Sides of a fidget cube, ranked
*click click click click*
Fidget spinners may be the weird fad of the summer, but they're simple.
Put between two fingers. Spin. Be amused.
But multi-use fidget cubes exist on a higher plane of distraction. All six sides aren't created equal -- far from it, in fact. Here's the definitive ranking of the six sides of a fidget cube judged by a perpetually anxious fidgeter.
6. Worry stone
The Worry Stone comes in dead last because it lacks a physical motion like the rest of the sides of the cube. It's just a smooth side with an indentation in the shape of a thumbprint. The texture is nice. But there's nothing else to it. Sad!
This side is the most subtle with nothing more that a divot to help mimic the stress-free form of a worry stone.
5. Joystick
If you've anxiously rocked a controller joystick in your hand, you know what this side is about. My version of the fidget cube has a smooth glide and a silent click, which keeps my coworkers from getting annoyed with me. I think. Ultimately, the cube itself is too small to hold in your hand to use comfortably.
The joystick rolled effortlessly under my thumb.
4. Dial
The dial is a nice, but it suffers from a lot of the same issues as the joystick. The cube is too small to spin comfortably, and the resistance on my cube's dial is too high, requiring too much effort to use regularly.
3. Switch
If you were the kid who'd flick a switch up and down just to hear and feel it click, this side is for you! I like this side of the cube *so much* I broke it.
2. Pen click
The pen click has five dots, three of which have the sound and feel like a cross between a ballpoint pen and bubble wrap. Clicking these three buttons in a row is easily one of the cube's best features. But, the two silent buttons are a bummer, they might as well not even be there. If all five buttons clicked, there'd be no competition about which side was the best.
Three buttons which click audibly, and two which are silent.
1. The roller
The roller is two gadgets that combine to form the Voltron of stress relief. The first is a metal ball that rolls silently below the second widget -- a set of three gears that make a ratcheting sound when moved. Rolling up from the ball to the gears creates a sensation that's just short of Xanax.
