When I was young, I remember my parents and other adults being pretty mystified by the various toy crazes that I got into (Pogs, Tamagotchis, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures, to name but a few). Well, now the shoe’s on the other foot and I guess I’m officially old, because I really don’t get the fidget spinner fad that today’s kids are going nuts for. Curious as to what the big deal is, I recently downloaded one of the many fidget spinner apps available on the App Store: Yoshiaki Tanaka’s Fidget Spinner Collection (out now, free).
Unlike some of its competitors which are basically just digital toys, Fidget Spinner Collection is more of a full-fledged game. In it, you start off with one fidget spinner and your goal — as the name implies — is to unlock the full collection. The game features 20 spinners to collect and upgrade, plus three gameplay modes to master: Timed Spin, a race against the clock to see how many times you can spin your spinner in 15 seconds; Free Spin, a trick-based mode without a time limit; and Bricks Breaking, an arcade-y mini-game that tasks you with using a spinner to smash through as many brick walls as possible for a high-score.
Everyone who plays Fidget Spinner Collection will likely settle on a favorite mode (I personally like Bricks Breaking the best). However, if you’re serious about progressing through the game and unlocking new spinners, you’ll need to pay equal attention to all three. This is because most spinners don’t become available until you’ve completed mode-specific achievements, such as racking up a set number of spins or smashing a certain amount of bricks. Annoyingly, there are one or two special spinners that can only be unlocked with gems (Fidget Spinner Collection’s premium in-game currency), so it’s unlikely you’ll ever own the complete set unless you make IAPs.
Overall though, I’m pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Fidget Spinner Collection, especially since I knew little to nothing about the big craze around these toys before giving it a whirl. It’s not a game that everyone will get into, or that anyone is going to play for hours on end, but it is a pretty compelling time killer.
Verdict
Fidget Spinner Collection is a decent little time killer that revolves around collecting, upgrading and playing with fidget spinners. Much like the toys that inspired it, it’s a game that some will instantly write off as tedious and pointless, but that others will find hypnotically fun.
