# Judge´s Analysis in Competitions
**URL:** https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547
**Category:** General Yo-Yo
**Created:** [September 3, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547 "2026-09-03T19:16:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@persson](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/persson)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/1 "2026-09-03T19:16:05Z")
Sorry, but there’s this thing I can’t understand and it’s making me lose my mind.
I used to watch this kind of analysis video, like this one for example:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24yrGsFA4EM)
I’ll just give you an example, to clarify my doubt: Kim performs a 4.5 Hook at 0:23… I put myself in the judge’s shoes… his eyes see the trick, his brain processes it and recognizes it (and he must know a huge number of them!), associates the correct score (and for every huge number of existing tricks, he must remember the same number of scores to associate) and gives the command to his finger to click five times, at which point the finger clicks five times… but in this time, Kim has done four other tricks!!! How is it possible to do something like that for three and a half minutes straight… come on, it’s not human!!!
I’m going crazy just thinking about it! 🤯
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### Author:  [@persson](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/persson)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2026, 8:35pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/2 "2026-09-09T20:35:20Z")
Well, the lack of responses confirms to me that this method of analysis is not at all the one used by judges, precisely because it is beyond human capabilities.
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### Author:  [@fradiger](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/fradiger)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2026, 8:43pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/3 "2026-09-09T20:43:24Z")
actually this is exactly how it works with pro clickers, they do this in real time and have just been doing it for so long that they’re skilled at it, though obviously there’s variance day to day and everyone clicks slightly differently
you can find a whole playlist of clicking and discussing routines on the scales channel even if it’s a bit old, they click the freestyles in real time during the video
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IGCdHS7cOo&list=PLXOJgUOzqKQcFnQlxd2T6JBa9DPe-mRnd)
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### Author:  [@Gomel](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/Gomel)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/4 "2026-09-09T20:52:07Z")
I don’t think it’s unhuman. look at f1 drivers. split second decision making PLUS crazy physical exertion. sure the judges are no f1 drivers but if youve driven, you can deconstruct your split second decision making analysis and come to a marvelous realization that ‘wow, humans are wild and crazy beings’ (not that other animals aren’t).
honestly it probably easier to judge and analyze than it is to do the tricks (mentally) and on top of that, judges have plenty of other fellow judges to back them up on their shortcomings.
p.s. I’ve never judged before but if I were to, your description of the process sounds about right but I’d practice it until it was as easy as breathing
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### Author:  [@persson](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/persson)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2026, 9:06pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/5 "2026-09-09T21:06:48Z")
Thanks; I can’t check right now, but I will as soon as I can. In any case, I see what the judges do at competitions, but some aspects aren’t clear to me. Is there an annually updated list of all existing tricks—or newly invented ones—where each trick is assigned a specific score? Does this list and scoring system apply worldwide And who decides the scores, and based on what criteria? Does every judge memorize every existing trick and its associated score, and are they able to recognize and evaluate it in less than a second? Is that how it works?
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### Author:  [@fradiger](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/fradiger)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2026, 9:32pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/6 "2026-09-09T21:32:25Z")
there’s no standard for clicking, judges tend to talk to eachother and also be competitors or ex-competitors and they all still yoyo and keep up with the modern element trends
also there’s always lots of discussion happening about what certain things click and why, what elements count as repeats, etc.
not everyone clicks the same, and the differences get heavily debated, for example consider the +3 score this video assigns to jakub’s ‘slack drop to teeth tower’, which if you look closely at the element is not nearly as difficult as other +3 elements shown in the video by the same judge
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llPTE4I_lc0&t=15)
every judge just has their own opinions and clicks and evaluates on the spot, hence we use a panel and average
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### Author:  [@persson](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/persson)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2026, 9:36pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/7 "2026-09-09T21:36:32Z")
Thanks; yes, I saw that video along with a few others.
But if that’s the criterion, it just seems like a way to give a technical veneer (based on clicks) to a judgment that is, in reality, practically subjective…
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### Author:  [@fradiger](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/fradiger)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2026, 9:41pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/8 "2026-09-09T21:41:03Z")
yes, this and also making clicking a bit more accessible by giving insight
i think a lot of judges acknowledge that the system is subjective and imperfect in nature, but fixing it requires a better system to replace it which nobody has really been able to agree on
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### Author:  [@persson](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/persson)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2026, 9:48pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/9 "2026-09-09T21:48:07Z")
But then videos like these are completely misleading, because they give the impression of an extremely technical, structured, and “analog” assessment… one that doesn’t actually exist.
Thanks for helping me understand.
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### Author:  [@Lex](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/Lex)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2026, 7:21am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/10 "2026-09-10T07:21:29Z")
Worth also adding that it’s not just the trick itself that determined how much it scores but also how the trick is executed.
For example, increased amplitude in a hop/transition will most likely score better compared to if you just dismount one string and then roll the yo-yo onto another. Or alternatively, if you had a picture laceration element like Hunter’s bite stole tower then if you land it cleanly in one single sequence that will score better than landing the bite stole and manipulating the strings afterwards to form a tower (which would not add any points compared to a regular bite stole).
This element of execution impacting scoring means it cannot just be as simple as “X trick = Y points”.
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### Author:  [@persson](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/persson)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2026, 9:03am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/11 "2026-09-10T09:03:49Z")
exactly, I knew that there were many aspects that were evaluated beyond the trick itself, presence on stage, aesthetics and fluidity of movements, synchronization with the backing track, etc. Precisely this makes this kind of video even more misleading and useless… they are useful for knowing the names of the tricks but it makes no sense to put the scores on them and make a final tally as if the ranking derived from this.
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### Author:  [@Yooo](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/Yooo)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2026, 11:04am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/12 "2026-09-10T11:04:12Z")
First, the reason you didn’t get a response quickly is because many people on this forum are into other types of yoyoing than just the competitive scene.
It isn’t stated in this particular video but a lot of these types of videos will say in the beginning that the clicks are just their thoughts on what each trick is valued. They are more so giving an idea of how they would judge each person based on their perspective. I enjoy seeing these videos to see not only what the tricks are but also what each person feels the trick scores. The person who made this video did make it to the finals of Worlds which also adds some credibility to their thoughts.
The only thing I don’t like about these types of videos is that with players doing similar tricks more often, I hope people aren’t using them as a template to create their own freestyles. It kind of turns freestyles into a trick ladder.
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### Author:  [@Lex](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/Lex)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2026, 12:44pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/13 "2026-09-10T12:44:19Z")
> [@persson](#):
>
> there were many aspects that were evaluated beyond the trick itself, presence on stage, aesthetics and fluidity of movements, synchronization with the backing track, etc.
These are covered by the eval categories, which you’ll see are a separate category in score sheets from tech. Evals are typically done by separate judges and are subjectively scored against the relevant category’s criteria and they don’t use clickers.
These scoring videos are covering the tech aspect of scoring which is directly related to the tricks and those tricks’ difficulty and their score is recorded via clickers. The execution of a trick impacts the tech score and how much that trick “clicks” individually, holistically it’ll impact your eval score for execution as well.
I wouldn’t say these videos are misleading. They are mainly targeted towards people with some underlying knowledge of how the scoring system works. An audience which are therefore expected to know broadly how tricks are clicked and the different aspects of competition scoring.
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### Author:  [@cviavi](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/cviavi)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2026, 1:57pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/judge-s-analysis-in-competitions/452547/14 "2026-09-10T13:57:03Z")
The judges have been yoyoing and competing for many years so they have a good understanding of what scores and what doesn’t. An example is Rei Iwakura, he had been competing for over 20 years but retired in 2023