Where did modern yoyoing start?

Speaking of old pictures I found a first issue of Fiend magazine last week still in the postal envelope. Can’t be many of those around…

1 Like

4 Likes

The old timers called that trick “Suspension Bridge”. I remember Dale Oliver telling me about it in 96/97, although he couldn’t do it with the yoyos spinning.

2 Likes

So, just to clarify, for the “where” and “when” part of the discussion. Are you guys saying that modern yo-yoing definitely started in the United States of America, in the late 1990s? :-\

Does anyone else see the yoyoexpert logo here?

And @totalartist, I don’t think the are saying anything is set in stone, if anything they’re saying it is vague. That is just the jist I got anyways. I’m going to assume it was a long time coming and that ball bearing yoyos really allowed people to expand on it.

Yes, it appears that it’s not really something that can be stated as a “fact” in yo-yo history. I was fishing through the posts for a clear answer, but I understand that it’s not that easy. :slight_smile:

I would say the late 1990s primarily in the United States and Japan (though there were definitely players in other countries). A big driver the was the Yomega/Bandai/THP alliance which was primarily in the USA and Japan.

1 Like

I agree, I think that the arrival of the transaxle (both the sleeve-type and bearing) to the masses is what kicked off the modern era along with the Internet explosion.

Harvey Lowe (the first World YoYo Champion) has talked about doing 2A when he was a demonstrator back in the 1930s. He said something like they would do it on their own while they were practicing, but that they weren’t supposed to do it in their public demonstrations since the point was to get kids interesting in buying yoyos and learning the tricks they saw the pros doing, not to do stuff that looked impossible.

2 Likes

man, this is a lot of interesting stuff in this thread that I never even knew…and I first started yoyoing in the late 90’s. I’m glad to see that there’s some of you that remember this history and are able to share it all here with us. I think something should be mocked up with the history of yoyoing kind of thing made as a sticky for other people that may be interested in learning about it.

great stuff guys! :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Hope this helps.
http://www.yoyoskills.com/?tag=save-deth

…and here’s just the video from the article he linked to.

2 Likes

Ok Steve, i have a question specifically for you. What was the reaction when you first showed off 5A? How did your peers react to this new style of throwing?

1 Like

Dale Oliver swore loudly in the middle of judging that routine when I did that first aerial. :wink:

The reaction was the same as the reaction to everything at the time: “Neat! What else?” Contextually, all hell was breaking loose and everyone was coming up with all kinds of crazy stuff all the time. Two yoyos connected at the slipknots, giant pegs sticking out of the sides, Terminator spikes, people were looping with bearings for the first time ever and greasing their yoyos with all kinds of crazy stuff, some toxic some not, it was total mayhem.

It took like three years for counterweight play to gain any real traction. For the first two years it was “that thing that Steve and Neff do” and in the third year it was “Hey, lemme try that”. Even when the original Freehand was released, the Renegade outsold it like 3:1. (Side note: which one held collectible value, suckers? LOL)

The reaction was positive, but not overwhelming. Took a while for it to catch on.

5 Likes

really interesting thread, kinda rare and beautiful.

anyway, for today standard, what is a modern yoyoing? what defines it?
I mean, people do crazy new things with their yoyo every time, so since when that it’s considered modern?

1 Like

5a was definitely slow to catch fire… it took a handful of really talent players who stuck with it to show how much could really be done.

1a was exploding at about the same time, so lots of people were still focused on that.

5a was an ‘oh cool’ thing at first, until people started to really understand how incredibly different and versatile it could really be… then it took a bit for the masses to close the gap on the few who had really taken off with it.

4a was much the same way… a novelty trick for most people until a few dedicated/creative individuals showed us what could really be done.

3a I think just confused most people for a long time, it seemed so difficult that most people were scared off at even the “basics”… and then as with the other styles, a few people showed us how insane it could be.

As for “modern” yo-yo… I think there are a number of stages it went through, so it’s hard to say a particular year. You have the introduction of bearings, the big yo-yo boom in 98/99, the impact of internet videos that showed us all how much we sucked compared to the spindoctors, then the split off of all the styles along with unresponsive yo-yos becoming a good thing (instead of a broken yo-yo)… unresponsive play could be considered it’s own era as it pushed things really far really quickly.

Kyle

1 Like

I have never seen a better thread. I was planning on working in one full report about yoyos, from the materials to the history of yoyo and this really gave me the kick I needed to start writing up the history section. Great job guys!

3 Likes

I stopped yoyo-ing and buying yoyo’s in 1999 (last purchase was a Cold Fusion which was also my first ball bearing yoyo). When I returned 13 years later my mind was blown. I was watching videos online getting back into it and I thought, “Where is the string? How is this stuff even possible? Am I looking at magic?”

I’ve since learned about the world of unresponsive play and all of the new sport versions and championship titles in the world of YoYo. The year 2000 seems to make sense on my clock / time capsule.

2 Likes

Wasn’t the modern yoyo fairly new in 1999?

This is a great thread. Simply awesome, great to learn about this.

I was (still am) about Steve’s age in the late 90s and remember the “boom”… Still have 2 of the original Steve Brown Freehands, but have always been a low frills thrower. Just picked up the new unresponsive style in March of this year.

Thanks all that are sharing great stories!

2 Likes