A yoyo is best know to go down and then back up in a quick effortless looking motion. It’s a toy in most peoples eyes and for some reason people who don’t yoyo question how a yoyo sleeps (“How does it stay down like that?”) My response is it has a ball bearing. Now before ball bearings were introduced to yoyos it must have been hard to have one sleep more that 7 seconds and return nicely. So ball bearings were what took yoyoing to the next level. Innovative people creating new tricks to new styles of yoyoing have really changed the image of what most people picture “yoyo”. From amazing companies creating new designs and supporting contest, players, growth, and collectors leads to my question. What is the next big step in yoyoing? Today we have so many great companies with a TON of amazing players to the point that it really doesn’t make a difference if you’re sponsored or not. Lots of unique designs from various materials with budget friendly items such as the Benchmark Series, Dark Magic, Shutter, etc… to the rising trend of Bi metal yoyos. It’s crazy to see that we have all these options and to the extent of peripherals for our yoyos (strings, bearings, response, etc…) so what do you think will happen to the world of yoyos? Is their much growth left? Has it hit it’s prime? Will it stay where it’s at for quite some time? Would you argue that the ball bearing era is still new? Give your opinion! I’d love to see others perspectives of yoyoing in general and thoughts of progression.
considering the extent of the fixed axle era… ball bearings are still fledgling.
most likely we will see something very different in design within the next few years…
im thinking more hybrid designs and maybe even a few new playstyles.
Next step is in getting yoyo out there. Get it out there to be as mainstream as Kendama is in the United States. Make a yoyo boom #2 in 2020 (cause I think Kendama will be around for a while)
Is Kendama that big over there? I was under the impression that the yoyo scene was far bigger…
I dunno, kendama seems to be pretty trendy as I’ve seen them randomly from all walks of life.
Yoyos however, outside of competition, I haven’t seen too often out in the wild.
This is Socal btw.
I haven’t seen much Kendama. Just one guy at a college.
I think 3D printing might bring the toy back to prime time, but the technology isn’t quite there.
I could see a chinese yoyo style, using the new 5A offstring designs. Or is that what 5A is?
Might be cool to see synchronized yoyo performances, and usage of effects like water
The organized yoyo scene (to me) Is bigger than the organized Kendama scene, but right now, the general public has more Kendama players than yoyo players. Kendama is pretty big right now, especially in CA, but Kendama is so big in Hawaii that the hotel manager saw me play yoyo and asked if it was a Kendma.
I’ve stumbled across a few people who play kendama. It’s becoming a trendy thing especially in So Cal and I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all. As for yoyos I think more will be produced and continue to be bought BUT I feel that it’s hitting a point where “How much different can this new yoyo be from what we already have available?” Yes they are all different but they all are similar in many ways. the popular companies of this day will continue making products and fans will keep buying but what worries me is what about these new companies? What do they have to offer or bring to the table that the popular companies don’t already do? I see it as a challenging task to build a community who loves and supports your brand and somehow rise to popular status. Even if you come up with something Genuine these bigger manufactures will improve upon the idea and get more business because they have the resources. You can tell me I’m wrong but right now big names are at the top of their game and when they joined they were in at the right time which help build their success. Not saying new companies don’t have a shot or the new company thing is over saturated but it will become harder as time goes on.
There’s always going to be big steps and trends in trick developement, but I think we’ve hit the peak of yoyo design technology. the last major breakthrough was side effect tech 5 years ago and yeah there’s always going to be little tweaks here and there–steel rims on titanium body, ect–but I don’t see any more major breakthroughs. I mean, can anyone honestly say, “modern yoyos just dont spin long enough, and aren’t stable enough”
I hope I’m proved wrong though.
Kendama must be bigger in Cali then cause I’ve never seen anyone with a kendama in Texas.
Kendama’s pretty big in Cali.
I can’t walk 5 blocks here without seeing at least one kendama
Out here on the east coast, I haven’t seen either throwers or kendamas, besides one coworker who got me back into throwing. Lucky me huh?
Kendama is actually pretty big throughout California from what I’ve observed. I’ve seen kids, teens, and adults alike carrying one with them in the store at times.
And you know it’s popular when you can buy them in a theme park, another place where I see kendama all the time.
