(Gonna skip posting pictures up cause…well…it’s a quick review 
)
This should be YYF’s new flagship model. Seriously.
Like, remember how ground-breaking the Genesis was? The Supernova? The Superstar even? Yeah. Is the CheckMate good? Is oxygen good? Yeah.
Maybe I’m overselling it a bit too much due to the fact that Vashek is one of my all time favourite yoyoers and I’ve always wondered when they’d make him and Paul Han a signature yoyo. Over the course of 1 year yoyoing, I’ve been privileged and blessed to try out a substantial amount of yoyos, and a majority of them being YYF.
I read awhile back that the Checkmate has influences from the Quadro and Rockstar. I personally loved the Rockstar & Protostar line and wondered how they would incorporate that into this new yoyo.
Aesthetics
Probably the only pink yoyo I will ever own, I’m not gonna talk about how it looks. Okay maybe I will. Good. Period. The surface of the yoyo is great for grinds, and I’m talking about ‘Harold Owens III’s palm grind + bind’ good. It’s got a great IGR lip (is that right) which is perfect for thumb grinds as shown in the promo video for the throw. And surprisingly, it’s actually really good for horizontal-finger-spin-thingies. But of course, it’s no Movitation with that valley…you’ve gotta do it at an angle, but hey…it works.
Response & Bearing
YYF included a pair of blue YYF pads in mine, and I’m not sure what the general consensus on these are, but they’re pretty unresponsive…like, a little more than the white ones. I ended up using mostly Fat Kitty String when I played with it. Bearing wise, I absolutely love the Center Trac that they included with the yoyo. Amazing. I heard it’s bumped up to a ten-ball inside? I’m not sure on that.
Playability
First throw made me a little unsure of what I was dealing with. Maybe because I was thinking Rockstar in my head and whatever else, I was actually quite unsure of what I was expecting it to be. HOWEVER, on the bind and catch back to my hand…magic happened. The rims on this bad boy made the catch and feel of the yoyo in my hand so flippin magical. Unicorn magical.
I tried my usual combos and some speed tricks. I have to say, they got the weight right for this yoyo. Not too light, and not too heavy. Initially, it felt slightly sluggish to me after playing with my Berserker RX for weeks before this. But, I guess it was just a matter of getting used to it. In a few days, I managed to up my speed and flow with the CheckMate. It’s weight coupled with it’s shape and size makes it work very well. I found myself putting less effort into hops and manoeuvring/weaving it through strings for some of more technical tricks. I wouldn’t call this ‘floaty’ because it’s not. It’s solid and you KNOW it’s there at the end of your string ready for your next trick.
Still in the process of getting my horizontal tricks down, I wondered if this was one of them yoyos which would only reflect the level of your horizontal-trick-skills when you did them. To my great great joy, it’s forgiving and has helped me with practicing and learning my horizontal tricks. I’m a lot more confident doing some of my H-tricks with this than my Solenoid.
End Notes
I let some of my friends try this yoyo, and a team member of C3 mentioned that this was YYF’s Berserker. I know that it’s not a fair comparison, but that meant a lot coming from her. And I sort of agreed. Shape-wise, similar friends would be the Movitation and Berserker. It plays a lot better than the Movitation in my opinion and a few others’, and I personally feel that it’s able to contend against the Berserker in terms of play. A little smaller, but as amazing.
This thing is competition ready, with its competition-ready shape (yes, it’s legit). Lol.
And the price! Goodness. I’m half tempted to get a second one. I’m not sure what the prices are in the UK/EU but here in Asia and in the States, it’s price tag does NOT reflect the quality of this yoyo. Seriously. I’m pleasantly surprised by the price for this and how it plays. AMAZING. Get it? Yes.
My apologies for my lack of accurate terms and I hope the comparisons make sense 
My first micro-review xD
Really appreciate it!