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YoYo Related News From Around The World

First Look – Square Wheels Plastic Prototype

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We’re exciting to bring you a first look at the prototype for the new machined plastic yoyo from Square Wheels!

Square Wheels Plastic Prototype Specs:

Diameter – 57.75mm
Width – 44.00mm
Weight – 60-64g (making prototypes in various weights to get this right on)
Bearing – Size C (.250 x .500 x .187)
Response – Square Wheels Pads (19mm Slim)

Square Wheels has put a ton of thought and effort in to this, and they feel it’s a real game-changer for machined plastic yoyos. A few features they shared with us:

1. The yoyo is machined from a plastic resin that is hand mixed, degassed, and cast into bars by Jon Mackey. Since this is a hand-cast plastic, this gives them the ability to mix any color they want.

2. A unique new design for the bearing seat. Square Wheels has heard the complaints about bearings fitting too tight, too loose, and even breaking the plastic. Square Wheels has developed a new design, and will be machining their own bearing seats at near perfect tolerances…without inflating the price of the yoyo.

3. This new plastic yoyo uses a different resin formula in the rims than the body, to allow for legitimate rim weighting while maintaining even wall thicknesses and no risking the structural integrity of the yoyo. Since Square Wheels is hand-mixing and casting the resin bars themselves, they can even introduce drastically different weighting scenarios from one run to the next.

Square Wheels will be producing both bearing and fixed axle models with their proprietary resin formula. I think with this much thought going in to this new product line, we can expect some really unique things from Square Wheels. No word on price or release date, but we’ll update when we get more information.

Monsters University Pro Z YoYo Available at Hong Kong Disneyland

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Duncan Toys just announced on their Facebook page that special edition Monsters University versions of the Duncan Pro Z yo-yos are now available exclusively at Hong Kong Disneyland. This special edition Pro Z is available in 4 designs, each with unique Monsters University artwork on both sides that features Monsters University characters such as Sulley, Mike Wazowski, Art, and Squishy.

Price shown on the back is 88 HKD, which converts to around $11 USD each…plus a plane ticket to Hong Kong and admission to the park. The Mod Spacers are not included in this release, so this is only a standard-shaped Pro Z yoyo.

Monsters University Pro Z YoYos by Duncan Toys

Fixed Friday: 1-Handed

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It’s Friday, stinkers.

As this goes to virtual press, I am almost certainly dragging my pop-up camper (with the minor assistance of my minivan) across the breadth of my beloved state of North Carolina, toward the serene inevitability of the Atlantic Ocean. But even though I’m probably two tires deep in the East Dismal Swamp – which is a very real place – we can still hang out via this column, right?

This week, I wanted to focus on things you can do when your left hand goes pins-&-needles after sleeping weird on it, while you are baking with an enormous unwieldy oven-mitt, or after you have a horribly tragic accident while juggling battleaxes. One of the great things about fixed axle (and responsive yo-yoing in general) is that even when you reduce your number of available hands by 50%, you can still have a rad session.

Most of you #fixedfriday faithful probably gravitated to “the way of the static axle” BECAUSE of the constraints, as opposed to in spite of them. That is to say, you were looking for the creative challenge inherent to short spins and tug response. Constraints are actually really good for creativity. The pseudo-defunct term “0a” refers to looping tricks done with 1 hand, which for years, was what most modern players associated with fixed axle yo-yoing. As evidenced by Drew’s Planet Hoppery a few weeks back though, there’s a lot you can do with these simple motions. Around here, we put “da funk” in defunct©™®, and the limitations of a single hand just means you have to dig a little deeper to get inventive.

Trick #1 might be old hat to you by now, but it’s worth revisiting. There’s nothing like simple inside loops to express the carefree, gleeful character of fixed axle yo-yoing. It’s THE original 0a trick. To stick a bit of a post-modern twang on it, try going right into an inverted Lunar hold after a few. Incidentally, this also works great as a means to switch from forward loops to a “downward” trick like Hop the Fence or Zipper Stalls.

So you’re down to 1 hand… but no one said anything about your legs, right? The 2nd trick is one of my most simple 365 entries from last year, Man & His Pants. The name is obviously taken from “Man and His Brother”, which itself, is short for “Man on the Flying Trapeze With His Brother”… which, when you think about it is a really weird name on par with “Seth P Makin’ Da Zines In Da Back (For Da Girls)“.

