Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

THE STAIRS — As a kid, I always wanted a slinky. Sure, I had some, but I needed a new one every few days.

That's because I'd get one, try to get it to walk down the stairs and only make it like three steps. Then I'd start messing around with it, which would cause it to get tied into a knot no living soul could dream of undoing. It would then end up in the garbage and I'd forget about it until a week or so later when I'd see a Slinky commercial on Nickelodeon and the whole process would start over. It was exhausting.

I always assumed slinkies were just poorly made toys meant to break and never work properly so kids like me would continue to waste their money on them. Then I saw this video and realized my slinky issues all these years has been a user error and not a hardware malfunction.

These guys are basically wizards and would have been burned at the stake for black magic in the 1500s. Watching them manipulate that slinky along with my mind is disorienting. I don't know about you, but after the first time I watched it I went into a trance and found myself lying face-up in my backyard. The sun had gone down and I was wearing different pants. Maybe it is black magic.

It is amazing to watch these guys play with our preconceived notions of gravity and the overall shoddy craftsmanship of the slinky. This video has taught me a lot about slinkies, hand-eye coordination and my ineptitude when it comes to children's toys. Also, if anyone has seen the pants I was wearing when I started this video, if you could send them to me it would be much appreciated.