Okay, let's get this out of the way: PopSockets kind of screwed the pooch with their marketing for PopPucks, because this is *not* a fidget toy. Yes, it can fulfill similar needs, but only after you've practiced with it for hours. This is not a fidget toy like most others that you'll find, where you can just pick it up and relax while manipulating it. This is a dexterity toy (which, thanks to the strength of the magnets and their lozenge-shaped gulpability, is probably only appropriate for teenagers and up). If you are the type of person who will happily sit there for hours flicking playing cards into a hat simply because you want to be able to do it well, you'll probably love PopPucks. If you're looking for your next fidget spinner...maybe not so much. That said, I personally have loved playing with PopPucks so far, because I *am* the type of person who will devote hours of time to getting decent at a stupidly specific physical activity, and enjoy doing so. The good stuff: * Overall design and build quality is very nice. The base fits perfectly into my hand, it feels solid (without being too heavy), and the magnets are nice and strong without being so strong that you can't manipulate the pieces. * The pucks are lovely. Really vibrant colors, and a nice size; not too small, not too large. (I got the "Day Trip" variant; will probably pick up an expansion pack in case I lose a puck, but honestly I don't find the illustrations very appealing. YMMV.) * The clicking noises it makes are wonderful. But then again, I'm the type of person who uses a mechanical keyboard because I love the click. The people around you may not appreciate it to quite the same extent. * The primary action you'll be repeatedly performing (the "magflip") has a pretty satisfying level of difficulty. I've only been playing with it for a couple days at this point, and am getting pretty consistent swaps without losing a puck (that is, a proto-magflip; pressing down on the top magnet and getting the two to swap positions, albeit not usually with a "flip"). I anticipate I'll be able to do small flips pretty much on demand with maybe a week of on-and-off practice. And the downsides (aside from the off-target marketing): * Particularly when you're learning, you'll drop a lot of pucks (or maybe it's more accurate to say you'll "launch" a lot of pucks, because the trouble is using too much force, not too little). Fortunately, you just need to swipe the thing close to the puck and it will snap back into place, so it's not hard to pick them up. But they tend to land bottom-side up, and since it's matte black that can make it difficult to find them. This is the main reason I don't classify this as a fidget toy: you can't take this out of your pocket and play with it wherever you want, because you'll lose all your pucks faster than you can say "MagFlip". * These magnets are *strong*. That makes for a very satisfying toy, but it also means that you can't stick this in your pocket with your credit card unless you don't mind never using your credit card again. PopPucks are for home; not so well-suited to travel. * There are not "hundreds of tricks". Go watch the videos of "tricks" that PopSockets has published; they've got 5 MagFlip variants, and...flicking a puck at the base like a soccer goal? Which is not a trick, and certainly defeats the purpose of a one-handed dexterity toy. Sure, there's fun stuff you can do (I really want to figure out a way to flip the puck around onto the base where it will hang onto the other side of my finger), but you need to realize you're buying this to do MagFlips, not because it will make you popular at parties. * Random "booster packs" don't fit well with this toy. I can't imagine wanting more than 1-2 extra pucks and would much rather pick the ones that I like. It's particularly bizarre given that you can buy the base toy and choose which color and pucks you want out of the gate. Lastly, based on my experience with PopPucks over the last couple days, one of the things that can make it a little easier to start feeling good about yourself is to start with a single puck. You can do the exact same action as a MagFlip (pressing down on the near edge of the puck while pushing it up against the top lip of the base), and it will cause the puck to either flick upwards on top of your thumb, or do a flip onto the top of your thumb. The trick is not pressing too hard, because if you do you'll launch it (just like for a magflip). However, the benefit is you have more control with a single puck, so you can get a feel for the amount of force that's necessary. Another thing that has helped me is to press with the ball of my thumb when working with stacked pucks (instead of the tip). I'm not certain why this has improved my control, but it gives me a noticeable improvement as I'm still learning the amount of force and angles that work best (it also lets me chain mini-flips together, which is probably the most satisfying, fidgety activity I've found with PopPucks so far); and you'll note in all of PopSocket's videos they are using the ball of their thumb, probably for this exact reason. Lastly, if I wrap my index finger around the top edge of the toy (or cup my other hand around there) that decreases the number of times the puck goes flying off into the room (drastically decreases it when cupping my other hand around the end), probably because it gives an additional little level of buffer and redirects the puck backwards instead of letting it rocket off the top. Finally, some general advice: use a lot less force than you think you need. It doesn't take much to send the puck flying, so your early goal is to get a feel for the bottom end. You can always scale the force up for fancier flips once you've got the basic puck-swap and single flips in your fingers. Good luck!
