Note - Be sure to select v2 or the original v1 from the drop down. For our July 2026 launch, the small amount of remaining inventory of v1s will be discounted for clearance--great little gift to keep in reserve if you want to share your love of skill toys!
Picador is Aroundsquare’s take on the classic Latin American cup-and-spike toy, rooted in the traditions of the balero and its close cousin, the capirucho. These toys are tools, enjoyed by kids and adults alike. They're both a fun challenge and a powerful tool for building hand-eye coordination, much like the Japanese kendama.
The goal is deceptively simple: catch the cup on the spike. But the journey is anything but - it demands focus, patience, and practice. Picador invites you to fail, persevere, and grow, revealing new tricks as your skills and precision improve.
Picador takes the classic balero and gives it a modern twist. Designed to be both practical and portable, it features a slimmed-down cup, a stronger spike with a generous bevel for reliable landings, and an enlarged handle with twin concave channels that unlock new possibilities for stalls, catches, and combos. More than just a redesign, Picador represents an entirely new product category for Aroundsquare—an open canvas for fresh tricks, new styles of play, and an accessible introduction to kendama-inspired skill toys.
Picador embodies Aroundsquare’s signature minimalist geometry and clean lines, while offering endless room for creativity and progression - looking forward while respecting the roots.
Picador Balero v2.
This month, the beloved Picador Balero returns with a refined design that builds on the original for enhanced playability. The updated design features a larger “ken” section, with a more substantial concave for stalls, and revised proportions that make catches, juggles, and transitions feel more natural, while preserving the compact, pocket-friendly character that has made the original Picador so popular.
The v2 will be available in beech wood and zebrano, like the original, as well as (for the first time) purple heart wood. Each wood has its own character. Beech is the lightest and softest of the three, making it great for stalls and catches, and just a super reliable and much loved entry point to the product. Zebrano is still light, but noticeably heavier than the beech, with a silky feel and striated colour variations that give it incredible personality. Purple heart is the heaviest, and also the hardest of the three, with a rich purple colour, and courser natural grains that give it a tactile presence and natural grip despite the hardness of the wood.
Each piece is individually crafted from natural wood, with unique grain patterns and subtle variations in colour and tone, and minimalist geometry that make them stand out as design objects as well as versatile skill toys. .
Details:
Beech V2: a light, fine-grained wood known for its strength and durability. Weight ~85g (weight varies within a few grams)
Zebrano V2: a striking wood with bold, dark stripes contrasting against a golden-yellow background. Weight ~85g (weight varies within a few grams)
Purple heart V2: coarse-grained for texture, with a beautiful deep purple colour. Weight ~96g (weight varies within a few grams)
Beech V1: a light, fine-grained wood known for its strength and durability. Weight ~71g (weight varies within a few grams)
Zebrano V1: a striking wood with bold, dark stripes contrasting against a golden-yellow background. Weight ~78g (weight varies within a few grams)
Ebony V1: this wood is prized for its deep color, smooth texture, and luxurious, elegant appearance. Weight ~99g (weight varies within a few grams)
Check out our new Picadors in our July 2026 drop video!
