Toys I Want

Those Japanese people… they really know how to make stuff. Today’s math-art is the flip-flop ball. I found it on Akira Nishihara’s supercool Geometric Toys website.
It is a polyhedral ball with two stable states (meaning it will rest as either a dodecahedron or icosahedron). This toy is really cool. You toss it up in the air, and it opens into a different polyhedra. That’s what you’re seeing. When it falls down again, it collapses into one of the two stable states.

Sounds awesome? You bet. Where can you find it? I have no idea. I don’t read Japanese, and the English version of the site is very unhelpful about acquiring some of the mathematically awesome toys.

I don’t have to explain much about dodecahedrons or icosahedrons or polyhedra for that matter, since they are quite often featured on this blog. You could check the older posts out if you want.

Oh, guys, if you happen to go to Akira’s site, do also check out Yoshimoto’s Cube and the Torus Magic toy. Also, if you do find out where to buy such a toy, please tell me… these sort of things are too awesome to let up.