Four Cool Time-Waster Gadgets for the Office

It's the summer, the boss is away, the office half-staffed, and your workplace is as quiet as a morgue.

What better time, then, to start goofing off? Here are some handy devices to help you waste copious amounts of time in the office.

The toy: Touchscreen Portable Video Poker Machine from Hammacher Schlemmer via SkyMall.

Price: $119.95.

What it does: Deals a hand of poker onto an electronic touchscreen. Players bet first, then deal a hand before getting a chance to hold some or all of the cards. Finally, new cards are drawn, and a win or lose is declared.

The screen is bright and responsive to finger touches. The table on the back showing the odds of different hands taking place will help hone card-playing skills.

	Video Poker Machine

Problems: The images of the cards sometimes fail to materialize fully, and the noises the machine produces are irritating (especially to coworkers). Luckily the speaker can easily be turned off and most of the time the images can be deciphered without too much trouble.

Overall: This toy is easily the most addictive of the bunch. Even though it sounds mundane to play hand after hand of cards when no money is at stake, you'll find yourself playing the game "just one more time" more times than you can count.

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The toy: Isis Puzzle available from Harrods in London.

Price: 139 British pounds, around $280.

What it does: It's a beautiful, if infuriating, puzzle made in the shape of an aluminum globe, slightly smaller than a baseball. The puzzle has rotating bands with Egyptian-style symbols.

	Isis Ball

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