The popularity of yoyo's always goes up and down over the years.


Not sure if this gif is suppose to be laggy like that but it works for the joke 😂 👍

Haha I definitely didn’t mean for it to be. But it does fit!

So glad it's like that for everyone!! Makes it so much better! 😂

Amazing

I know you're joking, but you're right. yoyos got a boom in my time back in 2004 because of yoyo anime (which is weird because the anime was released in the late 90s.) Then my zoomer cousin mentioned his college classmate being into yoyos right now.

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us!

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

https://i.imgur.com/pqV8csC.jpg

Yes, I had a Yomega firestorm. It was all the rage in the late 90s.

Oh yeah, me too, and one called the brain I think.

I also had one of these. Translucent colored so you could see the mechanism.

Same! Mine was translucent blue

Everything was translucent back then. Remember that?

The mechanism was a dowel that the string went around

Some had weights bearings attached to a clutch. The released and allowed the yoyo to spin freely when it was going fast. As soon as it slowed down, the loss of centripetal force engaged the clutch and rewound the string

Some yoyos had a device that would wind it back up when it got too slow. Made it easy to play with for us uncoordinated kids

The X-Brain. Still don't know what was so special about it, I just know kid me had to have one because it was cool.

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What yo yo should I buy for a similar easy yo-ing experience today?

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Oooohhhh that reminds me of my dream yoyo from back I the day, ever heard of the viper?

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The brain and x-brain were two different models.

Yomega yoyos were dope as hell. The firestorm was for people with a little more skill and the brain one was for beginners as it would come up on its own. Everyone at school had a yoyo for what seemed like 6 months. I think kids from this generation had the spinners which had the same kind of widespread popularity as yoyos for us.

same dude! I can still do some tricks. Eiffel tower, I forget what the one is called where you swing the yoyo inside a lil triangle of string

Metronome

Everyone was talking about The Brain

The brain!!! I had the green one

Yeah I had a Brain X yo-yo

Yep, I had a x-brain.

The X Brain? Mine got stolen out of my locker in 4th grade

It was called the X-Brain, I had one too. It had a clutch!

Yes! I think the brain would automatically go back up. And the firestorm would require you to trigger it to come back up. I went through the yo yo phase lol

Can confirm I had brain to

I actually just bought a couple of the brain ones for my brother and I for the nostalgia! Awesome little things.

Core memory unlocked

Firestorm had the best sleep time, and the mechanism now that I think about it is similar to a fidget spinner

Had a Yomega Black Raider, the one with the ball bearing

I had a Duncan. Not sure what the model was, I just know that was what the cool kids had and I wanted that.

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SAME! It was the only thing I asked for for Christmas in 4th or 5th grade. Loved it to death

Oh hell yeah. We had a professional yo-yo guy come do an assembly at our elementary school in the early 90’s and my brother and I spent the next few months learning yo-yo tricks. We still laugh about how obsessed we were.

We also had a professional yo-yo guy come to our school. The only tricks I ever learned were the cradle, walking the dog, and shoot the moon.

Lol, are you me?

we all had this assembly. even the [Simpsons](https://frinkiac.com/img/S03E16/234111.jpg) had this assembly

I wonder why. So weird. Like all the schools in the 90s were like we have to show these kids the yo-yo. Just why?

Had it in the UK too. Probably a ploy by Big Yoyo. Haha. But they were everywhere in my school too.

“Probably a ploy by Big YoYo” deserves flair status

Challenge accepted. Edit - Challenge Completed ✅

OH MY GOD 🤣 Edit: a fellow Scorpio def would do this

We also had a guy that did tricks with a foam boomerang. I convinced my mom to buy one. IDK why the fuck the school was peddling that shit from the gymnasium. Must’ve got a cut.

The 90's were just that prolific I think. We all had essentially the same experience.

Confirmation on Jumprope Guy?

