Picked up a Yomega Brain from Cracker Barrel and video from the YoYo Man!
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One day, in a 2006, a friend of mine gifted me a Powerball. It was an interesting thing, and i started to look for more information about it. I found some articles and some online stores, which were selling not only Powerballs, but also Yoyojam yoyos. After discovery of these, i searched a bit more, found local forum, bought YYF Fast 201, and so it began. Still hooked 
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Cracker Barrel, the restaurant/dairy company? Why did they have Yomegas lol
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Party favor yoyo from the 90s, ended up getting a Duncan Imperial a week later. Eventually got the Yomega Brain for my upcoming birthday. I ended up starting the fad at school (not to toot my horn but that was the only trendy thing I actually lead). I took a break once the 2000s hit. Around 2010 one of my nieces got a yoyo from school and I had do dig out my old Sabre wing fireball to show her some old tricks. Ended up going down a rabbit hole from there when I learned of modern yoyos.
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My Dad taught me the proper way to throw a yoyo (front style) and some basic tricks when I was around 8 or 9. Iām talking sleeper, walk the dog, rock the cradle, all on a classic little Duncan butterfly. I ended up getting a few Duncan A bearing throws from Toys r Us (RIP). I think I had a red Mosquito that was my favoriteā¦ I eventually got that little black Duncan trick book. I think this is around the time that the Freehand came out.
I dropped it after a while until I was a sophomore in high school, when I was with my younger siblings at Toys r Us once again and bought a Duncan Metal Racer. I thought it was so sick that theyād made a yoyo out of metalā¦ Within a few days I started googling for new tricks to learn. I found the tutorial series on this website. My mind was BLOWN. I learned split the atom and braintwister, got a Dark Magic II and Iāve been hooked ever sinceā¦
That was 10 years ago and I have ~50 throws at the moment. I regret nothing. Visiting my parents today I have no less than 5 throws on me, and I wear one to work every single day 
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This:
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From Blazing teens back in 2006. Beware this is a very cringy show.
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Like several of us, I first learned during the 90ās yoyo fad. Absolutely loved it but got tired eventually. Learned the basics, but was severely limited by just how short my sleep times were. Fast forward to the beginning of this year and I saw the Wired 26 Levels videos, and I had to pick my jaw off the floor once I saw what Iāve been missing since then. Iām now a definite hobbyist for life and am grateful for my time playing back then, as it greatly helps learning new tricks now lol.
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Obviously youāve never been into a Cracker Barrel. About half of any Cracker Barrel is whatās called the ācountry storeā. Theyāve got this place filled with more stuff than you can imagine. Need a new record? Theyāve got it. How about an audio book? Yep. Want a whoopie cushion? Got it. Dolls? Yes. A new dress? OK. Silly Putty? For sure. Like these store are a fire hazard and you can barely move around. Sadly, with COVID going on you can no longer play checkers in front of the enormous fire place 
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i was i think 7 years old and my little sister was at a building workshop were the builded wood yoyos and burned drawings in them with some kind of fire pencil and she wrote my name and a star on it and gave it as a present to me. I was always the guy figuring things out by my self like that i learned loops and around the world by my self. I always did kind of an around the world canceling in to a loop i lost it and forgot about it but years later a guy at my school hat a veeery bad plastic yoyo and i dont know where he knows it from but he told me about responsive and unresponsive yoyos but didnāt knew a lot about it THEN 4 months ago i found that throw in a children second hand toy store:
i looked for tutorials and found yo tricks i learned veery fast and buyed a yotricks sage with an unresponsive bearing.It came i learned the 3 go to binds in the first week and 3 weeks ago my first metall yoyo came an MVP (3).Sooooo thats how i got into Throwing
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I have not been to one, youre correct lol. Sounds like a fun place though!
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Iāve been enjoying reading how everybodys story.
For me I started playing in the '90s during the boom!