As for yoyoing and the next big thing, I can see more experimentation with different materials, more hybrids, and in the near future seeing bi-metals becoming more affordable. Overall, things are just going to only become more affordable, maybe to the point another boom could happen.
One of the biggest things I’ve seen since I got back into yoyoing (2010) was seeing how quickly a decent metal became really affordable. When I first picked back up in 2010, the cheapest decent metal (if you ignore the proprietary parts) one could find were the Yomega Dash and Maverick. Now, there are quite a few metals in the $30-50 range, some even popping up at big box stores. My nearby sporting goods stores stocks YYF DV888’s which is a great thing to actually have somebody get for their first metal, or even perhaps their first yoyo at this rate.
Slippery Eel
Yo-Yoing needs to be marketed to kids in the US/Canada the same way we sell toys like BeyBlade. A product line sold in retail stores, and an animated TV show to support it. They use this strategy here to sell tops, trading cards and gimmicky toys, and it’s already been done with Yo-Yos in other countries (Blazing Teens/Auldey).
The show could focus on 1A string tricks at first to keep it simple, and if it succeeds, you introduce other Yo-Yo styles later to perpetuate interest in your product. Something like the One Drop Benchmark series, but in the form of inexpensive plastic models, could be ideal as a place to start. And of course, you would also sell the Yo-Yos that the main characters in the show use. Things like strings, response pads, bearings and lubricant should be sold adjacent to the actual Yo-Yos for three reasons;
- Kids can maintain their throws and keep them playing well.
- Toy lines that allow kids like to customize things to some extent are ideal. Parts like colored strings, different bearing types and response pads with different levels of grip could be good for this. Offering metal weight rings in various colors that fit in all available Yo-Yo models might also be worthwhile.
- Smaller non Yo-Yo purchases. Kids (and their parents) probably aren’t going to buy a ton of Yo-Yos all the time, so you need something extra to keep bringing kids back to the store to spend another 5$-10$.
The TV show and the packaging share the job of ensuring kids understand the significance of these Yo-Yo parts. I could go into detail on how that might be approached, but that could be overkill here. My point is, Yo-Yos really seem like they could be marketed using an already common and successful strategy… one that sells a lot of toys that aren’t nearly as cool. If Yo-Yoing becomes popular with kids, you could easily get another “boom”.
Yep, it worked in China.
There was a yoyo meet with all the local kids and it was great when I was there.
However I wonder if kids in the west would have the patience for it nowadays or if they would rather just go on their xbox or phone… Maybe that’s why we haven’t seen a recent yoyo boom.
To go off on an old curmudgeon tangent, that’s why we haven’t seen a recent anything boom.
Wow, I never realised Kendama was such a big thing over in California. That’s pretty cool actually.
I think one of the selling points of Kendama is how simple it is (not easy, simple). Anyone can pick up a Kendama and figure out roughly what they should be aiming to do with it, whereas most people wouldn’t really know where to begin if you handed them an unresponsive yoyo. I think this difficulty can be a bit offputting to those without the patience. :-X
The future of yoyoing is hard to say. I feel like saying “I’m pretty sure yoyo manufacturing has hit it’s peak”, but then I also said “youtube will never be popular”, “nobody cares about facebook” and “twitter? this’ll never catch on.” (my exact words)
So that’s taught me that I’m wrong about these sort of things 99.99% of the time. In fact, me saying something isn’t going to go any further seems to be a guarantee that it will. So, with that in mind:
WE WILL NEVER SEE THE DAYS OF BUDGET TITANIUM/TUNGSTEN HYBRIDS.
Still, with all these bi-metals and Titaniums coming out, it’s hard to know really where to go from here besides venturing into even more obscure metals. Even then, it’s hard to know exactly how much of a performance increase this will provide.
I mean look at the Anglam Ti, it’s a titanium yoyo with steel rings designed by Mickey. Granted, it probably costs more than a private jet, but where do you go from there? What’s the next step up from a yoyo like that?
Funnily enough, as un-aesthetic as I think they look, I was really surprised that OD’s stunt peg side effects didn’t catch on. To me they seemed like the only recent-ish innovation that could genuinely change the game. :-X
I love in California (Los Angeles) and I have never seen a Kendama nor any Yoyo player :(. I almost felt like they extinct up until now and it’s 2015!