A Pop-It (also known as Go Pop and Last One Lost) is a

fidget toy file:Fidget spinner red, cropped.jpg, A fidget spinner A fidget toy or fidget is typically a small object used for pleasant activity with the hands (manual fidgeting or stimming). Some users believe these toys help them tolerate anxiety, frustra ...

consisting of a usually-brightly colored silicone tray with poppable bubbles, similar to

bubble wrap Bubble wrap is a pliable transparency (optics), transparent plastic material commonly used for protecting fragile items during shipping. Known for its cushioning air-filled bubbles, it has also become a cultural icon, celebrated for its satisfy ...

, that can be flipped and re-used. They come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes, and even come in wearable formats. It is marketed as a stress-reliever and rose in popularity in the spring of 2021 due to

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

influencers as well as boredom and stress attributed to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Origin

The mechanical design of the Pop-It bubble popper was originally invented in 1975 by Theo and Ora Coster of Theora Concepts: a married Israeli couple who had invented many games including ''

Guess Who? ''Guess Who?'' is a two-player board game in which players each guess the identity of the other's chosen character. The game was developed by Israeli game inventors Ora and Theo Coster, the founders of Theora Design. It was first released in ...

'' and ''Zingo!''Cramer, Philissa (September 13, 2021)
"Anne Frank’s Israeli classmate behind popular breast-inspired fidget toy"
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The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...

'' Retrieved September 15, 2021 According to the BBC, inspiration for its design came from a dream Ora Coster had when her sister, an artist, passed away from breast cancer. She is quoted as saying "...imagine a large field of breasts, that you can push the nipple' ..She went to him and said do a carpet of nipples that you can press from one side to the other. And he did just that.” At first, there were no buyers to manufacture the toy because its rubber construction made mass production expensive. In 2009, it was acquired by

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

-based company FoxMindGames. Many iterations of the prototype were made, and the product material was ultimately changed by them to silicone. It was introduced as a logic game for the first time by Darren Watkins in 2014 during the Nuremberg Toy Fair, followed by the New York Toy Fair. The company marketed the product as a logic game that is quick and fun to play and fidget with. It gained popularity initially with toys and games specialty stores and special education specialists. In 2019, FoxMind partnered with Buffalo Games, LLC to introduce the toy/game under Speedy Pop It! trademarked brand in all

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

stores in the US under the name "Pop It!". The toy's success is attributed to a 2020 TikTok video of a monkey named Gaitlyn in which the monkey played with a ''Go Pop''. Many spin-offs of the toy were made, creating a massive hike in silicone raw material prices in China.

References

{{Toy-stub 2020s fads and trends Novelty items Products introduced in 2019 Sensory toys 2020s toys 2010s toys Silicone toys

Origin

See also

References