New release from Alex Hattori - The BOOST SQUARED!

[YoYoExpertGarrett]

BOOST SQUARED:

When YoYoFactory team member Alex Hattori isn’t blowing our minds with his 3A skills or blowing up battle bots on TV, he spends his time honing his yoyo design skills. One special design that started out as a silly “what if…” project while attending MIT as a freshman in 2015 has finally become a reality that we can all enjoy - The Boost Squared!

The Boost Squared is somewhat of a departure from Alex’s signature Boost line of yoyos. It steers away from the competition oriented design with a unique not-so-round shape that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Yes, we said not-so-round, because this is a SQUARE yoyo, and easily one of the best square yoyos we have ever thrown!

This square is designed to perform as well as a square-ish/circle (squircle?) yo-yo possibly can. As Alex put it - “It’s about as floaty as an SUV and as organic as an Iphone XS Max.” It features a round catch zone and cup so grinds and fingerspins are still easy to perform. It plays surprisingly well and makes an excellent conversation piece. If you’re in the market for a square yoyo then look no further!

Releasing 1/30 @ 7PM EST.

Boost Squared

[djinni_cake]

This is such a fun yoyo. It seems like it wouldn’t work, but it just does. I’m seriously thinking of picking up a second one from this drop for the new finish.

[Myk_Myk]

“…easily one of the best square yoyos we have ever thrown!”

Wow, out of the two or three square yoyos they’ve ever thrown, it’s “one of the best”! Lavish praise indeed…

[TheHelveticaScenario]

Gimmickry aside, when it comes to an asymmetrical design along the diameter I have 2 general concerns:

1. Do the 2 halves nicely match up with respect to the square shape when screwed together without finagling by over/under tightening?
2. More importantly, how at risk am I to break a finger after a “surprise” bind?

We need a yo-yo “lending library” so I can try this out before I buy it. Is that a thing? Somebody needs to make that a thing.

[fatguysnacks247 (FSYB & FairTradeYoyos)]

‘we’ have discussed making it a thing recently, actually…

you’d need a tight network
of trusted folks
with at least equally invested value in the library, and donations if possible

[TheThrowingGnome]

@TheHelveticaScenario

Do the 2 halves nicely match up with respect to the square shape when screwed together without finagling by over/under tightening?

It’s not too much of an issue, but will take a bit of “finagling” to get perfect if you unscrew. Best to pick knots on this one in my experience

@TheHelveticaScenario

More importantly, how at risk am I to break a finger after a “surprise” bind?

Maybe, but the danger element is part of the fun with this one!!!

[fatguysnacks247 (FSYB & FairTradeYoyos)]

@TheThrowingGnome

It’s not too much of an issue, but will take a bit of “finagling” to get perfect if you unscrew

can you put it on a flat surface to get the last bit straight?

[djinni_cake]

I haven’t unscrewed it, but I’ve heard the same that TheThrowingGnome stated about needing some finagling.

It, uh…it stings if you get hit with a corner on that thing, but it’s not gonna break the skin or anything like that. I’ve had worse hits from some heavy bimetals.

You can even finger grind with it without danger…as long as you get it in that gap just right (which isn’t too hard).

[TheThrowingGnome]

Yes, but beware overtightening. I don’t unscrew mine.

[fatguysnacks247 (FSYB & FairTradeYoyos)]

i rarely unscrew any yoyo… only out of necessity (bearing, response)… i think i’ve yet to have a knot i couldn’t unpick vs unscrew… and in that case i find it better to call the string a loss and cut it

[TheThrowingGnome]

@fatguysnacks247

i rarely unscrew any yoyo

I unscrew every yoyo I have except this one.

[YoYoExpertGarrett]

I unscrewed a couple for photos and had no problem getting the lined up again. It did take a little bit of finagling with the axle, but thanks to the through-hole in each half it’s not much trouble with an axle key.

It actually plays surprisingly well, not competition level or anything, but very competent for the novelty of a square design. The only place I ran into issues was string rejection, it rejects somewhat unpredictably lol.

[AndreBoulay (André Boulay)]

Alex also mentioned to me that with this production run he was able to increase the length of the axle so there is more room to ‘adjust’ with a little bit of force before the threads just strip out. But with that said the ideal way is to play around screwing the yoyo together a few times as you can get it ‘pretty’ close then a small amount of force to get it to line up and it seems to handle that just fine.

I’m really really impressed with how well these play!

[codinghorror]

Is it April 1st already?!?

[yoyodoc]

Pretty nice feature is that if you drop the yoyo…

It won’t roll away.

And… if you are shopping and you are just about 2 inches short of reaching that loaf of bread on the top shelf>

You can stand on the yoyo like a tiny step stool.

And… you can use it to crack walnuts.

And… you can use it as an actual yoyo.

…Alex would not associate his name with anything ‘bad’.

PS…By the way/come to think of it>>>

I don’t have one yet. But, since it has the ‘through hole’ so you can put an Allen wrench on it.

Wouldn’t you be able to get the halves almost screwed together. And then hold the two halves flat against a table top, and then turn the wrench to tighten things up and get the yoyo dead on square?

I’m not stating that as a fact. I’m just picturing the process in my mind and it seems to make sense.

If that would work that way, then there should be no concern of keeping the yoyo square🤔

##Update>>> My theory fell short on the first test I did. I got 3 yo-yos: an Avant Guard, an Avant Guard 2 and a YYF Hectic. All 3 have through holes. You can see the axle ends from the outside of the halves. That is a good start.

Unfortunately, the holes are ‘through holes’ but not ‘tapped through holes’. In other words for my theory to work, the axle can’t stop at the outer edge of the hole. The tapped hole is like 1 thread from going completely through the yoyo halves. That limits free movement before lockup.

Next experiment will be to tap one of the yoyo holes all the way through to test my rotational movement theory.

I don’t have a square yoyo. So I am using a round yoyo with a piece of tape across the gap. The line simulates the corner of a square yoyo.

[French]

Being an MIT trained engineer and multiple time national 3A Champion, I dare say Alex is more qualified than most to design a yoyo. If anyone could make a square yoyo work, it would be him.