So I’ve been wondering if yoyoing is ever gonna go totally mainstream instead of a small group of people. Yoyonation fell apart and Infinite Illusions seems to be decaying too. I haven’t noticed a change in the population of people showing up at competitions though. I’ve been going to them for 3 years now and if anything, less people have been coming in the region where I live (Ohio). I’d like to know your thoughts on this and any other information you might have. I didn’t do much research so spare me if I’ve completely overlooked something.
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So you were at Ohio States?
Yes
Ok.
I do remember you now.
The main reason it has stayed popular for this long, even though the community is small in the grand scheme of things, is because of the internet. Without places like YYE and the forums, most people would be throwing alone at home, learning from picture tutorials in Duncan and Yomega booklets and only being able to progress so far becomes monotonous and tiring forcing most people to retire their Duncan Butterfly or Yomega Brain they found at WalMart.
As far as a “boom” goes… It’s tough to say. It’s doing very well staying steady for this long. If a boom did occur, it would be great for a while but then when it dies down, it would give the illusion of yoyos dying out as a whole thus, once again, forcing people to think it’s not the “popular” thing to do and then move on to some new (old) fad such as pogs…
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I’m still pretty new to modern yoyoing, but I get the feeling that it comes and goes from the mainstream, it came a little into the mainstream when I was in middle school but I don’t remember anything modern it was mostly fixed axle looping yoyos and the Yomega Brain, so maybe we need to get out in public a bit more and show people what yoyoing has become, and bring it back to the mainstream again.
But yeh the internet seems to be what keeps the yoyo community together because it is relatively small at the moment.
and lol, Pogz 
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“Its dying.
Just like you are.
From the day you were born.”
Wow. That was deep. Really puts life in perspective, how precious and short our time on earth is.
Pogs! 
ah memories- google them kiddos!
Man, I miss pogs and older Yoyojams… Enough of the past. I would say yoyoing is growing as a sport, but shrinking as a community. Nowadays, all yoyoers care about is competing and becoming sponsored, it’s become less about having fun.
Maybe competing and being sponsored IS fun for these pro yoyoers.
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I’ve been wondering this lately as well.
Someone mentioned that contest attendance has been relatively stable the past few years, but I think the community as a whole has grown over a few years time. Just take a look at YYE for example. We have lots of new members registering every day. And just think about the huge quantities of people who don’t even have accounts here. I think the yoyoing community as a whole is slowly growing larger.
But you have to also consider… for every new member gained… how many have we lost over time?
About the yoyo boom… who knows when it will happen. Another one will eventually happen, it’s just a matter of when. I’d like to see a yoyo “censuses” start being taken at contests every year. An attendance count should be taken at contests that are in the same location every year. You may ask yourself, why not take it at worlds? Well, this would be inaccurate since now, Worlds is moving around every year and attendance could greatly vary depending on its location.
If only there was a way to get details on whether in fact the yoyo community was growing or declining in numbers.
I think that’s a part of the issue.
I feel yoyo is in a decline right now. I think the fact taht companies like H-Spin and SPYY have recently gone under though isn’t a symptom of the decline, but rather a matter of “best business practices” for the individuals behind those companies.
At the same time, new brands are springing up and delivering amazing yoyos, but are doing so in small-ish numbers.
Yomega has turned around and is presenting truly modern yoyos to the world. Duncan has been coming up with more and more amazing stuff as of late. One Drop and CLYW are booming.
Yet, I feel it is in decline. I think the biggest issue is that the cycle peaked somewhere in 2011/2012(after I started). However, it’s not my fault. I always seem to jump into things when they are on the way out. Yoyos are specialty toys now, not for the “common person” anymore. This is because they aren’t really widely and readily available for most of us.
This may be bad for companies like YoYoExpert, who rely on sales of yoyos to sustain them. However,I feel this decline is not going to be really bad or really long. I don’t see Andre needing to go get a second job. I think us “diehards” will ensure he can keep his house, make his car payments, buy us more yoyos to sell us and continue to make payroll. I think this kendama trend is what is distracting from yoyo, but at the same time, there’s so much skill toy cross-over, I think it will actually bring things back up.