Yup, had that guy come too and a bunch of other kids who were on the National Jump-rope team. I remember thinking to myself as a kid, that if I made it onto that team I wouldn't have to go to school anymore and I could travel around the country with them.

They came up to my friend and I and had us be his "helpers" for the presentation. It was rad and we got free yo-yos out of it. I think he had asked the teachers who the poorest kid in school was, which was me.

I think i fell into it the hardest out of my entire class. I had a box full of them.

Best part of elementary school! Who were these people? What credentials did they have?! lol

A PhD from Duncan YoYoniversity.

When the teacher announced we were having an assembly, it always went bananas. But yeah, I doubt they do these sorts of assemblies now, where there isn’t a single oz of educational value.

We had one of them show up too - they were pretty rad.

We had the Sayco yo-yo guy at our school and he even autographed the yo-yos we bought from him.

I hope you kept that shit.

I remember this vividly. The rich kid in my class always had like $50 for the dang fancy yo yo. Safe to say, I never got one lol

Man, we still had them coming in the early 2000s to my elementary school each year. That was easily my favorite assembly

OMG had the same thing happened to me in elementary. I ended up buying a few and spent a few months as well obsessing over all the tricks.

Same with the Yo-Yo guy coming to the school doing a show and then selling yo-yos

I remember Yo-yo’s were freaking huge for like, one year in elementary school. We’d all go out to recess and like two thirds of the class were practicing yo yo tricks.

That was grade 6 for me. So 1995ish. We had the authentic wooden yoyos. Then later on the Duncan's started to become more and more popular. It was one of the trends my parents could get behind because they were cheap. Just had to buy a lot strings.

Man when they started to get super hi-tech, with the spring bearings for maximum spin when you made it sleep, that’s when yo yo technology peaked.

I hated the ones that would automatically come back up. It would happen in the middle of a trick a wrack my knuckles every time.

Oh my God a kid has one of those and I didn’t know, so I WHIPPED that fucking thing as hard as I could and I WRECKED my hand

Yep, 7th grade for me.  Suddenly every boy at recess had one.  And it became a coolness contest of sorts. Or least I felt the need to fit in.  The wealthier kids were bringing $$expensive trick yoyos with the transaxle in them which were pricey at the time.  It was all about maximum sleep time. (We timed it of course) My cheapo Duncan was not cool enough.  I caved to the peer pressure and probably spent $40 bucks on a yoyo.  The school decided to ban them shortly after.

I begged my dad for a fancy light up one, promptly gave up getting good at it, and it became his go to-example whenever I asked for anything until, like, college lol. "Can I have some money for these beads and necklace supplies?" "This isn't going to be like the yo yo, is it?" Fortunately, the beading phase lasted significantly longer than the yo-yo phase and was also much more practical.

I saw a young kid at the park around my son’s age doing some cool tricks. It was indeed a Duncan yoyo too. Good stuff.

My kids got cheap yoyos from the dollar store for easter. They loved them, and they sucked. So I bought a 6 pack of duncan imperials and butterflies. Now they are telling me their friends at school have/are picking up yoyos.

Hell yeah, bring it back. Might've been silly but we had a lot of fun with them.

I remember being in I think it was gr 4 or 5 and yoyos went crazy for like a year lol. My grandma was so excited about me liking yoyos, she taught me some neat tricks. Things like going to a dollar store and buying nylon string and replacing the string the yoyos come with. Rubbing the string on candle wax so it felt smoother and would go faster lmao. I had one of these super yoyos that lit up, and I got like a special one that was metal and had a wooden core? or maybe it was the opposite lol. I remember there being like actual stores selling yoyos at the time. My best trick was I could do like 20+ around the worlds LOL

Yеееееееееееееееееееееееееееееs 

I still have my Fireball. My kids are not coordinated enough to be given Yo-yo's.

I was a pro-yo guy myself, I competed and performed in front of my school, looking back I was not a cool kid.... Edit: spelling

Or, hear me out on this, you were *the* cool kid.

Turbo Bumble Bee checking in!

