There's nothing quite like electric shock therapy to wake you from your slumber, as my old gran used to say. Fortunately, the mild but spiky dose of electric charge delivered by the Brainiac Shock Ball won't alter one's personality - but it will, however, deliver a splendidly nasty nip to the unlucky recipient. All of which ought to give you an idea or two about how to use it to best effect.

Here's how it works: looking for all the world like a transparent 21st century cricket ball, when activated the device looses-off random jolts of electricity from its many outward-facing metallic surfaces. It's designed to be thrown and caught, meaning that the holder of the ball when the charge goes off is inevitably destined to buy the next round - or face some other task no-one else wants to do.

In fact, the more the pain and anguish of throwing, catching and electrocuting becomes apparent, the more useful the ball becomes in helping make difficult decisions among large (and not so large) groups. It's not so much the jolt itself - as the fear and tension that the anticipation creates. And that's half the fun of it.

Electrifying, hair-raising stuff.