Stupidest Toy Ever? (...just in time for your Christmas Shopping!)

This is a Bob-A-Loop.

Evidently they were a thing in the past, But I never saw one until this one arrived at my house in a box of odds and ends from an auction.  I want to nominate it, here and now, for the honorary title of Stupidest Toy Ever.

So, what you have here basically is a heavy little solid wood barrel, with a cord attaching it to a pointy stick.   There is a little hole in the barrel, on the side opposite the cord.

Now, the plan is that you grasp the pointy stick in your hot little kid hand, and you swing that barrel up and catch it on the point.   Really.  I looked it up on google.  There were videos of old ads touting it as a great activity for the whole family, and it showed Bob-a-Loops being caught on their pointy sticks by kids, moms, Dads - well, even grandma could do it.

But I'm saying there is a reason I never saw one until now.

What I envision is this.   Imagine your suburban home, a couple kids, a dog,   Junior gets the Bob-A-Loop out of his stocking and turns it over in his hands.  What is this for?  Susie toddles over to see this shiny red item.  Junior starts swinging the barrel and hits the dog as he runs past.  The dog runs away and cringes in a corner, physically and psychologically wounded after being slapped by a swinging chunk of wood,  Junior drops the toy on the floor and goes to comfort Fido.  Aww poor boy, I'm sorry.....

Little Susie picks up the Bob-A-Loop handle and the weight of the barrel unbalances her little toddler steps, and she sits down hard on her diaper and scratches her cheek with the pointy end....  All this within a minute of taking it out of the stocking!

Seriously, this toy is amazing in it's awkward weirdness.  What were the designers thinking when they put it together?  That this heavy lump of wood would provide incentive to learn the trick faster?  Because each time you miss the pointy stick on a swing, the Bob-a-Loop barrel is going to rap your knuckles just like the Nuns used to do to get you to stop doing something.

Negative reinforcement.

Anyway, this is my nomination.  I want to know if someone can top it.