Asia's toothpick crossbow fad is even worse than our fidget spinner fad

Andrea James 7:30 am Thu Jun 22, 2017

We survived bottle flipping and fidget spinners, but will the next big fad be dangerous modded toothpick crossbows that shoot nails more than half the length of a football field?

Via The Guardian:

Selling online and in shops for as little as seven yuan ($1), so-called toothpick crossbows were originally designed to shoot out just that – toothpicks.

But if swapped out for needles they are potent enough to crack glass, said the Shanghai Daily newspaper, quoting shop owners as saying they were selling out of the gadgets fast.

These have been around since I was in grade school, though the weapon of choice was rubber band propelled paper clips, mainly due to availability and ease of use. A friend had one that shot Q-Tips, but was easily modded for harder projectiles.

Here's a HOWTO for making one from three pens:

• Mini Toothpick Crossbow + Steel Bolt (YouTube / Y Nakajima)

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