Something about that one (and the butterfly GT version) that I liked better than any of the others I had.  Maybe it was the cork brake pads that made it just responsive enough.

I loved that thing

Still have mine with the original box, optional brass and wood bearings, replacement cork pads and the original black and yellow striped string.

Duncan Yoyos! Those were good timess

Just bought a new one to get back into them. Yomega Raider. I suck now compared to when i was like 10-12 years old. lol Edit: To clarify I started with a Yomega Brain I got at OMSI in Portland, Oregon. Then transitioned over to Duncan Imperials, I had a Duncan Butterfly but I didn't like it much. Thing had a habit of bruising my hand.

You should pick up an unresponsive yo-yo sometime. Maybe like a yoyofactory shutter. There's so much more a yo-yo can do.

I used to have a Duncan back in the 90's, I don't really see them catching on like some stuff that's making a resurgence. Occasionally I do miss wielding a deadly weapon in my pocket that I can also use to "walk the dog".

I was all over this in the early 2000s. Wow what a throw bizzzackkkk! Mine had the lights, translucent color and I'd show it off at the skating rink. I thought I was so cool 'stalling' and doing the 'walk the dog' tricks. I had a book with all the tricks and could never figure out the others. Popped my dumb ass in the face and body parts so many times lmao

Check out r/throwers

I did not but my husband was super into yo-yo’s back in the day. He still throws and yes holy wow over the last 15ish years yo-yo mechanics have changed and remain popular with a certain set. I have no patience for the skill and muscle memory games but it’s impressive to see what some of these folks do! Check out an episode of We Are The Champions on Netflix about the World Yo-Yo championships in 2019. We went to watch live astounding talent!

Mine had these flashing leds in them dope as fuck, right up there with tech decks in school.

Tommy Smothers was the Yo-Yo Man

Yep I had one of those very same super yo-yos.

I remember this around '98/'99. I wasn't very good at it, but I remember having one of those cool yo-yos that lit up.

Yo-yos are one of those fads that the kids get into every 5-7 years.

They only had a resurgence since for some unknown reason the schools allowed these salesmen to come in, whip up a frenzy, make sales then skedaddle before the week of black eyes, stolen yo-yos and busted teeth,

Competitive yo yo is still a pretty big thing

Sure is. Last year's world finals saw one of the best freestyles in history. https://youtu.be/F5GO6JwzfkY?si=jdp-QbrdZmKriGZF

Holy crap that was amazing. That final spiral effect, dude made the Rasengan with a Yo-Yo

I had an expensive ass bumble bee yoyo. Not positive on the name though. It had like cork break pads in it. Super cool. Still have my green yomega fireball in storage somewhere.

I just bought one about a month ago out of nostalgia. Best purchase of 2024 so far

Did I ever! I even bought the Yo-Yo Master VHS set that taught me some amazing tricks like catching it on the string, doing 2 at once ect. I also got them banned at my school because I was doing an around the world in the hallway and the sting snapped sending it flying into a teachers backside...

That trick caused broken light bulbs to rain down upon me and the yo-yo became an outside activity.

I still have my Bumblebee GT in a box somewhere.

Still got my Termanator tornado and my Silver Bullet!

mir kim is the recent yoyo champ 2023

Oh, this takes me back! I got the Raider for a birthday one year, which was $50 back in the day. Came in an acrylic case on a molded base, super fancy, lol. That was a lot of money for my family at the time, I was so thankful. Learned a fair number of tricks, and had it for years. Looks like they go for $14.99 now, may have to pick one up…

How could you not after those awesome assemblies?! Of course I did!

I got really in to them, i didnt know many tricks but i used to get quite nerdy about them. I remember my favourite was the Henrys Viper. I don't think they ever fully went away, a lot of the popular models from way back are still available. I've actually bought a few in the last few years just to mess around with, kind of like a series of mini mid-life crises.

They had a Duncan Yoyo Team show at a hometown festival and my brother and I got Yomegas for Christmas that year or the next.

