E&M labs, which raised $96,000 on Kickstarter last year for their Trebuchette, has built a new toy: Skallops. They're wooden clips that transform a regular deck of cards into a set of building blocks.

The idea for Skallops has been lying dormant in Marshall Grinstead's brain since he was 8. Now he's finally gotten his hands on a laser to cut birch plywood into the scallop shapes of his dreams. They're reminiscent of Tinker Toys, but the pieces connect regular playing cards. The Skallops hold the cards together at a variety of angles, and they even connect together themselves to multiply the building possibilities. Watch the peeps make everything from bow ties to robots to TIE fighters.






It's one of those geniusly simple inventions that never would have occurred to me in a million years and that I now very much want. A starter pack comes with 104 Skallops and two decks of cards, and will run you $45 plus shipping. Marshall is so adorably awkward that I hope he makes millions off of Skallops so he never has to make a video again.


[Kickstarter via BoingBoing]