You’ll have to forgive me from 0:17 to 0:56. I received a call from my younger brother, John, and since I was doing 1-handed tricks, I elected to take it. Whatever, I can multi-task. I’m pretty sure I featured the Snap-Start move at 0:17 in my Tape Measure video, but it’s July, and who can even remember? In any case, this is actually one of my favorite Steve Brown tricks called “I Like Your Style, Ed Haponik“. Yeah, I have a Steve Brown trick named after me. My lip gloss be poppin.

Next up, we’ve got a fun fixed axle take on the classic Plastic Whip. I’m always surprised to find how few people do sidestyle P-Whips. I learned them from Shawn Fumo, and I find them so natural. They also work nicely as an intentional stall-whip. The hardest part is regenerating stably out of it.

Shoot For the Moon is probably the most wonderfully iconic, quintessentially “perfect” yo-yo trick of all. We’ve said it again and again. I could probably have saved a lot of time and flash card space by just doing a few Moons for this week and calling it a day, because you’re not going to find a better use of a free hand (stop it, you). However, on the off chance that you’re somehow sick of standard Moons and want to up the ante, try doing Over-Unders, alternating between StM and Nate Sutter’s Under the Moon variation. It’s a great way to work on improving your control.

The sequence around 0:48 is unfortunately a bit tough to see what’s happening. Essentially, you’ve got 1-hand trapeze stall, followed by a 1-hand bro stall (essentially the same “reverse Lunar” hold as described in trick #1). Then, I go back the other way to a 1-hand Double-or-Nothing stall, followed by the 1-hand equivalent of a 2.0 bro-stall. Basically this is a sort of 1-handed Rewind. You could go up to 3.0, but you start to run out of string, which is necessary for the regeneration.

At 1:02 we have another great Steve Brown trick. Steve has a great directness and simplicity to his trick construction, which is hard to find these days. I love how outside the box this catch is. Most of us want the yo-yo to keep spinning with every fiber of our being. Even in this modern fixed axle thing we’re doing, we only want the yo-yo to stop in very specific circumstances (i.e. on the string, in a stall). Whatever though. I can snap-start, so why not just catch the yo-yo in the middle of WHATEVER, knowing I can reinvigorate it a moment later. It’s a great trick.

Next up (1:09ish) is a Drewish Dumptruckish kind of thing. Just a regular breakway into a throw-hand chop stall (technically this is YET AGAIN the same catch as trick #1, but it feels different due to the breakaway). A typical Dumptruck would have the yo-yo flipping over in space before regenerating so that the spin direction change is cancelled out (that was the most insane audience-specific jargon-sentence I have ever written). In this case, you’re just turning your wrist out, which has the same effect, allowing you to continue the breakaway stalls ad nauseum.

It seems like months ago I discussed the concept of Straight-String Redirects (it was). 1:19 is another example. 1-hand undermount stalls can be tough with that pesky opposable thumb in the way. This is a great drink-in-hand-while-grilling trick – perfect for mid-summer.

The next two tricks are simple underarm things. In the absence of a 2nd hand, your arm (not unlike your leg) can be pretty useful. The first example is a simple bicep stall, which is great for showing off your guns to the ladies… who are always impressed by muscle-bound guys hell-bent on showing off their fixed axle yo-yo prowess. The second one features one of my favorite holds. I love the precision of that weird bent-arm, over-the-shoulder chopsticks catch. Especially with a wood yo-yo, if you bump it even a little, it’s going haywire. That said, it’s actually pretty easy and segues nicely into a Lunar Landing catch.

I’ve done quite a few 1-hand Stop N Go’s where you find yourself in a 1-hand trapeze, pull up into a stop, and kind of throw it back down. This one is a bit different, as it starts from a standard Plastic Whip. Definitely doable with the average fixed axle yo-yo, but balancing the tension to work for both the whip and the stop can be  tough. The final trick is a sillier version of the same. I love it, but it definitely needs to be fleshed out and cleaned up. After the stop, the idea is to get the yo-yo bouncing up and down, kind of like a cross between the classic trick Frog in a Bag and Gravity Pull. Bounce as much as you like. When you release the yo-yo, it should fall free, but bear in mind the bouncing can twist the string a bit, causing it to catch a few times. It’s a work in progress.

