When it comes to excruciatingly compelling guilty pleasures, popping bubblewrap is up there with watching replays of Tom Cruise on Oprah while listening to Paris Hilton's single.*.

Indeed, this squishy air-filled plastic is so incredibly unputdownable our good friends in the Far East have created a tiny electronic gizmo that simulates the look, feel and sound of popping bubblewrap. Aargh!

Developed in conjunction with Japan's biggest bubblewrap manufacturer, the Bubblewrap Keychain features eight rubbery 'bubble' buttons that activate a realistic popping sound when pressed. But here's the really good part: every 100th pop is not a pop but a random sound: a boing, a bark, a rude noise, a yell, whatever. Of course this makes the whole thing hideously addictive, as you'll be frantically popping buttons in order to hear the next crazy sound. Help!


Put the Bubblewrap Keychain on your keyring or dangle it from your mobile phone and you'll soon become totally obsessed. Here at Firebox we're hopelessly hooked. We even tried finding a Bubblewrap Keychain rehab center but the accompanying numbthumb-itis caused by this devilish device meant we couldn't dial the helpline.

Yes, you could travel to work carrying a big roll of genuine bubblewrap, but you might look a bit silly, nay unhinged, fiddling with it on the F to Brooklyn. However, equipped with a Bubblewrap Keychain you can keep popping to your heart's content and fellow commuters will be none the wiser (until they hear a cat meowing or someone blowing a raspberry in your pocket).

This really is one of the most addictively gratifying, strangely cathartic gadgets we've ever had the pleasure to play with, and we've played with loads. So get ordering and let the madness begin. Pop...pop...pop...pop, pop...pop...Aargh!!!!!

*Get Googling if you don't believe us!