Consider the recent history of the yo-yo. The market has changed: aluminum yo-yos are no longer the exception, but the standard. Unresponsive play is nothing special anymore. Boundaries have been pushed to the limit in terms of width. YoYoFactory alone has a yo-yo for nearly every preference and play style. Side Effects allow you to adjust the weight of any new One Drop to fit your liking. There are even large numbers of micro brew style yo-yo manufactures that have been started by yo-yoers and use a combination of tried and true engineering (bearing seats and response grooves are standardized by consent) but with a hint of rebellion from the common and mundane (whether it be shape, size weight distribution, etc.).
So my questions to you are these:
What do you think manufacturers will be producing in the future?
I think that people in the future are going to focus on longer spin times a more unresponsive ness until they forget responsive yoyos and someone finds the perfect design that will fit the needs of the yoyo player, and then all yoyo companies will make a replica of that you design with their name on it. (I’m think 60+ years)
And then some day someone some where will think to himself: “hey what if I made a yoyo that came back with a tug instead of a bind?” And so this individual will start a “brand new” line of yoyo that come back with a TUG, and so people will go crazy and this “new” yoyo will have the same amount of hype as the chief did, and will be called the “O-boy”
So in essence, the future of yoyo, Is actually the past of it.
I think new, and more affordable composites might be a game changer in the future. Right now the only moderately affordable way to get extreme designs is an especially light and strong metal like titanium, but we can’t be terribly far away from a composite that can offer the same properties without the pricetag.
As for drastic changes in play and yoyo design, I can’t really think of any. The unreponsive movement was a relative “revolution”, but it really wasn’t that drastic a design change. Just a slight increase in gap width for the most part. I think the core design of a yoyo will remain pretty consistent into the future.
I see this new extreme shape via undercutting bringing us wilder and wilder shapes. I think we haven’t seen the stop of the evolution of the side effects. I think the CLYW ring within the rim system also evolving. I also think we’re going to see more usage of different materials in one yoyo to find better ways to control weight distribution.
We’ll most likely see easier yoyos for new people to use, complete with options so these yoyos can “grow” with the users. I think the Classic and ProZ are leading yoyos in this area, so taking those kind of concepts to a bit more evolved level. I don’t think this will work as well as it may hope, mostly since yoyo requires effort and most people won’t put in that kind of effort. This may put low-cost models by some brands besides Duncan and Yomega into big box stores, helping to start a mainstreaming trend. Of course, it won’t last, but I bet it goes a good 2-3 years.
I think at the same time there will be a major throwback trend that will occur among the better players wanting a challenge. This will be inspired mostly by Ed Haponik’s use of wood fixed axle yoyos. I don’t think the trend will be exclusively this far backwards, but I think responsive playing yoyos will make a comeback for the better players to challenge themselves with. I see fixed axle yoyos being a category for competition as well.
The future of the industry is not in the equipment, it’s in the events.
At this point, players can close their eyes and mash buttons randomly while on yoyoexpert.com and find a yo-yo that is competition worthy. The problem is that yo-yo competitions are still mostly crappy parking lot affairs.
I agree with you, Steve. Bigger, more exciting competitions in nicer venues is what the sport needs. The development of the yo-yo, however, is a more interesting discussion—and the current one.
Sorry, when I read “future of the yo-yo” I took it to mean something larger than the future of the equipment, specifically. Sorry for the threadjack!
Steve is so right, we need a committee that coordinates all contests and has them set up periodocaly, similiar to a football schedule so that there arent two contests in the same day or week and that yoyoers can compete on schedule and plan out where they are going to compete instead of it being so random and poorly organized
I think we’re going to see the lower- to mid- end market really improve in quality. If you compare the YYJ Classic to what $10 would buy you a couple of years ago, there’s a pretty drastic difference. We’re going to be getting a lot more bang for our buck in the very near future.
I like the throw it forward idea. Most trades I make it try get someone’s old non used plastic to give away or sell for a buck or two to stimulate the community.
