Relive childhood days when you used to sit over a chess set for hours on end with this fun chess piece salt and pepper shaker.
It brings some entertainment to the dinner table and is a great talking point. If you are a chess lover or hater, these are a practical and fun way to liven up your meals.
The set is £30 from Joy.
Straight out of the game and ready to wear, show your gamer loyalty with these Mario accessories from Year Retro (how could we resist a company with a name like that?).
Their range features some of your favourite characters – Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and even the mushrooms – carefully rendered in fuse beads which mimic the pixellated effect of the computer image, and then hung on long silver chains. Year Zero also make brooches and key charms, though with much less choice available than in the chain range. And, if you really want to test your brand loyalty, there's also a Sonic chain available.
Prices for the chains start at £14.99
See them online
The Rubik's Cube was not only the must have puzzler game of the 80s, but has since inspired hundreds of objects for the home, from mugs and coasters to lamps to alarm clocks. This new interpretation – the magic cube – offers the same looks, this time in the form of a beanbag.
The cube is made by Spanish company Woouf. It's 40cm square, filled with foam and that colourful cover is fully removal and made from polyester. Perhaps not the classiest piece of design but then, that was never going to be its prime selling point.
The beanbag costs 150 euros.
Buy it online
Originally an April Fool's Day joke by ThinkGeek, the company has actually turned it full circle and produced a working model of the iCade. Best of all – it's soon going to be available to buy very soon.
As you might have guessed, it's a vintage-style arcade cabinet for your Apple iPad. Produced in conjunction with Ion and Atari, the iCade uses Bluetooth to communicate with the iPad, transferring classic arcade games (like Asteroids for example) to your iPad screen, arcade controls giving you a genuine arcade experience. The APU is going to be released too, allowing any Apple developer to create iCade-compatible games.
Lokk out for it from April (for real this time), priced at $99.99.
Find out more at the ThinkGeek website
Via Uncrate
No matter how old you are, this Marbel traditional victorian dolls house will remind you of your childhood and send you running for your favourite keepsakes.
This is the ideal present for any young girl and even if you've grown up, it's still a fun thing to have around the house. It opens on three levels with double doors that open fully and even has an attic with a total of five rooms. It's also got delicate sash windows and winding steps that lead into the attic.
Watch out, you could get lost in this tiny world for hours. You can buy your own from Heal's for £140 and then just think how much fun you'll have filling it.
The latest in a long line of retro robot products to appear on these pages is this set of Robot Matryoshkas.
The traditional Russian nesting dolls has been transformed into a group of retro robots. Each robot is a different design (the second size down looks particularly mean!) and, of course, they are all varying sizes, ranging from 4 ½ inches to just over an inch tall.
The set costs $13.99 (about £9) from Perpetual Kid.
