I thought I'd pass along this link (via Teresa Nielsen Hayden). It's a sciencey toy shop in Great Britain that sells all manner of grown-up toys. I'm most interested, thus far, in the Gaussian Gun, the Non-Transitive and Sicherman Dice, and the Bikini Pen (not sexual). I feel particularly compelled to buy a set of Sicherman Dice. Then I imagine whipping them out to show friends:
Friend: These aren't normal dice.
Me: No! They're Sicherman Dice! When rolled together, the probabilities of getting any given potential sum are exactly the same as with a pair of standard dice!
Friend: Huh. So they function exactly the same as regular dice, but with different numbers.
Me: Precisely!
Friend: So why not just buy a pair of regular dice!
Me: ... Because these are cooler.
Friend: How, exactly?
Me: Well... they're... different... and clever!
Friend: I don't think we can be friends anymore.
I also recommend taking a look at the video demonstration of the Gaussian Gun (found under the Article link for the entry). I imagine that, if I had had that as a kid, I would have gotten no end of time-outs for using it to inflict harm on my sisters, likely based on the faulty legal reasoning that I shouldn't be punished for hurting my sisters with science. Science!
Hang on. Hang on.
You can buy an Enigma machine? You can buy an Enigma machine? YOU CAN BUY AN ENIGMA MACHINE????
Okay, okay, a NEMA machine. Close enough. Do you know what I'd give to play with that for an hour?
Well, if what you're willing to give is just under $8,000, you can have a NEMA machine for as long as you like.