Yep, for our cats, we make toys of strings, straws and toilet paper centers and they just love them. 
We have also stuffed used baby socks with soft stuff and catnip that we renew every so often, they won’t quit with those, either.

They follow Natural law of simplicity :) You can't just bribe them and expect them to recognize you as their owner and respect you or obey your orders they just don't give a shit. Man, cats are more sovereign than I thought 😮

typical cats.
I've spent a lot of money on fancy toys and boxes for cats... they literally don't give a fuck.
They like more the "garbage toys" (literally papers and cardboards) than all other "commercial toys".
So I stopped wasting money on them.