …old enough to know better, but still cares what others think. It’s not a doll, it’s an _action figure_. 🙂 I have a few choice TikiMugs hanging around ([http://www.amplifier-store.com/tikibartv/](http://www.amplifier-store.com/tikibartv/) look for ‘sufferin bastard’ ) ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298/20 "2006-11-14T14:18:35Z")
Thanks everybody for some great leads. - Some info on the Silly Putty since it was discussed earlier. A lot of places sell silly putty in one pound containers but are (were) at a higher cost than [crayola.com](http://crayola.com). When I bought the putty from Crayola a few years ago they were selling it at 59.95 with free shipping. If you really want to get a big ball of it Dow Corning used to sell it in 50lb bulk (3179 Dilatant Compound) for around $400 but I think that they wouldn’t sell any wholesale orders under $500 so that you would have to buy 100 lb to get some. I’ve read articles about people in offices chipping in for a “share” of the putty. It’s the cheapest way to get real silly putty. There is a cool video of some software geeks throwing a 50lb ball off of a parking garage onto a driveway at [this](http://csc2.sunbelt-software.com/putty/) site. I’m working at a new job now so I’m going to repeat some old choices for my new coworkers. Everybody here is getting a hand warmer from [hotsnapz.com](http://hotsnapz.com) this Christmas. These things are the coolest nerd gadgets so far. I work with engineers and they find these things fascinating. I’ll bump this and let you know what I’m buying for my old gang. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-nerd-toys/380298.md?page=2)