This article originally appeared on VICE Netherlands.
When was the last time you saw a fidget spinner? The toy – which was initially marketed as a stress-reliever – was the must-have piece of tat in 2017. But as heavily hinted at in the name, all they do is spin, so it’s no surprise the craze quickly died out – to the point that the toy has now almost completely disappeared from schools and playgrounds.
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One person who held on to his spinners is toy salesman Ruben Rooijackers from Eindhoven, a city in the south of the Netherlands. Up until a few weeks ago, Rooijackers had about a million of them sitting in his warehouse when he decided to just give them away for free because nobody wanted to buy them.
At the peak of the craze, this collection had a street value of €1.8 million, Rooijackers told me. Now, they’re worth nothing. “Giving them away hurts, but not that bad,” he said, explaining that the fact he sold around 37 million spinners at the height of their popularity softens the blow a little.
Rooijackers’ massive giveaway took place in the parking lot of his toy emporium, Toi-Toys, in Eindhoven. Unsurprisingly, thousands of children turned up from far and wide to pick up a free fidget spinner, waiting patiently in the 31 degree heat for their turn.
Rooijackers and his staff were extremely accommodating of their non-paying customers, making sure that everyone had plenty of suncream and something to eat and drink. One of the employees was shocked by the size of the crowd. “Why do all these people want a fidget spinner?” she asked aloud to nobody in particular. “To play,” replied a young girl standing next to her.
“The hype might be over, but if it’s free I’m just going to grab it,” Mees, 10, told me. He plans on handing out the spinners at summer camp. Micha, who came with his father, Dick, all the way from the province of Zeeland, more than 100km away, also said he would share his loot with friends.
Michel, a truck driver sporting an Australian cowboy hat, promised to give his spinners away to families with autistic children. “You give a kid with autism one of these and it calms them down,” he told me. “Better than pumping them full of drugs.” Silke, 17, picked up a bag of fidget spinners for her brother. “I think he’ll be excited,” she said. “We can always recycle the plastic, which is good for the planet.”
Scroll down to see more photos from Ruben Rooijackers big giveaway.
