I got my first real yoyo back in about 1962, when I was about 8 years old - a red Duncan Imperial. BIG day in my life. It came with the booklet with all the little drawings of the tricks. The yoyo demonstrators were on the road back then. I never got to go to a demonstration, but there was stuff all over TV. That yoyo went everywhere with me. I don’t remember what made me stop, maybe ‘grew out of it.’ Yeah, right!
I somehow stumbled back into the yoyo thing in the mid- to late-90s. Bought Terminators (both fixed and BB), Proyo IIs, Fireballs, wooden Duncans, a Raider, a NoJive, Roller Woody, Silver Bullet (wooden axle), then the king of them all - Silver Bullet II. The concept of a ball bearing in a yoyo was a massive game-changer. There was no YouTube at that point, but you could get VHS tapes from Team Yomega, or my favorite - Dennis McBride! Man, that guy blew my mind. His old stuff is still out on YouTube, and is a blast to revisit. He still reminds me of my 7th grade science teacher, but he was amazing with a yoyo. I can tell you that learning a trapeze on one of those early Silver Bullets was indeed an accomplishment. I think my wife about had to revive me the first time I landed one of those. Over time, again, I drifted away. I still have most of these old yoyos, except the wooden Tom Kuhns and Silver Bullets which found new homes on eBay some years ago.
Flash forward to about May, 2020. The COVID pandemic is in full swing, we’re basically in lockdown. While digging through some junk in the basement, my 6-year-old granddaughter spotted a POS Coca Cola yoyo I picked up at some point because I couldn’t help myself. So here we go again. I discovered YoyoExpert.com and all the videos. Within a few weeks I had bought a MagicYoyo V3, then an Arcade, then an Iceberg. AMAZING how yoyos have evolved over the years. Fantastic!
Over the last 9 or 10 months the yoyo has basically been a savior. We couldn’t go anywhere. I fell and fractured my wrist in early July, so guitar, mandolin, fishing - all my usual activities - were impossible. But I could still throw a yoyo left-handed. By the time the cast was taken off, I was doing pretty darned well with my left hand. Now I’m closing in on 67 years old, and still throw an hour or two almost every day. My Death Adder, Basilisk, Free Solo, BMC and the others all get equal play, and I love 'em all.
Much like guitar and mandolin, the amount of yoyo information available online is unreal compared to 30 years ago. Back then you had to dig a lot deeper for guidance. It’s been fantastic not only relearning some of the skills and many new ones, but finding these active communities of throwers who don’t care who you are or how old you are, they only care about throwing. And we all seem to have an unnatural attraction to shiny new toys. In the world of guitars, they call it GAS - Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. With mandolins, it’s MAS. I’ve not seen anybody refer to “YAS” yet, but I fear I’m pretty well afflicted. At least I know I’m in good company - and I keep reminding my wife, a good yoyo is a TON cheaper than a mandolin!
The gratification of landing Pop N’ Fresh the first time, or Kamikaze - which I believed to be virtually impossible a few months ago - is second to none. The other gratification is watching my granddaughter. She has appropriated my old blue Butterfly and my Fast Eddie Shooter. They are set up responsive for her, but she can keep 'em going up and down as long as she wants while walking around the house. I doubt she’ll be the next Ann Connelly, but If she hadn’t discovered that old crap Coca Cola yoyo a year ago, I’d likely have lost my mind by now.
