What it takes to get one to throw - Part One

What would it take for you to throw a yo?
Welcome to the first exciting edition of "What would it take for you to throw a yo?". This is a series i am starting that will dive headfirst into the outsiders of our communitys thoughts and ask them about their experiences with yoyos (if any) and why they stopped, never started, and what it would take for them to start again. It seems that many people in our generation have bypassed this wonderful little toy, and i would like to understand why exactly. Availibilty? Geek factor? Too "grown up" to play with toys? Price? Stereotypes? Lack of advertisement? Afraid of difficulty? All of these are valid reasons why someone may feel that they don't want to try throwing a yoyo. What i am going to do is try to find out exactly what is stopping the YoYo from returning to the glory days of yore. For this first part in the series, i will speculate on my own thoughts as to why the yoyo is not more popular in the main stream society as it once was. And as i make it through the next few parts i will ask those around me what their opinions are. I will be polling people of all ages, races, sexes, and every other " 's " that i can think of.

First and foremost, let's start with the children of today. They are clearly the main group of people who are most likely to play with a toy. I believe that the most obvious thing attributing to the lack of physical play of any kind with toys today has to be video games. Video games have grown to a ridiculous popluarity over the last decade and you would be hard pressed to find a single child that has parents that are in the lower class all the way up in our society that do not have a gaming system in the home. Of course there is always the exceptions, some parents are strict and do not allow games in their home, some parents don't because of religious beliefs, and of course some kids just don't like them. These are far and few between or course. If a child is constantly playing their games then its quite obvious they are less likely to try and learn a skill toy that takes time to learn and lots of practice to become proficient with. I personally like video games and own an Xbox360, but let me say this, since i got back into throwing last year, i have not ONCE turned on my Xbox. It has literally been a 300 dollar paperweight over the past few months. I'm sure there are plenty of players out there who devote an equal amount of attention to their throwing and their games, but i am not one of them. I think part of this has to do with the fact that none of the games that have been released over the last 6 months have greatly interested me.

Also, i think that most of the companies in the yoyoing business do not take advantage of advertising enough. I have yet to see a single commercial since i got back into throwing last year. I have heard on some of the forums that YoYoFactory did a campaign for the F.A.S.T 201 a few years back that got lots of people interested. Also, i have heard that Duncans commerical campaign is basically every 5 years. 5 years is a very long time to go between marketing campaigns. Why not advertise more? Why not throw up a few banner ads on youtube, or yahoo? These kinds of things to me are what is going to make the rest of the world begin to see yoyo'ing as more then just a 2 dollar toy that was made a long time ago to kill time for children. I was very pleased that Fox Sports Network recently showed the World YoYo Contest from 2007(?). However, the rebranding of it to "The Best Damn YoYo Contest" really did infuriate me. Now given, the people supplying the film and rights have got to be willing to make some sacrifices to get it put on cable television for thousands of potential viewers to see, but to me all this does is confuse people as to what the WYYC really is. Does Fox Sports hold a yo yo contest every few years? Is this just a group of people doing this strange thing and Fox Sports decided to do commentary over it a la Ninja Warrior? Or is this a legit contest that draws hundreds of people every year and all major manufactuors in the game for a gathering of players of epic proportion? Most people see the film, and are very impressed. But still, they don't know what it really is when it's all said and done, and the people who sold the rights to FSN need to make sure next time that once can differentiate.

Many people see someone throwing a yoyo and are immediately turned off and intimidated. "These trick are far too complex for me, i could NEVER do that." I for one thought the same thing the first time i saw someone do a Kwyjibo, but now i know better. The advertising needs to promote a more simple style, and more responsive yoyos need to be made. Its all well and good for us who only play unresponsive but the average person who picks up an 888 will let it drop from there hand with no throw what so ever and when it doesn't come back they look to you and say "It's broken". As yoyoing grows and becomes more and more complex, we need to find ways to simplify things for the common person so they can feel that they can join in as well. I do not feel that i have all the answers for this problem, but if the community comes together as a whole and comes up with ways to draw others in we will have our community ultimately grow much larger in the long run, which is always a good thing.

One thing that is defnitely helping right now is price. Ben and Hans from YYF should be commended for their recent releases of the new Plastic Grind Machine, the DV888, and most recently the Hectic. These are truly great and high performance yoyos that most people can afford. I am not advocating that someone who has never thrown a yoyo other then an imperial when they were 5 go out and buy a DV888, but i will say that people who may have a ProYo and are thinking of stepping it up to the next level after a couple of months of play are certainly being given more options for quality built yoyos at a fair price these days, and this is a truly remarkable thing. It really isn't fair to have all metal yoyos be priced in the 120 and up category, as there is a lot of people in this world who simply cannot afford it. A very lare percentage of our community is under the age of 15 without jobs, and therefor most of their money comes from their parents. Please tell me what a parent from any walk of life is more likely to buy? A 29.99 Plastic Grind Machine? Or a 119.99 Skyline? The answer is obvious, and it benefits everyone. I applaud all of those responsible for making great yoyos more affordable for everyone.
Now that we have covered advertising and affordability, we should touch on availibility. Google'ing "YoYo Store" brings up about 6 (!) results throughout the entire country of the United States. Now given, yoyos are definitely sold at many more places then the 6 listed, but i will say this: If you are in Charlotte, North Carolina and decide that you want a high quality ball bearing yoyo, you are not going to find one, anywhere. This has recently changed with Toys R Us having their new YoYo endcap in all their stores. I visited the local store last week and was very impressed to find not just imperials and butterflys, but also Speed Beetles, Pulses, Dragonflys, and Reflexes. While i was disappointed at the lack of showing for 5a, this is certainly better then anything else i have seen since the 90's boom. Its pretty simple, get more yoyos in the toys stores, demonstrate more often, and more people will take up the sport. I am thrilled that Duncan and Toys R Us have teamed up for their demos that are taking place this summer, its a wonderful start to a new campaign to spread the word.

I've read a quote from someone on the YoYoNation boards in their signature that goes something along the lines of, "The happiest adults are the ones who are still doing what they were as kids." This really couldn't be said any better. Thanks for your time today, and remember, the next time someone asks you about your yoyo, give them some good discussion. The next time you see a child in the drug store whose mother has told them they can pick out a toy, bust out your throw and show them a trick or two, and point them to the 2 dollar yoyo on the rack. You never know, you could be looking at the next Yuuki Spencer.