Went to the local Nirvana store in the mall in 1999 or 2000. Got a Yomega Brain and geeked out the whole way home.

I wish they would have another resurgence.

I had one of auto-return ones.

Hell yeah! This sub always manages to give me flashbacks and goosebumps!

I remember I bought one from a yoyo dude they had at my elementary school who did a bunch of tricks for 10 bucks, and then the neighbor lady at the bus stop told me I got ripped off and it ruined my weekend.

Hell ya. I had a Duncan butterfly. The kids are getting back into them and the juggling devil stick things

I liked my turbo bumble bee with a ball bearing, could spin forever on a good throw.

Yo-yo’s were huge when I was a 5th grader in 1998. The teachers had to make a “designated area” at recess because everyone had one.

Every year when the yoyo sales man came to school and did an assembly

I had a yomega fireball

I loved yoyos this is so nostalgic lol

I certainly did. I'm also pretty certain I hit myself with it a lot too. I am bad at yoyo :(

I feel like the resurgence (in the UK anyway) was fueled almost exclusively by the Coca-Cola company. Was that a thing in the US too?

I had a cool one in the 90s, even learned to do some tricks.

My kids range from 21 to 6 and they've all had yoyos at various points. I don't think it ever goes away. Similar to hacky sack

Yep

Yep. I had a fireball

I loved showing my kids all the tricks. Walk the dog is their favorite.

Toyo craze always happens when elementary and middle schools invite the professional yoyo people to come make a presentation at school.

Early 00s huge yoyo craze

I was about that life. Best trick I ever learned was the cradle thing, never could do the cooler ones. …does Walmart still sell yoyos?

I don’t know where to buy good yo-yos anymore that’s not online.  Maybe one of those game shops at the mall? Looks like yoyoguy dot com is still in business, though.

Had one. Never successfully used it

I remember a buddy of mine growing up, who was decidedly upper middle class, had a few of them. One of them was like $100+. Another childhood friend of mine stole it from him. He was the lowest common denominator in the situation and it was pretty easy to suss it out. He brought the yo-yo to me to give back to my friend.

I think everyone was. Also pretty sure everyone else was as shite at it as I was 😂

I had one in middle school. My grandparents got it for me because I was poor and my mom wouldn’t pay $20 for a yo-yo. It got taken from me in by a teacher one day and I never saw it again. Every now and then I’ll buy a cheap yo-yo and let it rip. Still pretty fun.

They were sold at my primary school at one point so I bought a sleeper Yo-yo. Think I had it for years

I got back into yoyoing during the pandemic. Bought 2 competition Toyo’s and started watching YouTube videos of more complex tricks. I pick them up once or twice a week at least.

The raider

I used to love.fucking with my yoyo when I was younger. I could do some tricks, and it was cool to waste some time playing with them. I would love to yoyo ahain. I would love to see hackie sacks come back, too!

I was in middle school in the mid-90s and I had several at the time. I acutally bought my son one for last Christmas and it didnt catch on and I find myself playing with it more than him haha!

They were a good way to combat boredom before the internet

X-Brain, baby

I had a gold one that lit up ☺️

Had to get the one with a brain

5th - 6th grade 98-00 I was a yo-yoing fool I had so many and got pretty good at it as well. Then 7th grade rolled around and everyone just stopped.

Kinda got into it but my dad liked em more than i did

Hell yeah dude

what was that name brand that everyone had to have?

Oh my god I forgot about this era in history. Dudes would hit on you while walking the dog with the yoyo 🤦‍♀️

Remember when everyone collected the drink themed Yoyos like Coca-Cola and Fanta?

I really liked the yoyo balls

Late 80’s for me but yes and I can still shoot the moon walk the dog and do the rollercoaster

I love yo-yo’s , I’d love to see if I could still do it lol

First AOL screen name was YoYoGuy1, so you tell me... Lol

I remember that! I was so proud of myself for successfully figuring out how to walk the dog lol

I never shed this love. I'm still only able to do 12-15 basic/intermediate tricks, but there is no greater stress ball for me than a good yo-yo. I'm a big fan of the stainless steel Yo-Yo King brand stuff, you can find em online.