I could do every trick efficiently and eventually just got a little bored of it.
Started up a few years ago when yoyo jam was big and I didnāt like the yoyos I got they just didnāt resonate with me so I put them back again.
Last year I picked it up again, thereās a lot more to learn and Iām having a lot of fun!
The only negative is Iām alone I donāt know anyone who plays, would be much nicer to do something in person with someone but internet has been a vast improvement since I started lol
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I watched one of Dave shultes performances bought a yoyo from him after it . Started doing basic responsove stuff barrel rolls around the world escalator . About a month later got an unresponsive but I thought it was more of a gimmick at the time to get more spin time . A year later I saw him again he helped me with trapeze and Eli hops . And then I found a competition video (I think it was nats) and I thought that would be cool so I signed up for one and it got cancelled. I was sad about that so I stopped yoyoing for a few months I donāt remember how I got back into it I think I just found one on a shelf one day . I got more into yoyoing learned more than frontstyle and basic side style in hopes of competing one day . How ever many years later and I still havenāt competed .
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My highschool friend gave me a powerball as a birthday present, at summer of 2007. I started to search information about it, found an online store which was selling them. Store also was selling yoyos, they attracted my interest. This store had forums board, i entered it and i`m into this hobby since then.
Dang, it is 15 years passed already, like one day.
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Picked my first one up in Highschool during the late 90ās marketing hype (Skittles/Twix in my area).
Played for a few years, limited resources on how to progressā¦Kind of stopped playing.
Started up again almost a year ago. Itās a lot of fun.
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I was in middle school for the 90s yoyo fad. My aunt got me a x brain for Christmas and played with that for a couple years. Fast forward to 2009 I bought the original yoyo factory boss from the ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā shop back when they were still in Manitou Springs. I just happened to be living near by at the time and looked up yoyo shops randomly one day.
Been doing it ever since. Been interesting seeing the hobby progress over the years. Iāve still only ran into one or two fellow throwers (that I know of) in the wild over the years.
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In 1992 when in the Navy stationed in San Diego I was at a burger place where people dressed up in soda jerk costumes do not remember the name, I think it was in the Hillcrest community not for sure was a really good burger. Well one of the waiters was throwing a Tom Kuhn Silver Bullet. I remember it was a nice fun place obviously the let a waiter play with a yo-yo while waiting tables so cool. The waiter was doing brain twister, cold fusion, man on the flying trapeze, double or nothing. It was all over for me I could not get it out of my head until I found a yo-yo to learn those tricks. I searched for books on yo-yoing. I found a Yomega FireBall to learn tricks. Now I have a nice collection, a nice go bag of yo-yos for travel and working on tricks, and a few EDC throws I have with me so when waiting anywhere I can practice some elements.
The forum is awesome the community is fun, snarky and supportive of most things yo-yo.
Wink wink nudge nudge.
I can say with out any doubt for myself. I would not be able to enjoy throwing as much as I do with out the forum. It has me to grow as a player, collector and forum contributor. My throwing skills have grown exponentially because of the tutorials and links to videos out side the forum. Thank you forum gods.
This may be my 1st I can not remember buying more than one. It looks as if it could be by the ware marks. Throw more
Everyone enjoy the rest of the week.
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A Pro-Yo TV advertisement in 1998 got me into yoyos with my pals.
Bought a bunch , then the turbo bumble bee. Ruined them all looping and launching them into the neighbors yard.
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Hahaha I was watching tv as a kid suite life on deck came on had the episode ābroken yo-yoā with Grant Johnson ( for some who may or may not know or remember he played for yoyojam) dude straight up killed it and I figured hey that looks fun Iām about the same age and boom down the rabbit hole we go.
Now that I think about it that was around 08 I believe, how time goes.
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Many decades ago when I was a kid every Easter basket had at least 1 Duncan yoyo and/or top. I was about 6 when I decided they were cooler than the candy. I still ate the candy lol.
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