Hi, I’ve been trying to learn more about the origins of so called “paper yo-yos” or “Chinese yo-yos”. This is the tightly wrapped paper on a stick you could extend and retract that was often a cheap prize at arcades. Not to be confused with the other kind of Chinese yo-yo with sticks and string.
I can’t find anything at all! I know this isn’t the kind of yo-yos you guys deal in but I’m at a dead end! Anyone have leads or alternative names?
I know what you’re talking about! But that’s about the extent of my knowledge on the matter, unfortunately
it probably doesn’t have a history. it seems to be something that just popped on the scene in the 80’s as party favors
I remember catching those at Mardi Gras sometimes as a kid! I loved those things! Sorry I’m no actual help.
Skon laminated blocks of paper and made FHZs. Hey @kyo can we get some pics?
Have heard them referred to as paper lasers before lol, that’s about all I got though.
Sure, this was made by s.kon from many layers of origami paper sandwiched and saturated with resin, then turned into a fhz. It even has an old school hand cut konkave A bearing because they weren’t available back in those days.
“Does it vibe?”
Zero vibe.
S.kon is the best yoyo maker/modder in the world, it plays great.
That’s got to be meticulous hours and hours of effort for that one yoyo
That’s still the coolest yoyo ever. It’s also still as absolutely flawlessly smooth as it was in 2008. If I remember correctly (not going to go count) it’s 134 hand made parts.
Without the world mod contest these days I think a lot of younger/newer throwers don’t know his work, good to shine a spotlight on it occasionally 
On you too, homie. It takes one to know one and you’ve put some pretty crazy designs into the yo-yo world. 
IIRC when I was growing up these things were sometimes called whipper-snappers. Sadly, the other old-timey use of that term will probably make searching tedious.
Grendel, Kyle and Ed, I appreciate you posting about s.kon. Good to learn a little history I never knew about.
Hans (YYF) has one and talks about it in a YT video. IIRC it’s the Gentry video about Hans collection. Very cool, it would be nice to see a production version at a reasonable price.
In regards to paper throws, this is the first I have heard of them. Very interesting.
Hey! Is it this? https://dillydallykids.ca/products/cllassic-paper-yo-yo?srsltid=AfmBOoo55eHC-6Avn09Lr0t832eNyOsVcAuX7WwIFc1QDZlSyDcfuAyo
Edit: there’s actually a whole bunch of these on the rainforest site.
i don’t think they’re trying to find them so much as find out about them; i.e. history and origin. they’re pretty easy to find but trying to get any info on where they came from seems to be a diff story. i tried to dig around myself but every time you mention Chinese and yoyo together you just get results for diabolo
Going through the skill toy list on Wikipedia may yield results:
I really wanted to find the origins because I’m trying to build a similar mechanism and thought finding the history might give me clues. However, I’ve found a better analog in STACER springs that are used to deploy booms in outer space (https://youtu.be/bElqBRvqTdo?si=HqtMh-un4kkkKu4M).
Still weird there isn’t a paper trail (haha). Like these are so simple… Did they exist in the 1800s? Earlier? Or did they just crop up in the mid/late 1900s, suddenly ubiquitous? Why don’t I see them around much anymore? Were they actually Chinese, or was that a marketing gimmick?
I’ve been spoiled by having a wikipedia article for almost everything, so when there is a gap it feels like an affront!
I feel they are as Chinese as American Chinese food, but that’s just a hunch. I also feel this needs a 4hr long investigative YouTube documentary lol
