I remember with my first yoyo (FAST 201) i though the finger loop, you know the already made side, went on the bearing and i had to make a new loop for my finger… ;D
My fondest memories of early yoyoing come from that long lost feeling of discovery with each subsequent addition to the collection. I dabbled in yoyos in the late 90s so I was just accustomed to the standard Yomegas that would be in every toy store (never saw a Raider until recently though, oddly enough).
Then when I finally picked it back up a couple years ago, when I first removed my Lyn Fury from the package I marveled at how wide it was, how smooth the contours were, how insanely wide the gap was, the necessity of learning how to bind.
Then the Dark Magic took it to a whole new level with the metal weight rings - it was like yoyoing on steroids to me with how long I could get that thing to spin (not very long at all by my standards today lol).
Then a few yoyos later I was introduced to the Boss as the first metal and first undersized yoyo I ever tried, and my mind was blown, and at that point I considered myself officially and 100% hooked for life.
There was just so much discovery, so much new ground covered with every package I opened. It was great, and one of the main driving forces that kept the game so interesting. Now those new discoveries are becoming more expensive all the time, branching out into the realm of exotic metals and combinations thereof, or novelty shapes and dimensions.
I miss those days.
Honestly I don’t remember when I first started yoyoing. It was THAT long ago. lol I do remember some of the yoyo’s I had though. The Duncan Gem was the end all be all of yoyo’s in that day.
Skip ahead to modern yoyoing over 25 years later…
I remember Adam Brewster trying to teach me cold fusion and my sleep wasn’t long enough. Fun times.