Ahh, you know what’s funny about the video? It’s the cheesy voice-over guy speaking over some kind of Vegas jingle. Alas, we seem to have left cheesy behind, and gone for Mr Deepvoice against a cinematic backdrop in recent commercials.
But this is not a piece about commercials then and now (might make for a good TBT piece though!). It’s about the Duncan’s toy featured in the video above: the one and only yoyo! Fun to say, more fun to play, this simple string on a ball device was the in-thing, the cool ancestor of the annoying fidget-spinner we see kids playing with today.
And today, we’ll be kind and rewind to a time when the yoyo was more than just a self-amusing recreational object, but a practical lesson in physics and an integral part of street culture in the 80s and 90s.
History of the yoyo
This one goes way back in time. So far back, in fact, its origins cannot even be traced (who said Velociraptors didn’t play yoyo with a toad on the end of its own intestine?). The earliest records of a yoyo being used date back to around 1000 BC, in the land of China, although it wasn’t named yoyo, instead being labelled ‘diabolo’ (were they really so devilish back in the day?).
The yoyo also makes an appearance on some Ancient Greek vases depicting young boys wielding what appears to be a pre-Duncan version of the toy. Imagine that, Themistocles yoyoing in between preparing for the Battle of Marathon. Well it does take the stress off and would have been a worthy hobby back then, without PlayStation and HD TV.
But the name yoyo, which apparently means ‘come come’ in Tagalog, was coined by Pedro Flores in 1920s California. A fitting name since you drop the ball and get it to ‘come come’ by tugging on a string. Uhm, yeah.
Anyway, North American entrepreneur, Donald F. Duck, I mean Duncan, bought both the trademark and company from Flores in 1928, and birthed the global phenomenon that can be found in toy catalogues to this day.
The evolution of yoyo
After Duncan ran a series of successful advertising campaigns, including contests and showpieces, the yoyo fever had gripped the entire world. People were yoyoing left, right, and centre, showing off all the tricks and flicks in the book. It truly earned its place in The Strong’s National Toy Hall of Fame in 1999.
But the Yoyo was more than two halves of a sphere connected by an axle and a string. It was an invention that made appearances in all corners of the world, and in outer space (where no toy dared go).
The yoyo began to undergo serious transformations from the 1970s, and in 1978, Tom Kuhn landed the patent for the 3-in-1 Jive take-apart-by-hand yoyo, the first of its kind with a replaceable axle and in 1980 Michael Caffrey took it a step further when he introduced The Brain, i.e. the yoyo that knew when to come back on its own accord through a spring-loaded clutch mechanism.
By the 90s, we had transaxle yoyos, with ballbearings that created enough friction to increase spin time and make her even more intuitive than her earlier counterparts. The innovations thereafter were all about tweaking the bearings, experimenting with different composites to give a smoother, longer spin, which was essential for yoyoists yearning for top prize in yoyo contests.
Yoyo today
The yoyo is one of those devices that has only got better with time, and hasn’t left the street unlike many 80s fads. To date, there is still a World Yoyo contest, and for $30, you can land yourself a beautiful Duncan’s yoyo. They come in even more colours and shapes, and have come a long, long way from the wooden spheres of the yesteryears.
Wow, and that comes with some dubstep too (google it).
Do you have a yoyo, or a yoyo collection?