Alright. If you’ve taken the time to work through all of that, then I’m at the beach and my camper is fully unfurled. Have a great week. I’m going surfing.

 

 

FIXED FRIDAY: Back to Basics

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Fixed Friday Ed Haponik Back To Basics

Hi kids. I’m Ed Haponik and this is Fixed Friday.

(apologies for the lack of caps below – it’s verbatim from the vid below and i speak in lowercase.)


a few people have asked lately about a ‘back to basics’ vid, so here you go. if you want to build a renaissance you better make sure all your friends can hold a brush… or build a movable type printing press. i hope this q&a is helpful.

WHAT’S YOUR SETUP?
i use the EH by spyy x tmbr. it’s made of wood which is way more fickle than plastic. i find that a 2-cent gap gives me a kind of response i like. sometimes i need to sand the axle down. with other yo-yo’s you may need to shim the axle to get a good gap. if i can do spirit bomb and shoot the moon on consecutive throws, then i know it’s right where i like it. i tend to go for thick type-10 cotton string, and generally a little vibe doesn’t bother me at all.

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH STRING TENSION?
this is an aspect of your setup that changes while you play. it makes a difference with a bearing, but it makes all the difference without one. ufo’s and sidewinders are your go-to tension tools. i probably do 20-30 sidewinders on an average day. righty tighty, lefty loosey. you might think that they affect the whole string, but they really impact certain regions much more than others. sometimes i’ll do a sidewinder right for positive tension all-over, and then a little adjustment right (meaning LEFT) near the gap to get less aggressive response.

HOW HARD DO YOU THROW?
i throw to fit the trick. if i’m doing kamikaze or white buddha, it’s going to be balls to the wall-out hard, whereas there’s rarely a reason to throw hard into a stall. a hard throw relies on arms, but it’s like throwing a punch. if you don’t connect your hip/core, you’ll have less behind it. bear in mind you will scorch axles throwing hard which will change their characteristics. stop n go usually needs a bit more juice because your ‘go’ depends on a tight wind, especially if you’re hopping out. you just have to recognize that there’s more than one way to throw, and that if a trick isn’t working for you, it’s another variable you can adjust.

HOW DO YOU DO ‘UNRESPONSIVE TRICKS ON A FIXED AXLE?
same way you get to carnegie hall. there’s no substitute for trying these tricks 10,000 times. with something like spirit bomb, for example, be quick and direct and keep your hands apart so the formation can’t collapse. the key  with sketchy tricks is to keep the slack string from collecting anywhere near the gap. a fixed axle suicide needs to cover more ground (right to left) than it does with a bearing. as was noted earlier, you’re sabotaging yourself if you don’t have appropriate string tension (usually nice and neutral). a yo-yo returns because of friction, period. there will always be increased friction in a fixed axle gap, but it can be mitigated by technique. when pulling up into a hook, plastic whip, or gt whip, lift the yo-yo up without letting the string go slack at the bottom. don’t yank it.  3/4 of hitting any trick is believing that it can be done. if you take the attitude that something is to hard for you or impossible, then it will be.

HOW DO YOU SNAPSTART?
you’re not going to try any tricks 10,000 times if you can’t wind a yo-yo efficiently. i feel like of any yo-yo trick out there (besides maybe shoot the moon), snap start is the best “barometer of awesome”. i would not be as good a yo-yoed as i am by half if steve brown hadn’t taught me to snap start. it makes the spaces in between mess ups feel like a successful trick (or it can be a trick itself). to do it, place your middle finger and thumb on opposite sides of the yo-yo (kind of like at 10 and 4) and twist (with your thumb popping up). it will suck at first, probably for a week. but you can’t put a price on an efficient wind.

HOW DO YOU STALL?
i did a video on this a few years back. the idea behind any stall is that the yo-yo is mostly wound up and sitting in a static position on the string, which you regenerate out of. pretty much any string hold has a stall application. the only trick is recognizing the importance of spin direction. just like you can really only catch a trapeze stall one way, you can only really catch a brother stall with the opposite spin. you need pretty aggressive response, both for the catch and for the regen. you don’t need to throw hard. it’s easiest to think of breakaway or forward pass and just be in the right place. what you do once you’re IN a stall has been the subject of a lot of recent innovation.

