There will be innovations as long as people keep coming up with different styles of play. It seems to me manufacturers are trying to keep up with players, not the other way around.
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There will always be room for a bright young yoyo innovator.
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I do think nearly frictionless bearings will be invented at some point in the future.
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Leetle tiny magnets! Woot!
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There are three fundamental categories of yoyos:
- Performance/competition throws
- Fun/casual throws
- Novelty throws
I think the further towards the top of that list a yoyo design sits, the more constraints it has on what can be experimented with. When I look at most of the new yoyos coming out for 1A, for instance, they are all basically the same thing: butterfly shapes with response pads, a threaded axle and a ball bearing. How long have they been like this now?
When are we going to see a yoyo emerge for competition that is radically different from that formula in at least one area (shape, response, axle)? Do we believe that competition yoyo design has become so optimal that it has nowhere significant still to go?
Now, obviously, casual throws have fewer constraints put upon them since less is expected from them in terms of how they perform. Novelty throws are even more unconstrained! There is a lot more room for experimentation–and therefore innovation–in these categories since their designers don’t have to worry about the impact their crazy new ideas will have on a player’s ability to win a contest (the DK is probably a good recent example of this).
So is innovation likely to only appear in the fun/casual and novelty arenas? Or are we poised to see something dramatic happen in the world of competition yoyo design? It seems to me that competition yoyo design is currently stuck in something of a “me too” rut right now. Aside from minor shape differences, ring placement (for bimetals), and colorways (which don’t impact performance), there isn’t a whole lot that distinguishes one throw from another these days.
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I think it depends on which style. For 1a we might be near but 2a there is still a lot to go and so o n.
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I know this is an old thread, but it’s an interesting question (to me). Surprised there’s not more feedback here.
I’ve been brushing up on my yoyo history, and while it certainly seems like yoyos have been more or less the same for the last ~10 years (sure, there’s been novelty things: Nine Dragons, Cheat Code, finger-spin dimples, KnuckleYo, etc), I still think there’s room for innovation. It seems like historically yoyo design has gradually shifted behind innovations in play, though the two certainly feed on each other (i.e. new yoyo designs can make new tricks or styles of play more feasible). Twenty years ago, I don’t think players would’ve known what to do with a jump from yoyo widths <40mm to the average competitive throws being 45mm+ in width. There was a gradual shift from narrow looping yoyos to butterfly shaped ones, allowing for 1A tricks to more easily develop; then, gap width began slowly increasing and companies like YYJ and modders added spacers to increase that width to allow for more easily landing tricks. It would’ve made no sense for companies to add 10mm+ to the diameter out of no where, as people didn’t know how to play with that yet.
Innovation could come as new categories or subcategories of play are experimented with (e.g. astro-jack is a subcategory in 5A that adds a new element people like myself never would’ve thought of). Yoyo design could continue to complement new trends in play like it has in the past. It could also come by re-examining the basic elements of yoyos we see as “set in stone:” response systems, bearings, axles, two halves, etc. It wasn’t so long ago that flat silicone rings were unheard of in a yoyo.
Of course there’s a theoretical cap to how much better a yoyo can do what it’s used for right now, but I don’t think there’s any reason design change can’t come if players keep being innovative with how they play. Having access to soooo many video tutorials is a blessing and a curse - perhaps we should be more like kids on a playground: having to use our imagination and saying to our friends, “Hey, what if I try doing this!”
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No.
In my limited opinion
Some of the new plastics, bi materials, new exotic materials, mini throws, fixies and modular slim lines auto correcting finger spin throws. Just to mention a few new things that have been released with new ideas.
I understand how one could think that throws have hit some type of engineering wall. I mean how much better can you make a throw go up and down and spin for a long time.
Usually about this time in a community when a question come up like this a Paradigm shift occurs in said community and fresh new ideas arrive.
I will be on the look out
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This actually made me think of something that seems quite feasible for someone with the machines to experiment a little. Imagine a current bearing with the balls removed. Now you have only the inner and outer rings. Now imagine those rings made of magnets that are faced opposing one another so that the magnetic field then takes the place of the balls. A magnetic bearing. This seems quite possible to me. Any thoughts??
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I think it matters more the innovations of tricksets off yo-yos
The problem is in finding magnets with enough strength to keep the inner and outer races separated by a very precise, unchanging distance even under great stress (i.e., the G forces of a yoyo hitting the end of the string, etc.). Otherwise you induce incredible amounts of vibe. I’m not sure magnets of such strength exist in such a small size, and if they did they would probably degauss everything magnetic in a 5 mile radius.
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Sooooo you’re sayin there’s a chance??
I think something that could be big in the future is the rise of high quality, modular yoyos. Only a few models and even fewer brands have explored this. Players could choose stuff like their own preferred rim thicknesses, widths, etc.
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Yomega is a favorite of mine. They did the yo mod in the 2010’s to change spacers and pads. The raider ex was also a thing. I think most yoyos are just a form of expression rather than innovation nowadays. Of course who knows when the next Draupnir or Shutter level of yoyo that takes over the scene but we shall see.
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One wacky idea I’d like to see experimented with is a “drive/core” similar to what Beyblades used once upon a time. Basically something that stores energy in springs and gears in the center of the yoyo [inside the hubs] to be released at a certain point in play. It could offer different modes so to speak:
- it could pull weights inward to increase centrifugal force to speed the yoyo up once it starts to slow
- another version could release weights out to make it slightly more stable when it loses spin
- perhaps one “core” could even convert friction from the string against specialized response pads into energy that could be stored and ultimately released as the yoyo slows down.
- Possibly a new response system could be created that retracts the pads when mechanical force is applied (i.e. when the yoyo is swung or tugged on), and releases them when it is stable (to make binds possible). Don’t know that this would be better in any way, but it’s a thought. Creating a responsive yoyo that’s more usable for 1A would be cool, though this isn’t necessarily the way to do it.
If you can’t tell, I’m not an engineer. In reality, that’s probably way overcomplicating things when part of the fascination with yoyos is how much can be done with something so simple.
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It ebbs and flows. We said the same thing about phones until they were small enough to fit in a car. Then said the same thing until they fit in our pockets. Same thing until they got touch screens. Same thing until they got on our wrists. And now they fold. Soon they’ll be in an implant behind the eye.
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In the future, wood is good and fixed axle is all the rage. Exotic woods and jeweled yo-yos are most popular, and plastics with holographic caps, and yo-yos made out of recycled toothbrushes for some reason.
Many years after that unresponsive makes a comeback due to new technology that allows a yo-yo to spin forever. However, it’s short lived because not too long after that people are only yo-yoing in a virtual world, just like everything else they do.
Then in the distant future fixed axle again because yo-yos will only be made from whatever you can find in the wasteland, like bottlcaps and paper clips, etc.
After that, 3A will be most popular because people will have 3 arms.
Then, well, I’ve said too much already. Better put a lid on it before the men in black take me away.
(…more like the men in white 
)
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Apparently this topic comes up every few years. I stumbled on this post from 2014 yesterday ironically:
Interesting post. Even if they do plateau (which I don’t see happening), why would people stop playing with them? Things like footballs and basketballs haven’t been updated significantly in decades, and there’s certainly no shortage of people buying and using them today.
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People have been asking this question for a good number of years. At least since the introduction of bearings in yoyos 25-30 years ago. Are new yoyos innovative, or just building on what is already there. I dunno… 
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