Whole New Ball of Wax

I'm always on the look out for new toys, especially if they are creative as well as interesting looking. This is a new one that's only been out for a few weeks called Ball of Whacks. The Creative Whack Company is a joint partnership of Roger von Oech and Stuart Kaplan. Von Oech is an internationally-known creativity consultant who has worked with many companies around the world and is the author of the best-selling creativity classic, "A Whack on the Side of the Head", a textbook on the creative process from the 80s. Kaplan is the boss of the US Toy Company.

The Ball of Whacks comes with a 96-page creativity guidebook  with tips, stories, exercises, and insights into the creative process. Each individual piece of the Ball of Whacks is a "golden ratio" rhombic pyramid. Held in place by 180 rare earth magnets, these design blocks fit together to form a perfect 30-sided rhombic triacontahedron — geometry's most beautiful shape.

The toy was designed as an aid for creative brainstorming, strategies for problem solving, insights into the creative process, and challenges to construct shapes and mosaics and invent new ones. Its also supposed to be a good stress reliever for active individuals working under pressure. 

Burn brightly, Pete