We should inspire growth and we will see it change everything from venues to contest and even the equipment.
Small homegrown yoyo companies have been established lately that years ago probably would have fizzled.
If the core values of yoyo stay where they should and keep teaching the new folks we will see great things in the future.
As far as equipment goes, i can see a lot more yoyos with better smoothness and longer lasting on the throw. I believe this is going to be about 5 years down the road though. Extreme shapes and designs for sure as a more wider range of looks suits different personalities. We have those now but not totally to the extreme. Many new players will make another boom for a while, then when it dies down the 5 years will be up and newer YoYos with the magnetic bearings will take the sport aspect of it to a whole new level. Thats where the smoothness and stability and longer lasting on a throw will be advanced 10 times of what it is now. This will spark competitions to be much more fierce and fast. I also see a global international committee being formed at the end of 2015 so facilitate and organize the yoyo community and its events. Many have said that we have pushed rim weight as much as we can but with newer technologies and breakthroughs in metals and plastics alike, i feel we have only scratched the surface of what a yoyo in the right hands is capable of. There are other composites of metals out there that can be made thinner or thicker with the same weights we are used to which in turn allows for more drastically weird shapes. Aluminum and titanium is not the only metals for sure. Delrin has also proved to be a formidable opponent to the metal class and I for one would like to see more YoYos made of delrin hit the market.
Here is company that has the magnet bearing but it’s not cheap enough to produce for the mass market yet. Most of the magnets they make are going to NASA or special companies with a need for a bearing with no friction in their equipment.
I agree. I’ve done sound for 4 events: CalStates, Horizon, BAC and YoLextravaganza. CalStates was great. BAC was better because of the venue and hence tolerances for certain things. All are fun and I’ve signed on to provide sound for them again.
As a sound professional, I prioritize the sound production of the event. I bring out the “big guns”, which includes a large PA using touring grade speakers, and professional audio desks from 16-76 channels, wired and wireless mics, and monitors. And you have to have people like me who are insane enough to do such events for way below market rate.
We have to get the contests out of malls so we’re not dealing with cry-baby merchants looking for stuff to complain about under the guise of “losing sales”. We have to move contests into venues of sufficient size to let people move around, gather, wander, interact AND have a good place for the staging area that is the focus of the event.
It comes down to costs. We have to have the venue be affordable. Permits are often free or low cost, so then it’s the insurance that can be a sticking point, and that can range from $125 to $500 for the event depending on what you need. We need to have those who participate as services providers be reasonable.
Another thing to understand that contests are about money. Yes, people do things for the purpose of the event, but they ain’t doing this for their health, they expect to leave with some bucks in their wallet at the end of the event. I don’t think this should change. I’m sure most contest organizers are taking measures to limit their out of pocket expenses and even factoring in a certain degree of loss into the equation. Organizers should be walking away with some money free and clear after an event, it’s a lot of preparation work.
So, the next step is to elevate the mindset. We’re having top competitors from all over the place(state, regional, national, worlds) going to such events Think big, work with those who share that “think big” vision and mentality and will work as hard to make it happen. I also think that it would be nice if local media would take more note of such community-oriented events. Unfortunately, local media sees yoyo as not interesting, or at least not interesting enough until “show day”, and then you get your 90 seconds on the news afterwards.
On a personal note:n I treat ALL my events with the same level of detail. All my events deserve world class sound. I know CalStates and BAC deserve nothing but the best. We’ll see if Nationals(being run by another company) is up to A-list standards. I won’t be running sound at Nationals, but I’m gonna bring some small bits of of gear just in case.
I say that the Yoyo of tomorrow will be composed of shape shifting buckey ball type nano bots. So, instead of changing out side effects to alter to characteristics of a throw, we could reprogram the entire shape of of our throws with our smart phones. All those tiny bots would just march around at our commands and the world would have the ultimate shape shifting yoyo!
