So this word gets thrown around quite a bit. What does tech mean when referring to yoyo play? What type of tricks form this category? I’ve been yoyoing for a while, but I’m not up to speed on jargon yet. Is tech mostly slack or string hits?
Is this tech?
I’ve also heard of something called generitech. What’s that? Is it more general than other tech? Is it faster/slower? Also what are other words used to describe the different types of 1A play?
There are a lot of different views on tech, the general consensus is anything difficult.
However, if you ask players they will most likely give you a slightly more specific answer.
I dug up this AWESOME article from yoyonews which asks the question “What is tech” and “what makes a great combo”
Also on the subject of ‘generitech’:
‘Generitech’ in my opinion is a term often applied to freestyles which are hard to mentally digest and even read; often due to some factors such as high speed, massive hoarding of string hits, and tricks with small (in terms of visibility/ease of interpretation) variations. Yes, high speed is probably the number one trait of this ‘style’. More often than not these freestyles that are defined by the label ‘generitech’ are overall just hard to tell what’s going on besides string hit city. Usually moves are so fast that the cameras that they are filmed with don’t capture at a high enough frame rate to really read what’s going on. Overall, there actually tons of uniqueness to these types of freestyles but you’d have to watch them a lot which is a lot to ask considering there are often many on your “watchlist”(ex. Top 10 from a competitions finals) which gives the feeling some time that “they’re all the same”. Also they tend to be more unenjoyable to watch if you are constantly getting lost trying to follow the tricks.
Ahh I remember that one! I had a feeling someone would post that 
One of the best yoyo articles I’ve read, and it has some AWESOME videos in it
Tech is the quickest way to bore yoyoers and non-yoyoers alike.
To me it’s complicated movements with various string hits
So what style do you feel is most entertaining?
Really? I think his tricks aren’t all that difficult and quite easy to follow. He just does them fast.
I wouldn’t say it bores yoyoers. A lot of people(specifically americans and generally the west hemisphere) do and enjoy watching technical tricks and freestyles. It’s definitely the most boring style for non-yoyoers though.
I enjoy watching faster throwers and horizontal and stuff like that but everyone’s different. I know a lot of people that think that fast asian yoyoing is generic yoyoing as well, but I enjoy watching it.
Watch some of Yuuki Spencer’s freestyles and videos and you’ll know what tech is. He isn’t called the king of technical yoyoing for nothing
Other terms that I’m unsure of include:
Smooth
Flowy
Float
Pinprick
Smooth - Has two meanings depending on what you’re talking about. It could be talking about the yoyo in which case, a smooth yoyo is one that doesn’t have vibe. Pretty much the opposite of vibe.(hopefully you know what vibe is ) The other definition is when you’re talking about someone’s yoyoing. A smooth yoyoer is a yoyoer that has control over the yoyo and you can obviously tell he’s experienced. He moves the yoyo how he wants to and has perfect control over it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OiVk-uUjjs&feature=youtu.be the person in that video doesn’t have flow. He is lacking control and the yoyo and his arms are going all over the place, you can tell he is inexperienced. Whereas pros are very smooth because they are very experienced and have developed control over the yoyo.
Flow(flowy) - Generally people who have a slower style with a lot of slacks have more flow. People who have flow also have an even greater control over the yoyo making their tricks look even smoother. Their tricks generally just look more graceful. You wouldn’t usually say a fast japanese yoyoer that doesn’t do a lot of slacks has flow. Magne Saetran is an excellent definition of flow IMO even if he’s a little faster then some flowy players. Here’s a video of him - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znbjuHdqSFE
Float - Float is basically when a yoyo FEELS like is has more airtime then others. Generally yoyos with some centerweight feel floaty. A good example of this is the ODxCLYW Summit.
Pinprick - A pinprick is basically minor damage to the yoyo, a smaller ding if you will. It’s a term that is used when describing a yoyo’s condition in the BST. You can find all of the terms for yoyo damage and their definitions here - http://yoyoexpert.com/forums/index.php/topic,59758.15.html
I’m still fairly new, but I’ve always understood tech to mean very fast, intricate play.
I prefer the smooth flow style, but then again, I can’t do much of anything fast. 
Would you say this is tech?
Tech doesn’t have to be fast but most really fast play is tech because it’s hard
Again, I may have the definition wrong. That vid has some techy elements, but I think it’s more on the smooth/flowy end of the spectrum. Which is what I prefer to watch, loved the vid!
Nah
If you want a good taste of true technical yoyoing, there is a variety of names that can be brought up and to watch their clip videos/freestyle back in 2004.
In my personal opinion, 2004 was the year of technical yoyoing.
Names like Yuuki Spencer, Jesse Garcia, Justin Weber, Johnnie Devalle and Jordan Cooper were pushing to the extremes on the possiblities of string origami or technical yoyoing.
Technical yoyoing is often refered to by complex string formations and technical knot work. The use of the wrist mount exploded technical yoyoing. Often times tech does not have many element uses compared to todays combos.
Over the course of years, yoyoers have included more flow, pacing and element use into their technical yoyoing to create something really beautiful. A good example of flow combined with tech is Zach Gormley’s style. Howevever this all really started due to Jensen Kimmit and Augie ( I am using the United States yoyo scene as an example). Both players really showed a flow like pattern to their yoyoing while also grasping technical yoyoing which allowed players like Gentry Stein, Harold Owens and many others to improve on it.
~Zammy
I have a couple questions.
I have seen these terms thrown around on some other sites. What are influent style tricks? Also what exactly is meant by acrobatic tricks? I’m guessing the latter is like Marcus Koh @ Worlds 2012 but have no idea what influent tricks are.
BTW floaty refers to the yo-yo’s air resistance. A floaty yo-yo has high air-resistance which slows its fall. A good example is the Draupnir. Watch how floaty the Draupnir is when Yusuke Otsaka pops it up in the air at JN2014.
The floatiness of a yo-yo is determined by its air resistance, which is determined primarily by its top-down cross-sectional surface area (larger SA => more air resistance => more float) and its density (larger density => yo-yo displaces air molecules more easily => less air resistance => less float). There are other minor factors but they’re harder to account for, e.g., the rotational inertia of the yo-yo.
So the floatiest yo-yos are light yo-yos with a large top-down cross-sectional surface area, like the Draupnir.
Is there such a thing as horizontal tech?