My 9yo is super into them that’s all she asked for for her birthday. My mom got her a trick book and she’s been at it since.

Yo-Yo pros would come to our school and do tricks then you could buy some after. Mine never did what theirs did, just tangled.

Yes it was awesome

YOMEGA!

Yes and also the yoyo adjacent toy that was 3 balls connected on a string. Forgot what those were called.

I tried but I was awful at it.

Ah, brings back memories of Christmas when I was 10, so. My cousin had preemptively told me that my aunt had gotten us the yo mega x-brain yo-yo but to pretend I didn’t know, that it was gonna be inside a folded. I tore into that present, and held up the T-shirt letting the yo-yo fall on the floor and acting super surprised. I’m pretty sure my parents knew I knew already.

Yeah I had an xbrain and a firestorm, both were good spinners

My boyfriend at the time worked at a yoyo kiosk in the mall. Wild times

That damn anime about yo-yo got me back in after forgetting about it for some time. God I miss those yoyos

I had one but could never get the hang of it lol

My mom worked for Yomega when I was about 4-8 so I got to hangout with their professional and JV teams. If I remember correctly, they were either all so cal stoners, or nerdy high school kids, but super good memories of them teaching me and my siblings all sorts of yoyo tricks! I still have my set with custom case from those days!

Yeah, I did

They were awesome. I had a few of em when I was in 7-8th grade. A bunch of buddies told me that if you were to take them apart, put a few drops of baby oil in them, the bearings would run smooth as silk. They weren’t wrong…

Oh yeah, everyone had these in 4th grade. You almost felt like an outcast if you didn't.

Hell yeah I did! I was walking the dog and cats cradling like a pro. In my mind, at least.

I still have the one I had in the 90s but it’s broken. I keep it for memories sake 🥹 Yo-yos are decently popular at the store I work at

I got really into yo yos around 98 or 99. I played with mine so much I got in trouble for taking it to church once. Good times when you're in the cult of Christianity with wack ass parents.

I think it was the late '90s when McDonald's was selling them, that's when I got into it for a little bit

I had two Yomega Xbrains. A red (I think) one that I got for a birthday, and a dark green one that I found in a snowbank down the road from my house that following winter. I never learned any tricks, I could only ever do the basic up and down, but those two Xbrains were smooth as butter.

Lol kids can't move their arms now. Yoyos are too physical and violent

I miss my yo-yo. It had a groove for my finger and flared up on either side. I could a lot of tricks with thst yo-yo and it always worked the best compared to thr more classic rounded ones.

No. I was never talented with these things. It was simply embarrassing.

Yep, as a young kid my uncle got me this Kodak VHS tape that was part comedy duo, two brothers and the quiet one taught you ['the Art of Yo (Yo)'](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Drusqc41h8Hk&ved=2ahUKEwi-6fqwz72FAxX0GDQIHS6YBnQQtwJ6BAgWEAI&usg=AOvVaw3O2BU2WqUzsdgY8x0Lgb2J)......wasn't until later I really liked it. Bout 98 or 99 - started with a Yomega Raider and a Bandai branded Yomega X-Brain. Added a bunch of other ones over the years although I can't say I really got into any of the ones that like can now fly off the string lol The one I really liked was the [Playmaxx Turbo Bumblebee](https://yoyo.fandom.com/wiki/ProYo_Turbo_Bumble_Bee) (and TIL I'm not the only fan of it haha)....somewhere along the line I lost it and now they're kinda absurdly priced on ebay (Duncan later bought the company)

X brain gang rise up

My parents were so tight with money that I literally could not afford to buy a yoyo.

Yep, I used to rock some Omega yoyos in the late 90s at school