WHAT TRICKS SHOULD I PRACTICE?
practice what appeals to you, for sure. but also spend time solidifying things ‘beneath your level’. work on repeated regens from trapeze stall. work on shoot the moon and flyaway dismounts out of everything. work on tricks you know you have down with a bearing like pop n fresh or cold fusion. don’t be afraid to try stuff that seems out of your range either. don’t have a preconceived idea of what kind of fixed axle yo-yoer you need to be. there’s no road map for a lot of this. practice doesn’t make perfect. practice IS perfect.

WHAT YO-YO SHOULD I USE?
besides my EH, i love tmbrs in general. you can also opt for a butterfly to get your drew on. i find them a little light, personally. proflys might be my favorite raw stallers, but good luck rocking a long sleeper with one. no jives are an all time favorite of mine and helped set the standard for progressive fixed axle play.

whatever you throw, it’s going to be you hitting the trick. there’s so much open territory in the fixed axle realm now . i hope some part of this vid helps you get out there and stake a claim… or y’know just have fun.

Fixed Friday: 3D and Off-Plane

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Woot Woot. It’s Friday, homies. That long grind of a week is at an end, and you are rewarded for your efforts with a lovely spring weekend (which you may wish to spend in dutiful refinement of the art of the noble disk). I’m pretty amped on this week’s FF concept, which will take us into the realm of THREE-DEE… So pop out the blue/red glasses that came with that special edition Ninja Turtles comic (or your copy of Save Deth 1)… or if you’re John Higby, I guess just keep reading as normal.

When you think about it, the original 3D/Off-plane tricks were really Sidewinder and UFO. These tricks have long served as great visual kitsch for audiences with the dual function of helping to correct/adjust string tension. We’ve all seen 2a players doing sidewinder (usually a few times in a freestyle), but it’s also awesome to do it Bob Rule-style, AS the trick, itself. And so, the first trick is straight up ganked from Drew Tetz, rocking a sidewinder right into a Lunar Landing stall.

The next one ups the ante a bit. Bilateral Sidewinder is hard enough without engaging on its own. Trying to catch that stall will make you wish you lived at 120 fps, but SO fun when you nail it. Snap-stalls are among my favorite simple/fixed-axle tricks. To 3d-ify one (0:16), I guess you can just put the snap on its side. This forces you to catch the stall by moving your arm along a horizontal plane. I found this one to be way easier than it looks. If your normal snap-stalls are money, this is really not significantly harder.

At 0:26, we start to get a bit arcane and techy. Halifax Biscuits is a trick I shared on 365 last year. It’s easy enough on a bearing yo-yo, but once you squish the gap and replace the moving parts with wood guts, it can be a bit sketchy. To overcome the natural tendency toward wood axle GT-snags, I switch the spin direction around, throwing this trick front-style and then changing to trapeze. Some wider gap fixed axles will do ok with a regular GT landing, but my ‘Eh’ wants to freeze up, so these kinds of adjustments are necessary. With the slow-mo, the mechanics of the trick are self-explanatory, but now we’ll introduce a piece that’s central to taking your wood yo-yo off plane: you’re gonna have to throw hard.

As long as a yo-yo is spinning in one direction, its angular momentum resists being turned about any other axis. Pushing it 3D challenges that momentum and will slow its spin considerably, which of course means that it will now be more willing to turn and lean all over the place. The low-friction environment of a bearing yo-yo makes overcoming these changes in plane a lot easier, but to recreate the concepts on fixed axle, there’s nothing for it but to throw hard. And when you throw hard… you get hit hard. Break out the Icy Hot, tiger.

