I bought this $5 pocket trick in 2015. It’s a tiny plastic bottle with a spherical base. It has a weighted bottom to keep it from tipping over. I can make it lie on its side, but no one else can (unless they know the secret, and surprisingly few do). Drive your friends crazy with frustration. — MF

I played this social deception/deduction game with about a dozen other people. If you’ve played Werewolf or Mafia you’ll be familiar with this kind of game. In Two Rooms and a Boom, the goal is for team red to blow up the president, and the goal of team blue is to stop them. Each game takes about 15 minutes and if you’re like me, you’ll end up playing multiple rounds until way past your bedtime. It’s addictive — MF

Rubik’s Cube, and whenever I used to try, I’d get discouraged because the cube would lock up when turning it. Then I discovered Chinese speed cubes. They are very smooth and a pleasure to use. I’m working on a 2 x 2 x 2 mini-cube ($7) instead of the usual 3 x 3 x 3. Still haven’t cracked it! — MF