Ball of Whacks

by Creative Whack

Product Features

• The Ball of Whacks is the perfect creativity tool for innovators, artists, engineers, writers, students, educators and you!
• The Ball of Whacks is a creative stimulant and a mental freshener!
• The Ball of Whacks consists of 30 magnetic design blocks that can be rearranged into many, many shapes
• The Ball of Whacks comes with a 96-page illustrated creativity guidebook that provides you with tips, stories, exercises, strategies, and insights into the creative process.
• Each individual piece of the Ball of Whacks is a "golden ratio" rhombic pyramid.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 3.6 x 3.6 inches ; 10.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: 0911121013
• Item model number: BOW30
• Our recommended age: 8 - 12 years
• Manufacturer recommended age: 14 years and up
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,860 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
  • #5 in Toys & Games > Puzzles > 3-D Puzzles
  • #34 in Toys & Games > Puzzles > Brain Teasers
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)

Product Description

30 magnetic pyramid shaped pieces that act as building blocks! Includes a fun activity guidebook! -- Are you stumped for ideas? Do you want a fresh perspective on a problem? -- This ball of magnetic pieces is proven to jump start your creativity and imagination. Based on the rhombic triacontahedron, this ball consists of 30 magnetic pyramid shaped pieces that act as building blocks for an unlimited number of uses. -- You can create inspiring shapes, challenge yourself to recreate patterns shown in the activity book, have fun forming new designs, and much more! -- Recommended ages 8+

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Geometric Hand Candy, October 18, 2006

By 

Karl E. Boggs "karleb" (Hopewell Junction, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ball of Whacks (Toy)

I received my Ball of Whacks about a week ago and have trouble putting it (ok, them) down. Interacting and playing with it is extremely addictive and I have hooked my boss and another coworker by giving them each one.

When I was younger I made crystal models out of marbles and geodesic domes out of cardboard and remember the excitement of uncovering different relationships between the shapes. The Ball of Whacks is bringing back that feeling of exploration and discovery and has quite a few patterns built into those 30 pieces. I forgot how much fun I had doing those explorations as a kid and can't figure out why I ever stopped. The Ball of Whacks includes the symmetries of all five platonic solids if you play with it long enough.

I would suggest getting a couple of them - at least one for your desk and one for playing at home. You may need extras to share with family and colleagues and they are fun to combine into larger constructions as well.

In creative problem solving sessions with coworkers I like to bring in various toys both to stimulate their playfulness and to change their environment a bit. I am looking forward to trying out the BoWs in my next session although I am a bit worried that I might not get them back readily.

Awesomely fun and gets the brain juices flowing too!!!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for your coffee table, May 7, 2007

By 

Bert Poly "polygrfx" (Apex, NC USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ball of Whacks (Toy)

When I was a kid my family always had a game or puzzle on the coffee table to twiddle with when watching TV. Even though in this TiVo world we watch commercials less, the Ball of Whacks still gets picked up and played with while the TV is on.

This is a timeless toy that can be split and combined in a zillion ways. Not quite the rubik's cube of the 00's, but fun for kids and adults.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as expected, April 4, 2007

By 

K. Nieberding (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ball of Whacks (Toy)

I was excited to get this based on the reviews, but I found the toy more inhibitive than expected. The odd shape of the blocks combined with the limited amount only allow a couple different arrangements, all tending more or less toward a ball-like design. Things like the "frog" in the picture are about the most you can spread it out, but it will be too fragile to touch at that point. I felt like this could have been cool, but the pieces just aren't as flexible as I would like (such as Legos). This was not worth the money to me.