I always have to laugh derisively when I see people going goo-goo over “horizontal tricks” only to find that when they do them they are “semi-oblique at best”. Thou shall not do horizontal tricks at 45 degrees. Get out a responsive fixie and try to throw a truly horizontal trapeze stall. It’s really not that tough. We think it must be because “ooh horizontal”, but the path of least resistance for a stalling yo-yo is to land back on the string. Once you can “let it” with some consistency, it’s nothing to integrate some cool foot moves (0:43) or even Texas Cowboy (0:47). Awhile back, I did a trick called Alien Invasion. It’s not in the video, but I do think it applies. A simpler version (0:56) is to throw a sideways trapeze stall back into a sideways Man-Bro. I find it easier to catch the latter while turning.

Honestly, whose face WASN’T melted by the radness that was Boyd’s part in the first Save Deth DVD? That great Of Montreal background tune, Boyd’s hilarious yo-yo faces, and THEM 3D ELI HOPS. You couldn’t walk around a yo-yo contest in late 2007 without being brained by some kid’s errant attempt (or by Boyd’s Tiger Knee, actually). Taking the concept to fixed axle might seem about as natural as an oral bowel movement, but they work great! 3D Eli-ing into your standard trapeze stall requires a hard throw and some precision, but otherwise there’s not much to it. If you don’t mind a sub-dural hematoma, you can even take one all the way behind the head! If you’re hitting that with regularity, I offer the following dare: Stop-N-Go 3D Eli-Hop to Reverse-Stall at 1:18. Remember, the S&G changes the spin direction, so your normal trapeze stall won’t work. Gotta cross it up!

In the last trick, I start with another Stop-N-Go, but then Eli out sideways. Doing this, you can catch in a Lunar stall… also sideways. This isn’t that hard, but you may have to dislocate your throw hand thumb a bit to find that string. You’ve got two, and with the popularity of juicing these days, who needs thumbs… or teeth!?

I hope someone out there is enjoying these Fixed Friday submissions even half as much as Drew and I am. Although I guess… even if it weren’t the case, it wouldn’t change much for us. You’ve gotta pick a direction and explore it, either until there’s nothing left to explore or you no longer have fingers and eyes.

While on the journey, if you’re looking for a sweet fixed axle throw, here’s the model I throw every day. This is the 2nd run of the SPYY x TMBR “Eh”. It’s available at yoyoexpert.com, and it’s super great. It’s made of denser oak than the last run, giving it a bit more inertia for longer spins. The gap is (IMO) just right and the lasering came out mega-keen. Even comes with a type-10 string I twisted myself (and a thank-you note). Thanks for reading, and enjoy the weekend!

Sponsored – Exclusive YoYoFactory Pro Packs @ YoYoExpert.com

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YoYoExpert.com and YoYoFactory have teamed up to offer some exclusive Pro Pack package deals.

Starting today (Thursday March 21st) at 8:00 PM EST and every day following until March 28th, YoYoExpert will drop a new Pro Pack with discounts that are mind blowing. Each Pro Pack will be available for 24 hours only and while supplies last.

YoYoFactory Pro Packs at YoYoExpert.com

First Look – Duncan Toys Strix YoYo

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Duncan Toys has given us an exclusive first look at the final production samples of the Strix, the upcoming signature model yoyo for EYYC Open Division Champion Kohta Watanabe! Scheduled to be released in May, these turned out absolutely beautiful!

Duncan Toys Strix Specs:

MSRP: $60

Weight: 66g

Diameter: 54.5mm

String Gap: 4.1mm

Width: 42.6mm

Response System: SG Sticker

Bearing: Large (.250x.500x.187)

Here’s video of Kohta and the Strix in action at the 2013 European YoYo Championship.

Fixed Friday: Tape Measure

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Fixed Friday – Tape Measure

Whenever we discuss fixed axle trick theory (or whatever it is that we do here), I feel as though we inevitably get very conceptual. The tricks are simplified as a natural consequence of the vehicle/medium. In the context of a shorter throw, smaller movements have augmented significance. As fixed axle aficionados, we’re often trying to fight against the limitations of the medium you’re using. Sometimes, however, if we can get out of our own way, those limitations really open up other doors. Your unresponsive yo-yo will just laugh at you when you try the typical version of this trick. It’ll be all “Yeah, that’s a finger grind, dummy.” But on a nice wood yo-yo like the purpleheart Currier the Hildy Bros sent me, there are a hundred sweet ways to get a very aggressive response with but a touch. That can pretty much be “the whole trick”. It seems like we say that all the time, but… yeah.