I also want to notice some interesting observations:
After the Sandy Hook school shooting tragedy late in 2012(December 14), I noticed ALL the local video game retailers, INCLUDING traffic around video games at toy stores and major retailers who carry games dropped off significantly. I don’t think this is an “across the board and every market” thing, but it was strange. At a nearby strip mall, the Game Stop went from kids hanging around and playing, to employees trying to get people inside. At another nearby GameStop, which is next to a comic book store that sells kendamas, the GameStop went empty(still is open for business), but the comic book store has a crowd out front playing kendamas. Over 7 months later, this is STILL the case at that location.
I’m not blaming video games for anything. I’m personally sick of FPS games. I do like Mech Warrior, but it’s set in a fictional environment with clearly fake everything, so nothing looks real. I got no use for this realistic shoot-em-up crap. I think people are looking for something to backlash against, and well, violent video games are an easy target.
I got into yoyo to get away from video games. I got sick and tired of batteries and electronics. This is contradictory to most of my work though. But, my kids with their beeping and booping toys driving me freakin’ batty. You try figuring out which ZhuZHu pet is making noise at 1AM and driving you bonkers.
I think as people discover getting your butt off the sofa and away from the computer or console, interacting with others, moving around and really engaging mind and body gets the attention it deserves, we’ll see a massive influx of new people at all skill toys. That is going to happen in cycles, just as it goes with other things.
So, I feel yoyo is in decline right now. I don’t think this will be a deep decline. I think it’s just hit a peak and is coming down, but is buffered by other skill toys and people looking for alternative yet accessible fun and enjoyment. I say within 2 years it will be climbing back up again. I don’t think it’s gonna dive down low.
To what yoyospirit said, I do think it’s true that too many players are coming in just to reach for that golden run of being sponsored. It’s almost like some sort of business of sports entertainment path. Too much focus on competition and “the prize”. For too many people, the joy is gone. For me, while the joy is dead right now, it’s an entirely different non-related issue. For me though, yoyo is about the enjoyment and fun of it. I’m going through some crap right now, so I don’t have that joy or fun, but it shall return. That is why I yoyo. More people need to just enjoy what they do.
For me, at this moment in time, I’m really not motivated to yoyo or use other skill toys. My lack of motivation is depression related. Even so, I know this is just a temporary thing and my drive will come back. I’ve decided to stick with this for the rest of my life because when it’s working for me, it gives me great enjoyment. We “lifers” will sustain things, trying to expose more people to the things we enjoy, share it with others and keep it alive.
^^^God, Zhu Zhu Pets are annoying. They randomly go off all the time.
The constant contests are really what I feel keeps it going. Cardistry all but died out because there were no contests or anything, just people putting up videos on the net. If you can imagine no Regionals, no Nationals, no EYYC, no Worlds… people would have nothing to work towards.
I think the amount of contests and the contest driven focus of the sport is what will keep it going for a fair while to come. =)
Yoyoing is actually growing right now, just not in the ways that would be noticeable to a small group of yoyo players on a message board.
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ZhuZHus, been there done that.
1 Am: Need water…CRASH…Did I just knock everything off my dresser?..WhaaWhee…Nooooooooo!!!
Who needs to google? I still remember Pogs! And yes I am still young.
In my opinion people just don’t know it’s around. No concept of modern yoyo, or yoyo clubs. Many people probably even have a yoyo club in their city and don’t know anything besides Duncan/Yomega books and Walmart yoyos.
In the beginning of high school I liked to yoyo, I got books from the library and learned walk the dog, creeper, forward pass, around the world, what I used to call “sideways around the world”. The basics.
Near the end of senior year (earlier this year) I picked up my yoyo again and was like hey didn’t Duncan have a website. Yep! In the long run ended up on youtube, and found so much info that I couldn’t even process it. I wished I had found it earlier, especially the snap start. I always knew that winding a yoyo had to be easier.
Gateway yo-yos are really important. Where would we be without cheap plastic wal-mart throws? I was hooked on the yo-yo when I saw a mean-looking hombre at school whip out a plastic dollar-store brain rip-off and sleep it. I thought that was the coolest thing I had ever seen that I could easily do myself.
I believe it’s growing. At MER a couple weeks ago, they said they had more people competing in several divisions than ever before.
So, is Yoyoing growing in a way that will continue to support the high end boutique market from your perspective? Or are mass produced low-mid priced yoyos where the market growth is?