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I'm A Sucker For Crazy Inventions That Made Their Creators Squillions

Now I just need to invent one myself.
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Crazy straws aren't as fun as they look, yet millions are sold around the world.
LUC PAURUS via Getty Images
Crazy straws aren't as fun as they look, yet millions are sold around the world.

I know I just need one idea and I'm away. I'm not destined to be chained to a desk for my whole life, I'm going to be an inventor and, hey, if someone can make squillions creating face masks out of left-over coffee, how hard can it be?

After many hours of research (okay, probably 15 minutes) I realised my ideas are too practical. Alcohol delivery? How simple, how fruitful, how already done.

A light in my handbag at night time. Perfect! Also done.

The ability to call my keys when I can't find them... hmm... probably shouldn't sideline that one just yet.

Then I thought back to the tiny 1D image egg, the Tamagotchi. It is the prime example of all the ideas that took off even though they really served no purpose to the world. Their trendiness grew from their simplicity (and stupidity). My future fellow inventor role models are the billionaire inventors of the below:

The tech deck

Now, let's get this straight, a tech deck (also known as a fingerboard) is a skateboard -- for your fingers. I can almost understand this concept. What I can't fathom is how a product that was initially designed to be a key ring was able to be relaunched in Hong Kong as a competitive sport.

Yes, you read right, a competitive sport. Which is not surprising considering tech deck annual sales were estimated at $120 million in one year alone.

A finger bike maybe? Is that the answer for me?

The yo-yo

We all had one of these. I had a glittery purple Mad Moose that I could do 'around the world' (aka hit whoever was standing behind me in the face) with. Let's think about the concept of a yo-yo. It is a plastic cylinder on a string that bounces back up when you release it.

It was thought to be conceived in 500 B.C, yet every generation some genius decides to reinvent the yo-yo wheel and bring it back. How? By changing the colour or image on it. All hail those who work smarter not harder.

So simple. So effective. Just don't confuse it for a macaroon and bite into it.
AnthonyRosenberg
So simple. So effective. Just don't confuse it for a macaroon and bite into it.

That fish thing that sits on your wall and sings

I first saw Big Mouth Billy Bass on The Footy Show many years ago and just knew I had to have one. Soon almost every home in suburban Australia had the singing/talking fish on their wall. Big Mouth Billy Bass has appeared on television shows such as the Sopranos and has reportedly been owned by the Queen.

This singing plastic fish sold millions of times over across multiple countries in its first year of conception. The best part of the Big Mouth Billy Bass story is the creator of it, who got the idea after seeing a logo above a fishing shop of what looked like a fish singing and then his wife telling him to do it.

The slinky

The inventor of the slinky literally fell in to luck. Richard James knocked over a spring in his work place and watched, mesmerised as it bounced down the stairs. The only difference between the day after James stumbled in to the slinky and two years after he started selling springs (technically an invention that was already created) (slinky meet yo-yo) was the modern-day equivalent of $1 billion dollars in his pocket.

A crazy straw

Crazy straws aren't as fun as they look. Users cheeks strain trying to suck up the liquid and the tiny sips they manage to get are always full of air bubbles. Despite this, millions of crazy straws sell globally each year.

A hula hoop

For the novice, the trademarked 'hula hoop' is a cheap plastic ring that a consumer (attempts to) twirl around their waist, or neck. They are a popular apparatus in sports such as rhythmic gymnastics or dog competitions.

Considering the creators of Hula Hoop sold 25 million hula hoops in the first 4 months in 1958, there must have been an epidemic of dogs and extremely bendy women that has never been historically reported on.

It's hip to have a hula hoop
Paul Bradbury
It's hip to have a hula hoop

Crocs

Crocs is the one word to summarise a stupid invention that equally sold and made millions.

Just, how?

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