Priceonomics:

To counterbalance its simplicity, the Slinky has an utterly complex backstory. The toy has dealt with a slew of uncanny circumstances — an inventor who fled to South America to join a religious cult, a seven-figure debt, a mind-boggling reemergence under unlikely leadership — and has somehow managed to persevere with very little redesign.

I don’t know how popular the Slinky is outside of Canada and the US but is there anyone who didn’t get one of these for a gift at some point? And how long did it take you (or your rotten little brothers) to break it?