A fidget spinner or hand spinner is a toy that consists of a ball bearing in the center of a multi-lobed (typically three-lobed) flat structure made from metal or plastic with metal weights in the lobes, designed to spin around its central axis.

The toy has been promoted as helping people who have trouble focusing or those who may need to fidget to relieve nervous energy, anxiety, or psychological stress.

[5] In an interview appearing on May 4, 2017, on NPR, Scott McCoskery described how he created a metal spinning device called a "Torqbar"[6][7] around 2014 to satisfy with his own tendency to fidget in meetings and on conference calls while working in the information technology field in the Seattle, Washington, area of the United States.

[9] According to a survey conducted by Alexi Roy and published in May 2017, 32% of the largest 200 American public and private high schools had banned spinners on campus.

[18][19] On November 29, 2016, David Allen Pavelsky of Killeen, Texas, applied for a design patent covering a three-lobed version of the toy with a centrally mounted ball bearing.

Unlike McCoskery's patent, Pavelsky's application did not claim functional innovation, but rather focused on the toy's aesthetic design.