The Wiz-z-zer toy top appeared in the early 1970s, a brief fad employing a device known in science as a gyrostat. This metal flywheel, a variant of the gyroscope, spins at a rapid rate and keeps the outer body, in which it is enclosed, balanced for as long as it spins. Thus Wiz-z-zer tops could spin much longer than regular tops, with a simple few strokes of their tips against the floor or surface upon which they would spin. A special premium mail-in offer from Kool-Aid offered a free "Canned" or can-shaped Whiz-z-zer, marked for Kool-Aid.