Intro to Yoyo Specs

General Yo-Yo
1

Yo I’m writing this to help other beginners understand how yoyo specs relate to how a yoyo plays. I started playing recently and went on a quest to learn about the Yoyo and I still remember how mystical the specs at one point seemed. I want to make yoyo more accessible and I know something like this would have saved me a ton of time and lots of other forum users from having to answer all my questions (Thanks!).

This is an intro guide and each of the specs have more that you can learn about. Hopefully this helps some people skip ahead.

Weight
Weight is an impactful factor to how a yoyo plays and feels.

Higher Weight = longer spin time & less maneuverability (how easy it is to accelerate and decelerate or I think how easy it is to make the yoyo zip around from here to there).
When players say things like “plays faster,” they are usually refering to the maneuverability.

Rim weight: more stability, longer spin

Center weight: better regens

Rim weight is defined by diameter (distance from axis) not width!

Adv. stuff about weight and weight distribution

topic

Diameter
Diameter effects how a yoyo feels in your hand (like big or small) and plays an impact of how it spins.
Bigger diameter = more initial spin and spin time but makes some stuff like chopsticks stuff or through triangles require more finesse.

Width and Catch-zone
Width is related to the catch zone of a yoyo and the catch zone is another spec that isn’t explicitly described but is important to consider. The catch zone is the area that is good to hit for like trapeze and stuff.

Wider yoyos are more stable than narrow yoyos and the extra width helps add space for a larger catch zone. Larger catch zone makes riskier, hard to catch moves like behind the back stuff easier than if it was more narrow.

Wider yoyos also make dense tech harder because there is less and less space for the yoyo to pass through complex string configurations.

It is easier for the string to hit the walls with more narrow yoyos, so they can require more technique to use. Don’t let this be bad though, they are very fun and it’s helpful to use a narrow (slimline) yoyo to learn proper technique.

Shape
Shape effects where the string hits the walls of the yoyo and how it feels to catch and hold in your hand. It also effects the weight distribution(link to adv. topic info above.) Most competition yoyos have a zero wall meaning there is no wall after the response system because competitors don’t want the string to hit the wall and tilt off axis while tricking off.

Gap Width and Response
Response is the easiest to tune by experimenting with different string thicknesses and types of pads/silicone recesses.
In general—
smaller gap=easier to bind, snag/kill spin with lots of string layers.
larger gap=requires more finesse to bind, less likely for the strings to hit the response system and slow down the spin or snag.

Bearings
Just use what comes w the yoyo until you’re ready to dive in deeper.

Advanced learning about bearing shapes

Just the Facts: Bearing Shapes

You can learn more about materials of yo-yos and strings and other good beginner tips here

This guide was more to help translate that other guide to how it plays/ feels vs what it is .

If anyone sees anything off or anything I forgot, please fact check me! I want to make sure the info is correct and would love for others to contribute/ share ideas!

12 Likes
2

You could dive into materials…. Different aluminums, Ti, Mg, SS, plastics, hybrids or the good’ol OG…. Wood.

3 Likes
3

Yo this is a great idea I’m about to head out for a sec but if you or anyone else wants to write a thing about it, I’ll update the op when I get a chance !

4

Along with material I would say mentioning string would make sense. Smooth vs course and thick vs thin but mostly stick with what the yoyo came with or bulk string as a beginner

1 Like
5

Okay edited the op I just added the other beginner guide on here because that does a really good job w materials and strings and stuff

1 Like
6

This is incorrect. The closer the weight is to the spinning axis, the lower the moi and consequentially, the lower the stability. Centerweight increases maneuverability, not stability.

Edit- So @MarkD has very kindly pointed it out that I oversimplified the facts way too much to the point the above statement is incorrect. Yoyo design is a lot more complicated and nuanced to dictate anything with one sentence. But general physics says an object with lower moi will move more easily/be more agile than an object of the same mass but higher moi. So you can use that fact to draw some may or may not true conclusions. I hope Mark gives a better explanation of all the stuff the post includes in the comments.

3 Likes
7

I thought it had zero effect on moi like only how close to the axis in the rim direction mattered but not the width for moi I’ll update it tho

8

This isn’t true!

Edit: We’re trying to figure out what exactly maneuverability is in discord, I will post my findings

3 Likes
9

I took that line out of the op because it’s not necessary for the beginners anyways but yeah I thought so but idk

10

I just don’t think centering the weight effects moi like the physics stay the same based on what I’ve seen and yeah it is a lot more nuanced but the broad strokes of yo-yos physics should be relatively easy to understand for people just learning about yo-yos and center weight or not is like not a beginner thing anyway so I just took it out

11

I mean weight distro is fairly advanced stuff which you can only really notice and/or understand if u r a somewhat competent yoyo player who has played with a lot of yoyos. It is not exactly beginner stuff.

1 Like
12

You could definitely be right. I just went on a quest to learn all the stuff and at some point I was like ooo I get it all and I feel like I can roughly guess what all the yo-yos will feel like in the normal specs zone.

I don’t like all the abstract talk about how yo-yos play because that made it way more difficult for me to learn about this than it had to be so I wanted to try to write this I don’t know maybe I should try to rename it or something. I remember at one point all the specs were really hard to understand but now they all make sense to me I don’t know

13

Honestly a guide on what classifies a yoyo as standard, over and undersized would have been helpful early on. also knowing what weight meant and why you want more or less weight based on what you want to do. width also didn’t make sense at first i thought for a while super wide is best but didn’t understand width may help catch the string easier but makes some stuff harder.

don’t get me wrong that’s more intermediate topics but I think of beginner as someone who buys a sage and just starts learning how to throw a yoyo and catch it and once, they decide to go beyond that and into learning to bind those topics start to show their head as the new player starts thinking about what they want to buy to learn on.

