Thinking back to my childhood, I have to say that toys weren't a problem for me. I always had enough not to complain (of course I was quite young, so I did complain). But after getting my first PC, I gradually began to leave behind most of those toys. After about 2 years of noobish gaming, I got my second PC, which was a 500MHz Pentium III. It was a big deal at that time, and computer components began having more appeal to me.

Funny thing happened to me quite recently. I suddenly began having an appetite for toys again. But not those cheap plastic Spiderman-like figurines, or those race car sets. I'm talking about high-quality, mind stimulating toys. Geomag arrived kind of late in my part of the world and I remember seeing some cheap replicas a couple of years ago. Anyway, after my second salary, I went online and ordered myself 3 Geomag boxes.

These little magnets and steel balls provide for an incredible creative activity. When the currier delivered my Geomags, it immediately turned another colleague into a geomag addict. I went ahead and poisoned one of my college buddies with the idea as well. A couple of days ago, I even got my girlfriend impressed by the geomag.

It's amazing what you can do with those two elements (magnetic rods and spheres). Plus, every set is an extremely high quality product. I have never seen any defective rods or any signs that I've received a defective product. I began building tetrahedrons, cubes, spheres and other geometric shapes I could think of. The fun part is that, after starting to dismantle a shape, half way through you start getting another idea, so you can actually build shapes for hours in a row. Trust me when I tell how fun it is when your imagination kicks in.

The only real, nasty, horrible and stressful problem with geomag is that you can never have enough magnetic rods. The first time I experienced geomag was when I've bought a friend a small sample of 42 pieces (that's something like 28 rods and 14 balls, I think). Trust me, you won't get nothing done with such a small set. If you really want a set that you can actually build something with, you need to get a least an 184-piece set. Right now, I have a 142-Glow set and a 184 Metal set (and I plan on buying another 184 sets after the holidays). The geomag sets come with different themes: Glow glows in the dark (after exposing it to light for some time), Metal has a metallic look (it comes in blue marine or silver), you can also get bright yellow sets, glitter covered rodes and a lot of other choices.

What I discovered about the “you can never have enough magnetic rods” problem, is that you can save up a lot of rods by using Geomag panels. These are high quality plastic panels built by the Geomag creators and which attach tot the rods. For example, let's say that you build a pentagon. In order to have a somewhat solid structure, you need to use another 5 rods (in addition to the five forming the pentagon) in order to link each corner of the pentagon to a center sphere. But by using a pentagon-shaped plastic panel, you don't need to use the 5 extra rods. The panel simply fills the gap inside the pentagon and fixes the outside rods. The panels come in triangle, square, diamond and pentagon shapes. Each of them come in various colors (depending on what type of panel set you purchase) and provide a good alternative to conserve rods.

There are also the popular Decko panels. These come with a special software from Geomag and allow you to take an image, convert it to the shape of the panels, print it and cut it into panel-like shapes. After that, you can fix the tiny images within the panels and create objects themed with your favorite pictures. You can also purchase glowing panels.

Another geomag problem is that these things are expensive. High quality and innovation do come at a high price. You can purchase an 184 piece set for like $80, and that's just to get you started with some cool stuff. If you want to get serious about it, you'll need to purchase a second 184-piece set. Or if you are filthy rich, you can go for one of the collection sets, which come in a nice collection wooden box. These collector's edition come with 350 or more pieces. The grand set comes with 1500 pieces and trust me, you don't wanna know how much it costs.

Now, as I said at the beginning, “...I suddenly began having an appetite for toys...”. So, that's toys (plural). I can blame my workplace for this, since, one day, a colleague came over with his Powerball. If you don't know what a Powerball is, just take a look at this little review over here. Somehow, my girlfriend remembered me mentioning the Powerball and bought me one for Christmas. Anyway, although it's not really something that is meant to be fun, it is. Don't ask me how, but I just feel like starting the thing and powering it up until my hand can't take it anymore. Of course, Google-ing it around a bit you will also find out that it has a lot of therapeutic purposes. Macho men can always work their biceps and triceps in order to impress girls (trust me, just go to the gym for that).

Inside a Powerball, there's a very precise gyroscope. This allows the ball to pick up speed while you're gently spinning it from the wrist. This is critical in order to easily get the ball started. Begin with a slow ample movement (this will feel difficult, especially if you're doing it with your left hand), and while the gyro's spinning faster, gradually reduce the radius of the spin and at the same time increase the hand's speed. It takes a few tries to get used to it, but eventually, after a few days, you'll get the hang of it.

I advise you to take it easy and don't push the Powerball to much. Remember, it is CRITICAL NOT TO DROP your Powerball. Dropping it will damage it. It will still probably work, but starting it will be much more difficult and it will also make a nasty sound. Of course, dropping it will also cut its lifespan.

Some Powerballs even come with a small display used to indicate the RPMs of the gyroscope. And if that isn't cool, just look at how impressive the LED effect is when spinning the ball at high speeds. The Powerball is a very interesting toy (well, at least for adults and teenagers) and you'll have a hard time finding something as original as this particular gadget.

I guess that what I'm trying to prove here is that a new category of toys is now available. Toys meant for adults or teenagers, the kind of toys which are fun, but serious at the same time, toys that not only stimulate the mind of the young (geomags are rated for 6+ up to 90 years old I think), but they also provide stress relieving activities for those that shouldn't “play” with toys anymore. So just give your PlayStation a break and see how fun these simple toys can be.