Gadgets, Gizmos, and Games for Geeks

Inspired by the command division’s red uniforms from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Numskull Designs has created these officially licensed ‘Trek The Halls’ ugly Christmas sweaters. Available from Just Geek for $42, the 100% knitted (not printed!)

For those of you unaware, there’s an ongoing challenge in the computing and gaming community to get Doom to run on less and less sophisticated hardware, pushing the limits of what was ever thought possible. In the near future, someone will hack an abacus to run the game.

You know what your Google Home smart device has been missing? Muscles. Mine? Mine has been missing ever being taken out of the package after I received it as a gift because I don’t like being listened to all the time.

Keeping your drink cold: it’s a necessity. Unless you’re drinking coffee or hot chocolate, then it’s the exact opposite of what I said. Besides, there’s already a coffee mug warp pipe for your hot beverage needs.

Make no bones about it, this t-rex skull tape dispenser is officially the coolest tape dispenser I’ve seen. Made and sold by Etsy shop Meow3DStore, the 3D printed dispenser is available in a variety of colors and sizes (standard is a surprisingly large 5″ x 4″ x 3.6″) and is really going to bring a touch of prehistoric times to my office, which I feel it’s been missing.

Recently, I wrote about the Thumby, a teensy Game Boy-inspired gaming system that you basically need to be Ant-Man to play. If you like the idea of a miniature Game Boy, but your thumbs aren’t small enough to play that thing, you might want to consider the ZMKC Pocket Game Console Artisan Keycap instead.

Everyone needs a faithful companion, and Perseus really lucked out in Clash of the Titans when Athena refused Zeus’s request to send the hero her own pet owl, instead offering a brass-and-iron version of Bubo she had Hephaestus construct.

Riding a motorcycle: part of the whole image is looking cool. And what’s cooler than a fuzzy Pikachu or Yoda head helmet cover? I can’t think of anything. Granted I don’t ride a motorcycle because I never learned how to ride a bicycle without training wheels, but balance is a tricky thing.

Jenga: just thinking about playing it makes me anxious. Same goes for Operation. And combining those two games comes ShiZap!, a Jenga-style game that randomly shocks players via the pair of tweezers that you use to remove and replace blocks, potentially causing a topple.

The original Super Mario Bros. changed the course of video games as we know it, and arguably the most influential game of all time. And what better way to celebrate that than with a Super Mario Bros light with stackable, interchangeable, light blocks?

Inspired by the Beskar armor worn by Boba Fett and other Mandalorians, artist Sean Viloria created this custom 1/2-scale ‘Grogu Fett’ figure decked out in bounty hunter gear, clearly ready to bring a target in warm, or cold.

Self-proclaimed (and accurate) ‘maker of weird’ Archie McPhee is introducing these Hot Dog Candy Canes just in time for the Christmas season. The red-and-white canes come in six-packs for $6.50 and “taste like sweet, meaty hot dogs.”

If it isn’t already, soon, every single product will be available with some sort of Star Wars theme. Case in point: this Stormtrooper Multi-Tool. It’s a multi-tool, but it’s white and has a stormtrooper head on the side of it, apparently making it just Star Wars-themed enough to justify selling.

Move over stick figure family car decals, because there’s a new, post-apocalyptic decal family in town thanks to these Fallout Vault-Tec Family Decals inspired by the characters of Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout Shelter. The decals, available on Amazon (affiliate link), are perfect for letting other motorists know that, in the event of a nuclear apocalypse, you’ve at least played a video game that kinda-sorta taught you how to survive.

With the phenomenal success of Netflix’s Squid Game, it was only a short matter of time until the inevitable tidal wave of merchandise hit shores. Well, now it’s here, and Funko is releasing six characters from the series in their Funko Pop!

Because nothing says Christmas 2021 like COVID, GIANTmicrobes is selling this four-pack of plush microbial COVID inspired Christmas Ornaments for $25. However, I think it goes without saying, I doubt COVID is actually on anybody’s Christmas list this year.