I haven’t been yoyoing for that long, (five months I think) so there’s this question that’s been nagging me. What are some of the turning points in yoyo design, tricks or otherwise and how did it affect now?
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One small thing I remember. 52’ish mm yoyo’s by several makers! Gnar Gnar.
I remember the first ‘contest’ level throw I tried was the Chico Heavy Hitter in Blue/Red (thanks Geez!). At that point I wondered how soon everyone would be making yoyo’s like it. It wasn’t long IIRC.
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The Internet as the de-facto community infrastructure and yoyo-buying mechanism has to be the biggest single change to affect the hobby since its last big boom in the 1990s, with 1A supplanting 2A as the premier competition style coming in second.
But in terms of recent developments, I’d have to say that the rise in high-quality, low-cost machining has probably had the biggest impact.
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I think the moment yoyos with C size bearing were introduced; other doors to yoyos evolving; opened.
I am not saying it was the best ‘change’. But it sure caused some twists in the momentum at that time.
…And Difeo coming up with the KonKave bearing design was an Amazing thing.
And with his innovation; all these years later; so many people(except One Drop) have come up with countless bearing designs that are anything but ‘flat’. <> So Frank must have had a timeless idea; lol.
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Something I was just thinking about last night…is there’s no need to mod yo-yos anymore.
I was into yoing a bit in the early 2000’s and modding was just something you did. Whether it was something small like taking the friction stickers (response) out for something less snaggy, or cleaning your bearings…to more complex things like adding weight rings or recessing the response areas…modding was just part of the hobby.
Now yo-yos are amazing playing straight out of the box with no need to tweak anything.
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This!
haha you guys remember trying to learn tricks with written instructions and hand drawn pictures? 
Or trying to load up an instructional video…with dial-up? >.<’
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Internet: Learning is so much easier now than it was 20 years ago. It helps to have a good community and the yoyo community is great. When fnigerboarding started to make a move the community basically froze out newbies and sent the hobby into a tailspin.
Standardization: It is amazing that so many yoyo’s can be built on a few bearing and axil sizes. And it really helps the customer when it is time to replace parts.
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Condition: I’m 2006-2007 most people would only complain if it wobbled.
Sometimes people asked usually the super super anal people cared but I didn’t till others did bc I saw how it would affect my yoyo prices.
Remember getting a HighWall All To mailed to me, no bubble wrap in a letter, about 15 scratches. I traded him a close to mint aqua that’s why.
But condition was 25% of what it is today 10% if anal (you said 2 pinpricks i found 3 w a !microscope!) Lol
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Some historical highlights:
Pedro Flores: 1928, Mass produced yoyos with the string looped around the axle, instead of tied, which allowed the yoyo to sleep.
Duncan: 1930’s to 1960’s, Marketed yoyos using touring professionals to demonstrate and sell throws. 1950s(ish), Starburst response. 1980s, Weight rings.
A number of folks made ball bearing throws over the years, but creating a yoyo that reliably responded at a reasonable price point was a challenge. Yomega and Spintastics both had decent stuff by the 1990’s, but I’m going to skip to…
Playmaxx: 1997, Brake Pad Technology (BPT). Mass-produced replaceable response system, and it actually worked pretty well. Allowed for good sleep times (by standards of the time), while still having a decent tug response.
I’m going to stop there, since I stepped out of yoyoing before the Great Time of Innovation, which (more or less) happened after the late 90’s boom. Although, it’d be great if someone who was around for it could speak to the beginnings of unresponsive play, since that’s been the biggest game changer I can think of.
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I definitely feel like the bi-metal era that came to play was one of the biggest roles for modern aspects and design. Once companies stared introducing bi-metal rims, it was obvious that more rim weight( along with a higher price tag) would be a stronger and better off way to go. Since the bi-metal intro era, I believe now that most yoyos(definitely not all) try to follow the concept of more rim weight as well as having various sizes/shapes of a second metal attached. That’s just what I could think of! Lots of trick elements that developed over the years to push the design to the longest spinning yoyo possible