I’m a complete beginner to yoyoing. I’ve been remembering the fun involved in simply playing about with a yoyo when i was young. I’ve never really done any tricks just the simple pull up action sort of thing.
First things first i need a yoyo. I’ve done some reserach but am overwhelmed by the wide varities and shapes of yoyos.
I understand that a butterfly yoyo is for string tricks, whereas a modified or imperial is for looping.
First things first, i don’t know whether a butterfly or modified, and hence string or looping tricks would be better for a complete beginner.
Some advice would be good
I’m not great at practical things, so i’ll probably fail, but yoyoing seems great and to be able to do tricks would be really amazing!
I’m technically a beginner again as well. (Coming back after about 5 years). (although I was doing tricks back then)
I ordered a YYF ONE. (YoyoFactory One). I think the other members of the forum could help you out better than I can, though. Definitely listen to their suggestions. I know from experience going based on instinct or “what feels right” isn’t always the best thing to do. It’s definitely beneficial to hear different opinions from people who are more experienced.
I recommend watching all of the videos in the “Learn” Section under the “Beginner” subcategory as well as the “maintenance” subcategory. They both definitely helped me to better understand yoyoing.
And as with any hobby, a good foundation is imperative. So master (and I mean master) the basics before moving on to more advanced stuff.
Also, welcome to the forum. I hope you have a good time here.
I would start with the style that looks more interesting to you. If it’s not interesting, you won’t practice it. That’s how it was with me and looping. I started trying it out, but didn’t find it as fun as 1A, so I rarely practiced it.
For a good starter butterfly shaped yoyo, I would go with a ONE. Make sure you get the one with the extra SPEC bearing (not the DVD). The 2 bearings allow you to play both responsive and unresponsive. If you want the DVD, then you could get one of the starter sets:
Get yourself a Yo-yojam Legacy 2, sold on this site for $24. It comes with 2 bearings that are easy to swap, one for beginner responsive tricks, and the other for unresponsive advanced tricks. Because it’s got metal weight rings in it, it will spin for a lot longer than $10 - $15 beginner yo-yos, and in my opinion, the extra cost is definitely worth it. The only tricks it cannot handle are looping tricks. If you want to learn looping tricks you will have to get a second yo-yo. A duncan pro-yo for $4 is pretty decent for looping. make sure to order yourself some extra string and you should be good to go.
You could get a YYJ Dark Magic. Comes with 2 bearings so it takes you from beginner to master. Polyester string is the best, but you might want to try 50% cotton and 50% polyester. Your choice!
Don’t stress about practicing, because yoyoing is about having fun, not trying to be the next yoyo champ or something. Sure winning contests is great, but just have fun!
Try not to make my mistake which was try a trick, get it once, then move on thinking you mastered that trick because you didn’t. Practice and practice until that trick is really mastered. Some tricks you Need to know are trapeze, double or nothing, one and a half mount, and sleeper of course. Andre’s tutorials on this site are great, but later on some tricks get really difficult, so don’t be afraid to ask about a trick because there is a trick section on the forum. Also, if you get a friend to yoyo, its a lot more fun, and you could have a contest to see who can learn a trick faster.
There are many different styles of yoyoing. 1a is probably the most popular. Its just where you yoyo with the string attached to your finger. 2a I believe is looping, with 2 yoyos, one on each hand. I’m not so sure what 3a is, but 4a is offstring, usually played with a bigger yoyo and the string is attached to your finger but not the yoyo. 5a is just like 1a but instead of the string attached to your finger, its attached to a counter-weight. Just pick what you think will be the most interesting, but most people start with 1a. The YYJ Dark Magic is the classic butterfly shape, but there are many more shapes.
When I was working on beginner tricks (i.e. Walk the Dog, Around the World, Pop the Clutch, etc.) I used a Duncan Pulse. I really like that yoyo.
it’s cheap (8 bucks at big name toy stores with a backwards R).
it sleeps really well for a cheap yoyo. 30 or 40 seconds for me. That’s plenty of time to pull off a beginner trick (which don’t require a wing shaped yoyo because you aren’t landing it on the string).
it also loops, so you can try out the 2A style.
You could also get a Duncan Speed Beetle. It’s the same exact yoyo except the Pulse lights up. Either way it’s a cheap investment to get you started.
THEN, once you can throw consistently and you want to move on to string tricks (1A style) you can look at wing shaped, unresponsive yoyos.
The kickside is a solid throw. However one side of a stock kickside is starburst (the other is the o-ring). Myself…I can’t stand starburst response on butterfly throws because of the noise it makes. I wish yoyojam would make a dual o-ring kickside, but my plea has fallen on deaf ears. You also don’t get the two bearing option, so you will either have to have your bearing set-up for responsive play, or clean it for unresponsive play–or spend another $5 and buy another bearing. in my opinion, it’s worth it to spend the extra money and get a Legacy 2.