I’ve noticed an assumption from new players that there is a “best” yoyo or some Swiss army knife yoyo and that’s not really how it works. every size, shape and weight have tradeoffs and lead to different levels of difficulty in learning tricks. That being said an H shape around 65g is going to play similar to other h shape at 65g and that’s another thing folks could learn early on to not become a collector of a bunch of similar yoyos that all do relatively the same thing.

3 Likes
14

You were right to point out that maneuverability isn’t well defined and I changed the language to how easy it is to accelerate or decelerate. I found speed to be a confusing term as a beginner and I see others with the understanding that speed is about rpm’s instead of how fast they play. it would be most technical to say like what amount of energy is required to move the Yoyo from point a to point b or something.

Also I wanted to make the general physics of how yo-yos work and feel, easier to understand. I think actually designing and producing yo-yos is way way more complicated than the short summaries I’m leaving here. I realize there is way way more work that goes into taking abstract ideas about specs to a realized Yoyo in my hand. Please don’t think that I’m trying to disrespect your Yoyo design practice or any other designers. I really respect what you do and I wouldn’t have yo-yos to play with if it wasn’t for all the Yoyo designers making yo-yos. I think the spin top side cap design you showed here is genius and hope you the best!

1 Like
15

I think it’s difficult to pin down all of this even after designing so many yoyos. All of the factors combine together into a single object, mixing together in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to guess how different factors affect how a yoyo feels to play.

It’s still worth trying, of course! Thank you for your efforts here.

5 Likes
16

I think that having a reliable definition of these terms can help anyone. But one thing that yo-yos have taught me above other hobbys is that seemingly insignificant differences can have significant effects, while seemingly large
differences may not.

2 Likes
17

This is indeed a valiant effort, trying to outline all of this. The physics of this “simple” toy are really very complex. Add all the subjectivity of “playfeel” and you will get lots of debate.

I remember early on in my journey when someone claimed the Markmont Classic to be a floaty organic. I disagreed but didn’t chime in. I felt it had a little for heft to it but the more I played and my game got better…. It did indeed feel more floaty. Super throw and one of my favorites. :slight_smile:

I think the new player doesn’t have the experience to really describe a yo-yos performance or playfeel, let alone try and guess how one will play based on specs. They just don’t have a good enough game to really experience the design intent.

I have a few that I really didn’t care for at first. Coming back to them after a while, more experience in play, I found that I really liked them.

Keep up the good work Henry but realize that your whole perspective might change.

4 Likes
18

Yeah for sure I have a very blunt understanding of yoyos and how they play or fell. I think that it was helpful to me to learn roughly what the specs mean so that I can at least start to compare yoyos. I don’t think the basic physics behind how a yoyo works is very complicated and I think it’s harmful to yoyo to mystify them. I think there is a lot of nuance certainly but it was helpful to know that a 62g yoyo will be easier to move around than a 68g yoyo. The idea that weight translates into how fast they play and also effects spin time isn’t something everyone is born knowing.

I think sometimes players that have been throwing yoyos for a while forget how much there is to learn and see some of these things as obvious. I’m starting to see them as obvious now as well. I wanted to write this before I forgot what it felt like to know nothing at all. I just listened to episode 2 of @unklesteve 's yoyo player podcast and Mark McBride tells a funny store about when someone first showed him you could change the string on a yoyo. He didn’t enter yoyo knowing that was a thing that happened and all this stuff about how yoyos work is like that.

I want to explain some basic things while recognizing that there is a lot more to it. If you want to add or help me find better wording that would be great! I would like for you to contribute because you have much more experience and I welcome that! I don’t know why you would want to act like this is sacred knowledge because it’s just math mostly. Wider yoyos generally make a trick easier to catch than a narrower yoyo because they have a wider catch zone. If a beginner hasn’t tried either, they might not realize that. I didn’t think it would be controversial to try to help people skip ahead by putting a bunch of stuff like that together. I didn’t realize a bunch of things about yoyos like that.

19

Ooo I missed that you brought up my Yoyo playing but that wasn’t cool. I might be the kid at the skatepark pushing mongoose but it’s not even been 6 months yet and I learned some really hard tricks so I’m pretty happy w my skill level! I took out the only line that referenced “feel” because you were right! It was subjective. Generalizations about how yo-yos perform can certainly be made but you were right to point out that I should avoid abstract language and “feel.”

Again, if you would like to help, go for it! But I don’t think you even need to know how to throw a Yoyo if you understand the super easy to understand things I laid out. Everything I wrote is about physics so idk how that is going to change when I get better. I also think it’s all right but if not, please let me know and we can fix it!

20

Henry.

Forgive me… My post read wrong. I wasn’t referring to you (as the beginner) specifically. I was making a generalization of someone just getting into yoyo. You’re well past that point in a very short time and I’ve commented on that fact more than once. My bad, I edited the post.

This is the sort of statement that I was trying to capture because I don’t think that its always true. Depending on the design, a 68g throw may move a lot quicker that something lighter. These hard and fast comments create a lot of debate in the community. Depending on what designs a player has experienced, their thought base changes. There is so much out there, so many different “recipes” that it takes a long while for someone to really get a grasp. Every new yoyo I pick up is another step in my progression in understanding what really makes this toy tick.

Throw on my friend!!

2 Likes