In 1943, while working on instrumentation for WWII ships, engineer Richard James knocked a torsion spring off a shelf. According to lore, it stepped — um, slinked — from shelf to books to table to floor, where it stacked itself back up and awaited further instruction. One patent, a 400-unit debut in a Philadelphia department store, and 300 million toys later, we still can't take our hands off the awesomely simple, mesmerizing little benders. The first Slinky, which had a blue-black sheen, was made of 63 feet of carbon-steel wire and had an unfortunate tendency to rust. Enter the silver galvanized-steel model you probably grew up with, followed by sissified downgrades like cute dog Slinkys, decadent gold-plated Slinkys, and Neon Plastic Slinkys. But coil connoisseurs will insist on the Collector's Edition, an exact replica of the original stair-stepper, down to the kraft-paper box and gunmetal color (minus the propensity toward oxidation). Enjoy alone or in pairs.
$8, poof-slinky.com
