Here at Firebox we love throwing things - from Frisbees and footballs to parties and backs. Chucking things into the air and seeing how far they soar is one of life's great pleasures. Motorized, rotorized playthings are all well and good, but there's something to be said for the unadulterated pleasure of pure flight. That's why we just love the incredible Nerf Vortex.

This brilliant flying thingamajig is an astounding leap in aerodynamic design because it flies staggering distances even when thrown in a relatively girl's blouse-esque fashion. Give it some real oomph and it's likely to disappear into the distance, never to be seen again. (We've still got our Nerf tracking team searching for missing Vortexes).

Basically, the Nerf Vortex is a squishy football with a large tail fin attached. Aerodynamics has never been our strong point, but the brains tell us...well, actually they've told us nothing because they haven't been able to stop playing with the Nerf Vortex for long enough to give us any useful feedback. What we can tell you is that the tail fin causes the Vortex to spiral perfectly through the air - the way footballs do when thrown by skilled quarterbacks. This allows it to achieve greater distance and follow a flawless flight path, even when thrown by sporting no-hopers.

As a supremely portable park or beach plaything the Nerf Vortex is unbeatable, as it's rugged enough for outdoor play but soft enough for easy catches. You'll have onlookers staring in amazement at your Herculean hurling and bullies easing off on their sand-in-your-face act as you cover astonishing distances with ease.

Better still, this particular Vortex is fitted with a nifty device that causes it to scream like a banshee as it soars through the air. So you'll attract additional attention as you prance around playing long distance catch.

What's more, the Nerf Vortex also boasts an extremely reasonable price tag and is light enough to carry alongside your picnic basket and sand castle bucket. We think it's the best thing to happen to the world of unaided flying playthings since that one guy picked up a pie pan at the Frisbee Bakery and let rip.