Tape Measure is an old Jon Gates trick, and (like a lot of Jon Gates tricks…) it’s one of my favorites. Anyone who’s ever released one of those spring-loaded devices to feel the thwack against their palm can appreciate that this is among the most appropriately named yoyo tricks out there. As shown in the 1st trick in the vid below, the basic idea is ludicrously simple. That said, there are a lot of neat places to take the concept. A lot of yoyoing, whether fixed or trans, is about taking in an idea and asking yourself where else it can be applied. Some of these variations are obvious and easy, and some of them require a bit of finesse. These can be thought of as grinds, but with the specific intention of invoking the yo-yo’s reponse.

The second trick is one of my go-to’s for general fixed-axle mindlessness. Throw down frontstyle just like any regular power-throw, but instead of recalling the yo-yo with a tug, drape your free hand down and “lift” the yo-yo into its response. When you get the timing right, you can speed your hand up with the yo-yo and seamlessly bring it all the way to your hand (or regenerate it). It always feels cooler and more casual to do this one with the palm turned around to the back, as opposed to facing forward. It’s like a hand-held soul arch, if you catch my surfing reference (or just google it).

It’s also fun to do these tricks off of sideways throws. Because your hand is impacting more of the yo-yo’s surface area, it tends to slow down (and so, respond) more quickly, so if you’re not bringing it directly to your hand, you’ve got to be quick. I do a fun throw hand chopsticks stall like this a bit later in the vid (1:10). Get your hand ready now. Oop. Too late.

It stands to reason that any “response-grind” you can do with your palm facing up can be done just as well with ANY contact area (ok, don’t get fresh). Turning the free hand around palm-down gives Tape Measure a different feel, but it’s still the same jam. Try collapsing your free hand over the yo-yo and regenerating with an off-hand throw. Even more fun is to try that palm-down Tape Measure and con the yo-yo into balancing upright all on its own. It’s rewarding to get the angle dialed so that the yo-yo will just hang there on the back of your hand until you regen back over your knuckles (:36).

While we’re at it, who says you even need to TOUCH the yo-yo to get it to respond like Tape Measure. From a standard trapeze, slam your hands together sharply and see if you can get the yo-yo to stay dead-center as the system responds (:45). This is similar to a trapeze Stop-N-Go, but like any Tape Measure, the response is only actually engaging on the trapeze side, so you have to regen like any normal stall (as opposed to by pulling down, like Stop-N-Go).

:50 is “Cram It, Judy”, one of my favorite fixed axle tricks, and one I featured on 365yoyotricks.com last year. This is basically a Tape Measure in the context of a breakaway throw. You’ve got to time that free hand to meet the yo-yo, and “ride it” as it responds into that throw hand stall. When you’re really hitting it, you can get the hand to engage the response, as opposed to the breakaway.

The last trick shows another one of my jamz. I love the feeling of lifting a Tape Measure into a stall, and it totally works as a repeater. Just lift with the throw hand into the first trapeze stall, then with the free hand into a brother stall. Rinse and repeat if you like.

Apologies if that jumped around all over the place. It’s kind of a testimony as to just how fertile the territory of fixed axle Tape Measures is. Behind the back, behind the head, upside down… who knows how many weird applications are out there? When you’re throwing a yo-yo that’s going to come back if you touch it, you can basically take two attitudes. You can either AVOID going anywhere near it because you’re afraid it’s going to mess up your string trick… or you can literally embrace it because your string tricks were getting boring anyway.

Have a great Friday!

Fixed Friday: Sidewinders

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Ahh, the sidewinder, the most elusive and beautiful bird in the animal kingdom. Did you know that the average sidewinder has a twelve-foot vertical leap and can swallow a Volkswagen Bus whole?

