The guy has been obsessed with maze balls ever since they got one at afterschool a month ago. This week, we got him a Perplexus Epic. He continues to be obsessed and spends over an hour a day moving the ball around inside this bigger ball.
There is some skill involved as well as the kind of “physics entertainment” that marble runs provide, but there’s also a pachinko-like random chance aspect to it. So, maybe it is hitting up the rat brain part of the guy’s head a bit.
Still, he does have actual goals that he tries to accomplish in the maze ball, which he tracks on paper, as well as specific strategies to get to them. And as someone who played poker for hours a day for a couple years, I can’t judge.
Plus, getting that much satisfaction out of an object doesn’t happen later on in life, so he should exploit this ability while he can.