Young boy feelin' old....whuuuut?

General Yo-Yo
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What is up my dudes!?!?! I got a story for all ya’ll people. So a few weeks ago was MWR (Midwest Regional Yoyo Championships) While I was there I found probably the last retail available YYJ Inspire at the Airtraffic Kites and Games booth. Now back in my young days when I was 13, dang that feels like so long ago. That was the yoyo I wanted the most. John Narum was like my favorite person ever. Anyways, of course I bought that thing, it made me feel like a kid all over again. I mean I’m only 19 but I don’t feel like a kid anymore that much anymore, that Inspire sure brought me way back though. I made a video with it here, if your curious.

Anyways I hopped on the forums to post that video and take a look around once again, and whuuuuuut??? the forums are all different!

I know I’m young but so many things have changed. Just since I started yoyoing many companies and websites have come and gone, styles of yoyo’s have changed, styles of play have changed. I mean don’t get me wrong I love the advancements that the sport of yoyoing has made, it just makes me appreciate the old things a little more as well.

Whats you favorite advancement that yoyoing has made within the past decade? Whats your favorite thing that has died and that you miss?

For me I love the advancements into yoyo stabilization and size. Back in 2008-20010 it felt like everything was undersized and high walled. One thing I miss though is some of the unique companies that we have lost, like Spyy and YYJ. They both had great yoyo’s and cool visions.

BTW yoyoexpert the new forums are great. The new layout is confusing me a little, but but I’m getting the hang of it. The site is certainly a lot more modern and visually appealing.

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Awesome! One thing I love about yoyo is how timeless of a hobby it is… goes way back to the 1930s!

I’m going with “ball bearings” as the key advancement (around 1999 or so?) As for 2010 and onwards… I believe we currently live in a golden age of really high quality metal yoyos for not much $$$ … everyone has gained access to inexpensive precision CNC machining at scale :wink:

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In the past decade… well, the last time I yo-yoed before this year was when the Yomega Brain was hot in the late 90s. My parents gave me a dollar for every extra hour of violin practice I did, so I cranked out 10 hours of extra practice in a week and sent in the mail order form. I was really eyeballing the raider (ball bearings? wow!!) and some all-aluminum model that was in Yomega’s catalog (probably the metallic missile) but never really progressed past braintwister, and forgot about it for a while.

I really missed too much to say what’s the most important in the last 10 years, but there are so many high-quality yo-yos available for cheap, and lots of options in the mid-price range, where you can really try a lot and find something perfect for you. It’s a delight.

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Check out this list of significant yo-yo models by year… it does kinda track the evolution of the industry.

Big shout out to @oldyoyoguy for putting that together.

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I believe we started yoyoing and joined the forum around the same time, like a few months apart from each other or something like that, and we’re the same age. It’s definitely been a while since we first started haha. I kind of stopped for the most part around 2015-2016 but I’ve still been loosely following yoyo news and updates and have started really getting back into things a month or two ago.

As far as best advancements and innovations in the past decade, I definitely think we both came in at a golden era. Around 2012 was when the landscape of yoyo design was starting to get perfected. Bimetals were starting to become a thing and the Draupnir was released in 2013, and that started the movement of perfect yoyo design in my opinion. Just think about it.

Late 90s and early 2000s was when people started to really fidget with semi and unresponsive yoyos and modern 1a as we know it was starting to develop. 2003 the Hitman came out and that definitely shook things up. As we fast forward a few more years to the mid to late 2000’s, companies really began to understand the value of metal and aluminum over plastic and hybrids. In the late 2000’s and early 2010s was when companies started to understand that the 56mm/43mm range was the optimal standard for performance so yoyos started becoming bigger and wider. Japanese companies also began realizing the value of 7075 aluminum over 6061 as well. Then finally in 2012-2013, companies really began to start testing around with bimetals.

Now fast forward 5 years from then. What major advancements in yoyo design have been achieved? Basically none. I feel like we reached the pinnacle of yoyo development around 2013. There have been small advancements such as 7068 Aluminum, 7075/68-Steel bimetals, and titanium bimetals, but those were very minor developments compared to the progression that was happening in yoyo from the 90s up to 2013.

Now that’s not to say nothings changed or improved since 2013. Although at its peak, yoyo development has kind of halted since 2013, there have been many changes that have occurred over the past few years. For one, A few years following 2013, fingerspin design has been explored much more. However, I think the biggest thing that’s occurred is that general yoyo design has improved greatly.

Since 2013, the market has become more and more flooded and this is due to the fact that designing, machining, and manufacturing yoyos and developing a company is becoming easier and easier. I actually have mixed feelings about this. What I really enjoyed about the early 2010s was that there weren’t as many companies or yoyos so it was a lot easier for everyone to try the “best” yoyos. I also felt like collectability and general appreciation for yoyos was higher. However, what I do like about this change as well is that there’s just more variety and although there’s many companies relatively sticking to the “norms” there’s a handful of new companies that are trying new and interesting things.

In addition to all this, pretty much every yoyo released nowadays is good. You don’t have to worry about buying a bad yoyo because since 2012-2013, pretty much everyone understands what makes a good a yoyo. And of course, another part of it is that with a more flooded market, you pretty much have to make a good yoyo for it to sell.

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As far as collectibility goes, I feel like we’re in a good spot again. There are certain companies out there doing super limited, great playing stuff. If you can snag one, it’s a good feeling no doubt. But on the flip side, like some of y’all have said, you can basically close your eyes and pick a solid yoyo. It’s cool to know you can always get an amazing yoyo at any price point, whenever you want. I think we’re in a good place for everyone. Hopefully it continues to grow

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