Anyone here has ever judged 2a or know the details on how is it judged? Google doesn’t help at the moment. I know (basically) how 1a, 4a, and 5a judging works, but I tried judging some 2a prelims and got confused (I tried clicking Shinji lol).
Does each yoyo scored separately or as one combination? all I know was the deductions is for each yoyo but not sure about positive points. What if the contestant “mirror” their freestyle such as doing loops on left hand and around the world in the other hand, then switch the loops on the right hand then around the world with the left hand, does that counts as different combination?
Transitions can be more difficult, for example doing around the world then loops is harder than doing around the world, catch, then loop, is there any additional point for that?
My confusion is mostly on how each combination are scored, with the assumption if it’s actually scored as combination of each hands, and what is considered repeating (like if one hand doing loops the other doing outside loops, then reverse it) and what not.
I actually had a conversation with a judge who judges 2a years ago, and while my knowledge of 2a is limited, hebassically described it as such.
Loop elements are scored by variation and difficulty. So loops combos where say one goes from inside loops to arm cross loops would be a point. Crossing over to other arm would be another. Alternating to outside loop another point, essentially a point for each variation. More difficult type of loops score maybe 2 or 3 points depending on the judges desicion.
Wrap combos are split into sections with each section or variation scored on difficulty. A simple loop wrap might be 1 point, where a longer more complex wrap might be anywhere from 3 to 10 points depending on length and complexity of that combo.
Tanglers, fountain, I’m not totally sure on what other sort of names are given to 2a concepts, but that’s the gist of my understanding. Of course I’m sure originality comes into that mix as well a great deal. 
I think you will find that judging can and will vary a little bit from contest to contest depending on ‘skill level’. The 2A player’s level of play varies so much that sometimes you will click the loops (in smaller USA regional contests where that is all they are doing, etc). But when you are judging someone like Shinji (or any of the Japanese professionals) then you do not necessarily click ‘every loop’ since it is considered a ‘basic’ element (unless it was used as a transition from something and was deemed difficult to transition into, etc). Just like in 1A how at finals in Nationals if you awarded a point for Trapeze it just wouldn’t make sense - too basic. Each judge may vary a bit on this - but as long as they judge consecutively across all the players (clicking the same for each one) and award the ‘difficult’ tricks properly then it won’t make a huge difference (since most of the big 2A players aren’t just standing up there doing two handed loops). Judging definitely is a combination of an art & science so you may find judges have slightly different approaches (or point levels clicking) but their placements generally agree or are similar (if they are a good judge!)
UsagiCat actually did a great job with a common breakdown on awarded points.
- André
Thanks for your replies. At first I thought judging should follow a “text-book” rule so I was wondering if there is any more into it than just the basic “score each element based on its difficulty”… I mean like, the more “exact” guideline to it. I have judged a couple of regional contests and I was still wondering if the way I judge is wrong, when I tried judging contest videos the result is still similar to the actual outcome though.
The difficult thing with yo-yoing is that many times people are putting together elements on stage in completely unique combinations - it may be the first time as a judge you have actually ‘seen’ that trick before. So because of that it definitely relies heavily on the judges own personal ability to identify ‘what’ is difficult and ‘how’ difficult it was to complete. Yo-yoing has evolved faster in terms of the level of complexity in tricks then any other sport in my opinion - and as the yo-yoing evolves so will the judging!