Just kidding, I made that up. Wouldn’t it be crazy, though? Man, snakes are weird. Anyways, this Fixed Friday is all about sidewinder, a classic string adjustment technique with a place in every well-rounded player’s trick vocabulary that’s had a surprising resurgence in modern 1A . Let’s check it out:

First up we got the garden variety sidewinder. You throw down the yo-yo, move your hand to the side as the yo-yo returns, the string makes a pretty lil’ fluttery motion, and you catch it. If you’re having trouble getting the flutter, try throwing a little bit softer. When the yo-yo hits the bottom of the string, tug a little bit harder than usual to return it so that it pops in the air a little bit – only a little bit! Don’t hit yourself in the face, now. As the yo-yo travels up the string, quickly move your hand to the side. If you do everything correctly, you’ll notice that you’re pulling the string against the side of the yo-yo, which causes the fluttering as the yo-yo winds up. After you get comfortable getting one or two flutters, try it on the other side of the yo-yo. Sweet! You did it! Yeah!

…so, a trick that flaps the string. No big deal, right? Well, I personally happen to think it’s beautiful, but more importantly, you’ll probably remember that I mentioned string adjustment. You can use sidewinder to fix your tension! Every time you move your hand to the right side of the yo-yo on a sidewinder, it tightens the string, and every time you move it to the left it loosens it. This is hugely important when playing with fixed axle yo-yos, because string tension actually affects your response. If your fixie is too responsive, trying loosening the string, and vice-versa if it’s not responsive enough. This is definitely one of the fastest ways to fix your string tension, and a valuable tool in any player’s arsenal.

Now that we’ve got the basic one down, let’s talk about some weird stuff. First off, the double sidewinder: you may argue that this trick is pointless, because sidewinding on both sides undoes whatever good it would’ve done… but hey, what’s the point of any yo-yo trick? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Smartypants. What were we talking abou- oh, yeah. Double sidewinder may not fix your tension or get you any points in a contest, but it can be a surprise burner in games of Butterfly Horse, and a surefire way to impress old school players. (Former THP members, of course, won’t be impressed unless you can pull off a triple – what’s up Joseph Harris?)

Next up in the silly trick parade is Vertical Sidewinder. Long considered impossible, still considered a joke by many, and an absolute killer in Butterfly Horse, this one requires high ceilings and a lot of patience – but if you can get used to the timing and have a little luck with gravity, it’s not too bad. (Bonus Points: Show this to anybody on the Werrd team and call it “Sidewinder Down Under.” Trust me, they love it.)

Moving into the modern, string-based tricks, we got sidewinder to thumb stall. This may be the simplest of sidewinder-to-stall tricks, because it can all be handled with one hand: perform a sidewinder, stick your thumb out to intercept the string, and stick the landing on the string instead of catching it like normal. This principle can be applied to pretty much any stall you can think of, and I strongly encouraging trying to land a trapeze or braintwister stall once you get the thumb mount down, you’ll probably just have to move a little faster.

Let’s finish this week off with a short tech stall combo, which is an original that I’m calling LFO. It could basically be described as a Trap Stall > Dumptruck > Sidewinder > Trap Stall sequence, and it should give a little example of how sidewinders can be executed into and out of string trick combos. Pairing sidewinders with dumptrucks is nice, because the flip effectively sets you up with a straight throw that can be regenerated and sidewinder’ed into a stall. These are especially exciting in the field of responsive play, because stalls/loops/etc. allow you to mix in sidewinders on any regeneration, which would be the flutteriest freestyle of all time.

While sidewinder undoubtedly began in the world of response, it does have a place in modern unresponsive play. Palli’s got an amazing trick called grindwinder (see :20 in this fantastic video for the original), and then there’s Vu’s awesome “Hangtime” and it’s not at all uncommon to see players performing sidewinders from binds in competition.

Also, if you do a sidewinder against baggy pants it makes a weird flapping noise, and the trick is called – wait for it – “Rattlesnake.” Need I say any more? I hope not. Go learn this trick and talk about it with other fixed axle fiends on the facebook group. (and hey, why don’t you like YoYoNews while you’re at it?)

Zach Attack! featuring Zach Gormley – YoYoNews Exclusive

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After winning the National YoYo Championship in 2012, CLYW‘s Zach Gormley spent a few moments filming with Sector Y.  In just a few minutes, he was able to demonstrate amazing tricks that consistently push the envelope of innovation. At under a minute-and-a-half, this video is a dense look at modern trick composition and theory. It will take several views to fully grasp the direction that Zach has taken with his unique style of yoyoing, and we can’t wait to see the influence of Zach’s style permeate the yoyosphere over the next several years.

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