Tim says 'chin chin' in this festive offering that explores some of the unusual bottles and drink related items in his collection. One bottle - water as it happens - comes in a pale blue/green packaging, that is known as Eau de Nil. Could this be the fabled Water from the Nile?
Dragons... Tim has quite a few in his collection. Toy dragons that is.
A very elegant pop up card - beautiful paper engineering!
The calendar comes flat in a sturdy box. Each end has a magnet that, when swiveled around with clip together to reveal pop up buildings, statues and monuments from around the globe. The perfect center piece to spark conversation and reminisce about past adventures or help put a bucket list together.
As well as his main cases full of toys, Tim has a number of cases of toys which are maybe seconds or which for one reason or other he doesn't look at all that often. So he decided to delve into some of these cases and explore some of the dusty corners of his amazing collection.
Tim is just back from the annual Nuremberg Toy Fair, which he visits every February. This is where the big toy companies show all their new toys and ideas for the forthcoming year. Many of the toys will not be available for a while yet, but some toys can be bought at the fair, and in this video Tim demonstrates some of the brand new items he managed to acquire.
Spinning tops are very familiar toys. But these tops are unusual - they don't spin around a central axis. Instead they rotate around 2 axes, and can often show quite unusual behaviour.
Here are some puzzles from Tim's collection that he loves sharing with other people. He has not solved them all, but they all have a bit of a wow factor.
The makers say that it is literally impossible to be unhappy whilst wearing one of these Happy Hats!
The Fling Stick is a paper wand that when you 'fling' it, extends up to 48 inches. It also features 12 different sound effects for added fun!
Every February, Tim heads for the New York Toy Fair to see what new ideas are on display. Quite a few of the toys won't be available commercially for months yet - many of them won't appear in the shops until the autumn. But there are normally some samples that Tim can buy, and while he is in New York he also pops into some of his favourite shops, and he always comes back to the UK with an interesting collection of new items to demonstrate.
Here is a little item that Tim picked up on his recent trip to New York. Made by 3D printing, it is in the shape of... well, it is kind of like... umm.. well if you look at it from this angle...
Tim's amazing toy collection ranges far and wide, and today he explores toys that have a nose theme...
Tim loves topological toys, and this video showcases some of the best examples from his collection.
Tim digs through his collection and picks out a few more nose toys...!
The humble cork. But for Tim... endless possibilities! From simple bar tricks, to unusual craft toys, cork sharpeners and corks that are not corks, Tim has them all!!
While Tim does have some very old toys in his collection, some over 40 years old, he is still collecting new toys, and here is a brand new toy he has just acquired that has not hit the mass market yet. You may recall that Victorian toy called a Zeotrope, where a series of still images becomes animated when viewed through thin slits in a revolving drum? Well the Novatrope is kind of an updated version of the same principle. Basically a 3D sculpture is rotated above a series of strobing LED lights, to create an optical illusion of impossible motion. Each sculpture is based on the spirals that you find in flowers and sea shells (think Fibonacci Sequence). The LED lights illuminate the sculpture from below in various colours, and by changing the speed of the strobe action, different motions can be created, where the structure appears to endlessly cascade. There are virtually limitless combinations of colour and motion, and Tim is planning to experiment (well, play really!)
These are all some of Tim's favourite things from Gathering for Gardner, G4G, https://www.gathering4gardner.org/, an amazing get together that happens every 2 years in Atlanta, Georgia. It started as a way of paying tribute to Martin Gardner, who wrote a very popular column about recreational mathematics for Scientific American for over 30 years! He attended some of the earlier events, although he is sadly no longer alive. The mission statement says 'The Gathering 4 Gardner (G4G) Foundation stimulates curiosity and the playful exchange of ideas and critical thinking in recreational math, magic, science, literature, and puzzles to preserve the legacy of writer and polymath Martin Gardner.' Part of the event, which runs over a number of days, is the puzzle exchange; you have to take an original item with you - but there have to be 300 copies that you can hand out! Other people bring their item and hand it out, so you take out 300 identical items (your exchange) and come back with maybe 100 different physical items, and then later on when the book of the event comes out, you will be able to see the contribution of people who wrote an article as their contribution. This video shows some of Tim's favourite things that he has received over many years of attending G4G. He is very much looking forward to G4G14, which is in the Spring of 2020.
Every year, Tim picks out a range of small toys and puzzling items that go to make up his Christmas Pack. He has been doing this for 20 years now, and he makes a point of never including an item that has been in an earlier pack. Tim really enjoys putting the Christmas pack together (see the COMMUNITY tab on our YouTube home page!) and he normally makes about 200 packs which are sold via the Grand Illusions Toy Shop. By now this year's pack is almost sold out, and we post the video here more to entertain you with the curious items Tim has found over the year.