I saw someone earlier while I was cycling with a responsive yoyo just throwing it down and up in their front yard, had I hit a red light or something I would have stopped and said something.
The most public I’ve thrown so far is the bus stop. I’ve had one person watch me but say nothing, and one person stopped for a sec when I was throwing in my front yard to tell me how they used to collect yoyos, but that’s about it. Honestly the fact that nobody notices is kind of nice - I don’t want to draw attention, I just want to play with my toy lol
At work the other day and was just doing some simple throws with a responsive (CLYW everyday). An associate who was behind me caught interest and was like “ooh, I haven’t seen a yoyo in ages, mind if I try?”
I take them over to softer ground asking if they know how to use one, which they didn’t. So I handed it over to them and explained how to do the throw. They ended up getting it pretty quick. No idea if it was a spur of the moment bit of excitement for them or if it could have kindled interest in throwing but they seemed happy they were able to get it going.
Also at work possibly 4th of July weekend, had seen some guests just outside of the store that sells the theme park souvenir yoyos all trying to get them going. I walk by, greet them and ask them if they want to see something cool. Pulled out my responsive throw, did some very simple stuff - stalls, roll, flyaway dismount. They were delighted. They realized I had a more “serious yoyo” and I told them where to go to find something more serious. I then helped them with winding their yoyos and showed them how to do basic throw. I think one of them kind of got it. But yea, those gaps were too wide to really do much with. They thanked me before parting ways.
It’s not like your yoyo was “serious” they just purchased horrible yoyos that the manufacturer knows is garbage. If it was designed correctly, even a cheap yoyo can do a little. Not the fault of those people though.
So now i can finally say ive seen others playing yoyo. Quite a few actually, the turn out was a lot better than i had expected. Probably like 15 people or so.
Highly recommend trying to find one close to you. Even an hour or two drive would be well worth it if necessary. Wayyyy fun.
Back at work (again), this time I did not get to share anything as I was knee deep in middle of running a show and standing by for my next several cues. But across the way from me, I see somebody with what looked like a red Duncan Butterfly. They were doing some gravity pulls/dribbles, but they had some pretty decent-looking gravity pulls going, seemed to have a basic understanding of how to get the yoyo to work.
Oh man, what a day! Taking a weekend trip to Utah and this morning I taught one of my cousins to yoyo and discovered that he had dabbled in it but didn’t know much outside of how to bind. I gifted him one of the yo-yos I got in that huge care package.
I’m kicking myself for only bringing one of them though, because later I went to a park me and my buddies loved to visit when we were all teens. As I was throwing I noticed a young family watching and proceeded to start teaching them how to bind. Again, bummed I didn’t think to take more than one giveaway yoyo, but I pointed them in the right direction to get started since it seemed like they were pretty much hooked!
Last was a short and fun encounter. I was throwing around while waiting at a crosswalk and a passing car beeped at me while the driver flashed a thumbs up. Provo’s quite a place, y’all!
Literally at the airport now throwing my best 1A and responsive 5a combos while waiting… no one is interested in anything but thier tablets. Usually i get at least one person to starta conco with. All good. Looking forwardto throwing in Costa Rica!
Yesterday I was downtown with some friends and saw someone walk by with a bimetal yoyo clipped to their belt. I ran after them to exchange info and their name was Mark, also. The yoyo was a JT Alter.
Made another trip to Utah last weekend, and I made sure to bring some giveaway yoyos with me. While at Lagoon (great amusement park) I was messing around with a Wedge I wanted to give out when I saw a kid with his family at a table. When I did a quick DNA he was floored and I knew I had him. When I gave him that Wedge he was over the moon, and I even taught him how to bind on it!
That evening, I was throwing while waiting for some of my family to finish a ride when I suddenly had an audience. I kept playing for a bit and after I was done one dude commented “I can’t be watching this for free!” Honestly probably the most attention I’ve gotten while throwing
I have a few of your yos too, love the ring bearer.