3-D printer
A 3-D printer is the ultimate gift for the do-it-yourself-er/maker/tinkerer/inventor/problem solver. Or, with plenty of open source recipes for just about anything, you could go ahead and buy yourself one and just print your loved ones’ gifts instead. (Starts at $1,300)
Bored games
What better way to pass the dreary days of winter but hunched over a board game invoking the spirit of Galileo or Isaac Newton. In The New Science, players compete “to publish your remarkable scientific discoveries first in order to gain prestige, be seen as the finest mind of your era, and consequently be appointed the first President of the Royal Society.” If publishing competitions don't sound like a leisure activity, try Compounded, in which players compete to build molecules. ($50 and $35, respectively)
Laugh it off
